by Madeleine Thien
This is a long novel covering a long and eventful period in chinese history.
The book starts in Canada and is told by a chinese woman looking back over her life' or more importantly, the life of her parents. They have both now died, her father committing suicide in Hong Kong and she tries to piece together the gaps in what she knows about her family. The result is a story covering the latter half of the twentieth century taking in the rise of Mao, the cultural revolution and Tianemen square.
It took me a while to get into this novel as I was trying to piece together who was who but by half way through I was hooked by a story examining the impact of world events on individuals and families. Definitely worth reading and close to getting the vote of my favourite from the Booker shortlist. 9/10
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