Do Not Say We Have Nothing
Ratings25
Average rating4.2
Had a hard time with the writing style. It felt quite stilted and didn't grip me emotionally. Too many characters introduced too quickly and they didn't feel like real people.
A multigenerational story of family, loss, music, politics and revolutions, told in a layered and cyclic way, resembling the rewriting and reworking of music and literature, as it is present in the plot of the novel. The title is a line of a Chinese left-wing anthem, and the story unfolds across the devastating times of the Great Chinese Famine, the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the deadly student protests at Tienanmen Square. Family members and lovers are separated, and everyone's life is in general made worse by the oppression of the Party. It was upsetting to learn about “struggle sessions”, mandatory denunciations and self-criticism practice. But there's also a love for music that gives the characters hope, a purpose and helps them form deep bonds. All the love stories (the obvious or less obvious ones) were told gentle and with great care. The writing is splendid and it's really quite the sweeping saga, with a very political heart.
Fabulous book. Took me some time to get into it, because of the different character names. I made myself a family diagram so that I could keep track of the family members. But having said that, Madeleine Thien is a wonderful writer. I first discovered her when I read her short story collection, Simple Recipes years back, before she won all her awards, and was entranced. Her metaphors are not just literary devices to embellish a story. They are poetic in themselves and I found that I would stop and savour them before continuing.
As my husband and I had visited China and toured Tienanmen Square the year after the student revolution, and had read many non-fiction articles about the event and horror of it, I was prepared. But what I wasn't prepared for was the historical narrative leading up to the tragedy. Very well told with engaging characters.
This year's strongest contender for the Man Booker Prize: Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien. It is an epic, wonderfully imagined tale of two generations struggling through China's political campaigns, first in the 1960s, then in 1989. Do Not Say We Have Nothing is an incredibly intelligent and ambitious novel; it is multi-faceted, combing theories of mathematics and language with literature and musical composition.
Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a complex work, however, and can be hard to follow. Initially, the story seems to be about Marie, then Marie and Ai-Ming, but it isn't long before the reader is catapulted into backstory and stories within stories. It's easy to forget Marie even existed in the first place, which is unfortunate because I was anchored in her tale and her tale was effortless reading.
I had some difficulty staying connected, but in full disclosure I believe much of this was my own fault. Do Not Say We Have Nothing is the sort of novel that needs to be savored. By its very structure, it requires a careful reading. In my effort to read the entire Man Booker shortlist before the announcement (made difficult by US publication dates), I sped through this novel in a mere fourteen hours (not nearly enough time for me and for a work of this magnitude). As I approached the concluding chapters, I sincerely regretted that I hadn't taken more time to enjoy this great novel.
For the last several years, the Man Booker Prize judges have favored historical works. Many of these contained chapters from humanity's brutal history. Assuming the judges do not feel the need to deviate from the pattern for the sake of breaking the repetition, I don't believe this year will be an exception. Madeline Thien will win the 2016 Man Booker Prize.
