Cover Image: In the Name of the People

In the Name of the People

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Member Reviews

Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

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I had a tough time reading this book. It wasn't as exciting as or interesting as I had hoped it would be. I just couldn't get in to the story, not did I find the characters interesting.

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Thank you for the reader's copy - very much appreciated.

Unfortunately it didn’t live up to the promise. I found it quite heavy going. The problem is inherent in the material: the book is entirely populated by Party officials and provincial level bureaucrats who talk like, well, Party officials and provincial level bureaucrats. It is full of standing committees and Administrative Bureaus and Municipal Party Committee Secretaries and Commissions for Disciplinary Inspection. This isn’t a specifically Chinese problem – I’m a bureaucrat, and a work of fiction set in my world accurately replicating our way of speaking would be deeply tedious. Every professional in-group has its own jargon; the challenge in genre fiction like crime is to open it up to those not in the group. You can ignore it, or tone it down, or even amplify it as a way of satirising it. In The Name Of The People plays it with a straight bat, and I found it quite alienating as a result

This is a problem with the text, not the translation, but while the translation is an impressive achievement it did lean a shade too faithful to the Chinese for me. I would have appreciated some sacrifice of accuracy for readability. Usually it’s just a slight unnaturalness to the English (“would it not be a joke for us to oppose him then?”). As a small example, there seemed to be an awful lot of exclamation marks in places that might be natural in Chinese, but where an English-language writer wouldn’t use one. For instance, “Qi Tongwei was steaming mad and ordered the staff to pull up Liberation Avenue’s surveillance video and go through it carefully!”; or at the dramatic denouement, the dialogue “the will of the people in the land under heaven is grandiose!”

I did wonder if all the bureaucratese was intended satirically, but the politics of <em>In The Name Of The People</em> makes that unlikely, as does Zhou Meisen’s stated adherence to literary realism and his experience in local government and business. Also translated here is a fascinating afterword by Zhou about his love for Balzac, in which he says that “In The Name Of The People is a tribute to old Balzac and his immortal ideology”. That politics on display in <em>People</em> is another aspect that might make it alienating for a Western audience looking for a gripping political or crime thriller. The hero here is not just Hou but the Party. Corruption is a stain on Chinese society, we are told, and only the Party can stop it.

It’s not all clear contrasts though. While the good guys are definitely Good, the bad guys – the corrupt officials – are nuanced and interesting. All the key characters are well fleshed out with memorable characteristics and descriptions – the corrupt official from farming stock for whom piles of bank notes are as spiritually satisfying as wheat; the vain, ambitious Qi Tongwei; the Deputy Secretary conducting illicit affairs under the pretext of studying Ray Huang’s 1587.

There are plenty of enjoyable set pieces, such as the central factory fire, an attempted murder, and the ingenious details of corrupt practices. The plot is well constructed, and while complex it was clear to follow – I was grateful for the regular status updates that Zhou uses. It’s full of intrigue, double-crossing and dirty tricks, and for all that I found the language alienating it is a fascinating insider’s account of a usually opaque part of Chinese society. But ultimately it felt too long (nearly 600 pages) and too dry to be the gripping thriller it nearly is.

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Thank you to Alain Charles Asia and NetGalley for the Reader's Copy!

Alluring, blunt, yet somewhat charming Zhou Meisen's "In the Name of the People" is a smart, political thriller set in modern day China. When Comrade Hou Liangping receives notice of corruption in H Province, he sets off at once to figure out the source. Yet not everyone in the province is who they seem to be. With flashbacks to his childhood and ideological formation and an ever changing cast of characters, Meisen creates a gripping narrative. Perhaps because I am not versed in modern Chinese politics, I felt a bit lost at times, making it a bit of a confusing read.

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