"Big Breasts and Wide Hips," by Nobel laureate Mo Yan, is an epic saga chronicling twentieth-century China through the story of the Shangguan family. The novel centers on Mother, Shangguan Lü, who endures extraordinary hardship raising her children alone after her husband's sterility forces her to conceive daughters with different men. Narrated by her only son, Jintong, a man with an obsessive attachment to his mother's breast, the story spans the Japanese invasion, civil war, famine, and political upheavals. Through suffering, resilience, and maternal love, Mo Yan portrays the strength of Chinese women and the brutal sweep of modern history.
