The Gale is a beautiful and sad story. It is also a unique story and the back story is as good, if not better, about how the inspiration came about. There was a lot of love that went into this story and creation of the book. Author Mo Yan, illustrator Chengliang Zhu, translator Ying-Hwa Hu and adapter Xiaoxiao Guan had their work cut out for them. This is a story that looks like it is going one way, but soon goes another. It blows around like the horrific wind of the story. 
Most of the enjoyment for me was in the illustrations. However, the story has a savory element to it as well. It is light, but also has form. But it is the illustrations that really brought things together for me. You can read them and each time you do, you can come up with another story of things. No two people will read the same story and no one person will tell the same story as each time you see the artwork you find something new.
The whole book has a good and solidness to it, but also is light and airy. I recently tried a real Japanese ramen dish (as real as one can get in New England from non-Japanese restaurant owners). I explained that the broth was “solid” but it was broth. It had a texture to it. Liquid does not have texture, it is runny, it is wet, it doesn’t do anything. This dish’s broth danced on my tongue and mouth, the same as this book danced in my imagination.
