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Do Not Say We Have Nothing

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About this listen

Ai-Ming tells the story of her family in revolutionary China, from the crowded teahouses in the first days of Chairman Mao's ascent to the events leading to the Beijing demonstrations of 1989.

It is a history of revolutionary idealism, music and silence, in which three musicians - the shy and brilliant composer, Sparrow; the violin prodigy, Zhuli; and the enigmatic pianist, Kai - struggle during China's relentless Cultural Revolution to remain loyal to one another and to the music they have devoted their lives to.

©2016 Madeleine Thien (P)2016 Recorded Books Inc Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction China Musician Celebrity Piano Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking

Critic reviews

"Full of wisdom and complexity, comedy and beauty, Thien has delivered a novel that is both hugely political and severe, but at the same time delicate and intimate." (Kate Whiting, Herald)
"A magnificent epic of Chinese history, richly detailed and beautifully written." (Kate Saunders, The Times)
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A complex story that becomes easier to follow as the story unfolds.

It is long but the reader is ultimately rewarded. And when it finishes you wished it would have another chapter.

Beautifully written and superbly read.

Moving and thought-provoking story.

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This is a book you need time to work through. Its narrative weaves through time and space. But stick with it - you will not be sorry.

A worthwhile investment

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struggled to stay with it ...I guess it was a good story etc but too laborious for me.

heavy going!

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A writer of the first order, Madeleine Thien weaves an impossible and haunting story from China's recent past. The murderous events of 20th Century China are the soil from which she draws complex and loving characters with a deep love of classical music and Chinese classical writing, but the narrative embraces universal themes of honour, family and dogged survival. Beautifully read.

Hauntingly brilliant

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If this book sometimes seems a bit relentless, then that is a very good reflection of the relentlessness of Chinese communism over several decades.

The book is like a large and tightly woven tapestry and the reader expertly guides us through it with an even tone which could easily become monotonous but, for me, never did.

The book is very 'serious' and also very informative about what was. for me, an unknown world.

A long slog, but well worth it.

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