Lenin's Kisses - Hardcover

Lianke, Yan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0701188073 ISBN 13: 9780701188078

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 2013

Synopsis

Deep within the Balou mountains lies a small rural town populated by disabled people. Blind, deaf and disfigured, the 197 citizens of the Village of Liven have until now enjoyed a peaceful, mutually supportive life out of sight and mind of the government. But when an unseasonal snowstorm wipes out that year’s crops, a county official dreams up a scheme that will raise money for the district and boost his career.

He convinces the villagers to set up a travelling freak-show, to include Blind Tonghua’s Acute Listening Act, Guess the Age of the Old Man, Deafman Ma’s Firecrackers-on-the-Ear and One-Eye’s Needle Threading. With the money, he intends to buy Lenin’s embalmed corpse from an ailing Russia and install it in a splendid mausoleum in the mountains to attract tourism to this sleepy district. However, as we all know, even the best intentions can go awry.

Provocative and funny, Lenin’s Kisses melds fable, history and satire into a fantastical cautionary tale about contemporary China’s all-consuming desire for power and wealth.

About this title

Review:

"Yan Lianke is one of China's most interesting writers and a master of imaginative satire" -- Isabel Hilton Guardian "The award-winning novelist Yan Lianke is one of China's most interesting writers and a master of imaginative satire. His work is animated by an affectionate loyalty to his peasant origins... and fierce anger over the political abuses of the regime... [this] innovative novel, with its wit, humanity and satire, sets a provocative example" -- Isabel Hilton Guardian "Yan's postmodern cartoon of the Communist dream caving to run-amok capitalism is fiendishly clever" New York Times Book Review "Brilliantly acerbic plot... Yan lets the irony of his scenario... speak for itself; his deadpan presentation makes the satire bite all the harder" -- Julia Lovell Spectator "A hugely ambitious political fable... A great ripping yarn, but also the kind of raw literary qualities that can only emanate from a non-European tradition" -- Xiaolu Guo Independent

Book Description:

'One of China's greatest living authors and fiercest satirists' (Guardian)

About this edition

• Publisher: Chatto & Windus
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0701188073
• ISBN 13: 9780701188078
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 512