The Four Books
'Lenin's Kisses is a sprawling tome that rakes over China's historical and contemporary social and political landscape. It has a satirical, allegorical bent that skewers pomposity and the cult ofpersonality.' Sun-Herald/Sunday Age
PRH, PRH
'Author Yan's deft satire, comic touches and his endless compassion bring smiles and tears through a journey that swings effortlessly back and forward between the absurd, the real and moments of magic. It is an epic tale of how grand, event if well-meant, plans can be tarnished by greed and unhappiness. It cautions against being consumed by power. Here is a splendid storyteller in the tradition of Jonathan Swift. Yan's writing is masterful, his imagination and his satire soars above the common.' Courier Mail
PRH, PRH
'Lenin's Kisses is a triumph, a blistering absurdist allegory and a genuine contest to the idea that writers working in China are rendered mute, like many of the residents of Yan's fictional village, by the political structure around them.' Saturday Age
PRH, PRH
'Yan's postmodern cartoon of the Communist dream caving to run-amok capitalism is fiendishly clever, in parodying the conventions of fables and historical scholarship. The ghost of another famous dead Russian, Nikolai Gogol, hovers over the proceedings in spirit, if not in economy of means.' New York Times
PRH, PRH
'Set Rabelais down in the mountains of, say, Xinjiang, mix in some Günter Grass, Thomas Pynchon and Gabriel García Márquez, and you're in the approximate territory of Lianke's latest exercise in épatering the powers that be...A satirical masterpiece.' Kirkus Reviews
PRH, PRH
'Both a blistering satire and a bruising saga, this epic novel examines the grinding forces of communism and capitalism, and the volatile zone where the two intersect...A heartbreaking story of greed, corruption, and the dangers of utopia.' Publisher's Weekly
PRH, PRH
'Lenin's Kisses is a novel of great breadth and skill, wonderful characters and magical storytelling. This book may be an unflattering portrayal of a China at the historical point where it shifted from 'high communism' to 'hypercaptialism', but it is also immensely readable and joyous.' The Hoopla
PRH, PRH
'Lenin's Kisses is a grand comic novel, wild in spirit and inventive in technique. It's a rhapsody that blends the imaginary with the real, raves about the absurd and the truthful, inspires both laughter and tears.' Ha Jin, author of Waiting and Nanjing Requiem
PRH, PRH
'Lenin's Kisses is an absurdist historical allegory of the money-making fever that swept China after Deng Xiaoping opened up the Chinese economy in the 1990s. [Lianke] has advised writers to confront censorship with 'art, not politics' [and] this innovative novel, with its wit, humanity and satire, sets a provocative example.' Guardian
PRH, PRH
'Whimsical and horrifying by turns... a no-holds-barred satirical allegory of recent Chinese history.' NZ Listener on Lenin's Kisses
PRH, PRH
'This epic tragicomedy deftly satirises the exploitation of the Chinese people by greedy, power-hungry and inept officials. Yan Lianke showcases many talents of his own, including brilliant absurdist humour and self-censorship.' North and South, NZ on Lenin's Kisses
PRH, PRH