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A review by dreaminfables
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
5.0
“She said the music made her wonder, Does it alter us more to be heard, or to hear?”
Do Not Say We Have Nothing is the best book that I've read so far this year. We follow a multigenerational saga of dreamers, storytellers, musicians through the Cultural Revolution under General Mao's regime and the Tiananmen Square protests.
Madeleine Thien has penned a poetic and poignant tale of love and loss.
I fell in love with the people that I've met through this book, each character so complex and full of a rich inner life. Wen the Dreamer copies out volumes of a story that lives on for many generations as the Book of Records, bearing accounts of the many lives and stories taken away by the reformation of their society. Sparrow, Zhuli and Jia Kiang make and play music that tugs at my heartstrings. Ai-ming and Li-ling's sisterhood made me weep. Despite having a huge cast of characters, Thien has made them distinct and memorable.
The prose is musical, makes one reminiscent of a life they've not lived, of grief that swells like music in a closed room, of commonplace events delicately woven into dangerous metaphors.
Fiction of this kind is my favourite and this book will occupy my thoughts for many days to come.
“What happened if you melted a person down layer by layer? What if there was nothing between the layers, and nothing at the centre, only quiet?”
Do Not Say We Have Nothing is the best book that I've read so far this year. We follow a multigenerational saga of dreamers, storytellers, musicians through the Cultural Revolution under General Mao's regime and the Tiananmen Square protests.
Madeleine Thien has penned a poetic and poignant tale of love and loss.
I fell in love with the people that I've met through this book, each character so complex and full of a rich inner life. Wen the Dreamer copies out volumes of a story that lives on for many generations as the Book of Records, bearing accounts of the many lives and stories taken away by the reformation of their society. Sparrow, Zhuli and Jia Kiang make and play music that tugs at my heartstrings. Ai-ming and Li-ling's sisterhood made me weep. Despite having a huge cast of characters, Thien has made them distinct and memorable.
The prose is musical, makes one reminiscent of a life they've not lived, of grief that swells like music in a closed room, of commonplace events delicately woven into dangerous metaphors.
Fiction of this kind is my favourite and this book will occupy my thoughts for many days to come.
“What happened if you melted a person down layer by layer? What if there was nothing between the layers, and nothing at the centre, only quiet?”