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A review by tiepig
Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien
5.0
If I were ever going to use the word 'masterpiece' to describe a book, it would be this one. I don't think I've ever read something so well written before. It's told out of chronological order, but the scene moves back and forwards along the timeline effortlessly and without any confusion. I had a little trouble remembering which character was related to which in what way at first, but I got my head around it fairly quickly.
It was emotionally very hard-hitting. From what I understand, it offers a pretty sincere depiction of what it was like to go through the rise of Chairman Mao and his impact on China. Had I realized how in-depth it went into that era, I might not have read it, since that's such a horrible time to learn about and this book doesn't pull its punches.
I've also never known a book to depict music in written words with so much clarity as this book does. I don't really know anything about Bach and the other composers referenced, but the way it is described through the eyes of the characters made it very easy to understand.
I was listening to the audiobook, read by Angela Lin, which was of perfect quality. Only issue is I think at some points in the book, Chinese characters must be used and then translated, which means the recording repeats itself in a slightly bizarre fashion, but that doesn't cause any issues in understanding.
It was emotionally very hard-hitting. From what I understand, it offers a pretty sincere depiction of what it was like to go through the rise of Chairman Mao and his impact on China. Had I realized how in-depth it went into that era, I might not have read it, since that's such a horrible time to learn about and this book doesn't pull its punches.
I've also never known a book to depict music in written words with so much clarity as this book does. I don't really know anything about Bach and the other composers referenced, but the way it is described through the eyes of the characters made it very easy to understand.
I was listening to the audiobook, read by Angela Lin, which was of perfect quality. Only issue is I think at some points in the book, Chinese characters must be used and then translated, which means the recording repeats itself in a slightly bizarre fashion, but that doesn't cause any issues in understanding.