Do Not Say We Have Nothing cover art

Do Not Say We Have Nothing

 Preview

Get 30 days of Standard free

£5.99/mo after trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options

Do Not Say We Have Nothing

By: Madeleine Thien
Narrated by: Angela Lin
Try for £0.00

£5.99 a month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for £19.90

Buy Now for £19.90

LIMITED TIME OFFER

£0.99/mo for 3 months - terms apply. Offer ends 31 August 2026.
Ai-Ming tells the story of her family in revolutionary China, from the crowded teahouses in the first days of Chairman Mao's ascent and 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
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
All stars
Most relevant
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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
struggled to stay with it ...I guess it was a good story etc but too laborious for me.

heavy going!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews