Koon Chung Chan

This is an brilliant novel influenced by the 2008 economic downturn in the West. It contains 3 distinct parts:
1. Various diaries and first person narratives involving a mystery about 28 missing days from the collective people of China.
2. A third person narrated quest to find and save a missing woman.
3. A monologue by a party head, given to the dissidents who have kidnapped him in an effort to figure out why China's residents are so happy and how 28 days are missing from 99% of the population's memory.

This is an exploration of China's future, and ultimately, how Chinese citizens live today. The Chinese Party isn't under the Orwellian illusion of working for the "good of the people". In fact, this "Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power."

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Set in modern day China (kind of) and explores the lives of people who don’t quite see eye to eye with the ruling regime.

It is fiction but the kind of fiction that parallels the present in an uncanny way.

One of the more interesting parts is the explanation of the trade off between personal freedom and the greater good of everyone as a whole. This view is put across, quite convincingly, from the ruling regime that sacrifices have to be made if you want stability, progress, and a decent standard of living for everyone.

When you consider that in China a staggering 800m people have been lifted above the poverty line in 40 years and that includes 82.39 million people lifted out of poverty over the past six years.

I don’t know what it is like where you live but I can safely say that in New Zealand and England the absolute opposite is true.

In New Zealand In 1982, 14% of children lived in poverty. In 2016, 28% of children live in poverty.

If you had a choice between a place to live and means of earning a living in return for cameras on the streets what would you choose?

One the interesting things about the western concept of freedom is that it is entirely dependent on having money. If you are poor have a lot less freedom than those that are wealthy. The poorer you are the less freedom you have.

Many years ago I met a Czech film maker who had defected to the west. In his own country every film he made was shown in cinemas all over the Soviet bloc, but he was not allowed to make the films that he really wanted to make. He was in awe of the west where anyone could make any film they wanted without hindrance. What he never factored in was that you could make any film you liked but it was almost impossible to get it shown anywhere let alone in a cinema. Indeed he discovered that the film studios bore an uncanny resemblance to the Soviet film institute that he had run away from.

From that meeting I learned that freedom is a very strange thing. You can have it and not be able to do anything with it, you can be free but have less real freedom than those that are not free. In the Soviet bloc you could vote for one party with one ideology but in the west we have the freedom to vote for two parties but still only one ideology.

I was lucky to have grown up in a time of relative wealth but I would rather have cameras all along my street that have to see families sleeping in cars, which I do regularly.

Any book that makes you think in real terms about our lives is worth reading, this is one of them.… (more)

This collection of literature has been drawn from ten leading writers from all around the world. The themes of freedom and movement are quite prescient at the moment; and it is this that the authors have chosen to explore in their writing. These stories come to us from all around the world, from places of conflict like Syria and Palestine; an author tries to define where they live and another chooses to defy. We have stories of growing up and another author who feels links to his home country.

The best thing about this is its diversity. Each author has a distinct voice and perspective on their life and the world around them. As there are ten authors and each piece is translated by another person, you don’t get a seamless and even quality; but then that is an aspect of life too. Worth reading for a world view different from my own.

I received a free copy of this from Netgalley for providing a honest review.… (more)