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A review by kjcharles
Cat Country : A Satirical Novel of China in the 1930s by Lao She
A vicious satire of China in the 1930s, taking wide aim at culture and ideology. It's nominally SF but not really: the setting is only developed as it needs to be for satirical purposes. Satire and SF can coexist convincingly (parts of Gulliver's Travels) but at least as it's translated, this is very much the former.
It's pretty bitter stuff, with some moments of horrendous violence, a really bleak world view, and lots of bonus misogyny, both in the Cat Country society and in the narrator voice, so not cheery stuff. Do not buy this for a cute story about cat people, is what I'm saying.
Interesting read, and the last line is one of the best-struck killer blows I've encountered.
It's pretty bitter stuff, with some moments of horrendous violence, a really bleak world view, and lots of bonus misogyny, both in the Cat Country society and in the narrator voice, so not cheery stuff. Do not buy this for a cute story about cat people, is what I'm saying.
Interesting read, and the last line is one of the best-struck killer blows I've encountered.