Serve the People!
Yan Lianke · b. 1958 · China
Originally Wei Renmin Fuwu (Chinese) · translated by Julia Lovell
Why it matters
A soldier's wife and her lover fuel a Cultural Revolution-era affair by smashing Mao portraits and slogans as foreplay. Political subversion disguised as farce, promptly banned in China upon publication.
At a glance
satirepolitical novel
Difficulty 4/10fast pace208 pagesBrisk farcical plot, though its political satire assumes Cultural Revolution context.
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