The Mao Case
Xiaolong Qiu
Having read it
★★★★☆
A pretty good read in the end, with the end itself being quite good! It started well, had a slightly plodding middle bit where I was thinking about giving it just 3 out of 5, but it was rescued by its last few chapters; they brought all those seemingly disparate bits together, in a quite thrilling, page-turning fashion!
A good passage
There’s no guaranteeing a rational account of human existence.
A second good passage
In the past, people sometimes came to the hot-water house with baked cakes and steamed buns, spent a penny or two for a cup of tea, then would talk and enjoy themselves like lords.
A third good passage
According to Mao, history is an ever-continuous process of one dynasty succeeding another. Those at the bottom rise in rebellion to overthrow the one at the top, though the successful rebel inevitably turns into the emperor, as corrupt and oppressive as was the predecessor.