The Explosion Chronicles A Novel Yan Lianke Carlos Rojas Translation by Yan Lianke, Carlos Rojas (translation) 9780802190017, 0802190014 instant download after payment.

With the Yi River on one side & the Balou Mountains on the other, the village of Explosion was founded more than a millennium ago by refugees fleeing a seismic volcanic eruption. But in the post-Mao era the name takes on a new significance as the community grows explosively from a small village to a vast metropolis. 

Behind this rapid expansion are members of the community’s three major families, including the four Kong brothers; Zhu Ying, the daughter of the former village chief; & Cheng Qing, who starts out as a secretary & goes on to become a powerful political and business figure. Linked together by a complex web of loyalty, betrayal, desire, & ambition, these figures are the driving force behind their hometown’s transformation into an urban superpower. 

Brimming with absurdity, intelligence, & wit, The Explosion Chronicles considers the high stakes of passion and power, the consequences of corruption & greed, the polarizing dynamics of love & hate between families, as well as humankind’s resourcefulness through the vicissitudes of life.

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Carlos Rojas is Professor of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies at Duke University. He has translated seven of Yan’s novels, including Hard Like Water, The Day the Sun Died, & The Explosion Chronicles.