The Vagrants

Yiyun Li, you absolute genius. Some real gems of lines in this, wow. Could not put it down.

An impressive description of a life in China, set in a rural village. A counter-revolutionary dissident Gu Shan is executed, which sets wheels in motion. Her parents are not allowed to grieve for their daughter.

Everybody doesn't agree, though, and with the Democracy Wall movement going on in Beijing, people feel there's some hope of things improving. Some of the villagers organize a demonstration for Gu Shan, to clear her reputation.

We get to watch these events unfold from many different perspectives. The book is full of interesting characters; few of them are really likeable, but even the unpleasant people have interesting motivations and everything just binds together in a quite pleasant way. Yiyun Li is a talented author.