what i liked about this book are the unique aspects of it: the setting and time, somewhere in china in modern times; the primary character, almost an orphan, who becomes an amazing genius; what happens to him, forced to serve his government as a cryptographer and eventually goes mad.it is fascinating in places, needs editing (in my view) in places, and so much that happens seems implausible. i don't know if this is totally because our own culture is so different but certainly part of that sense is. i think the main character is the only one who can invite any connection from a reader, simply because we come to know him as well as anyone could.yet....it is the sheer mysteriousness of all that which i liked. Following the glowing review in The Economist, my high expectations were far from met. The prose is pleasant, the imagery vivid, and the characters engrossing, and that is the entirety of it. At every point along the way I was eagerly waiting for the story to start, with such elegant groundwork laid I expected a marvelous story to spring up at any moment. All the way until the end, I held out desperate hope that there would be some turn of events, some twist that would tie the beautiful ramblings of the last 300 pages into something profound and meaningful. The end was actually beautiful in it's own way and I must confess appreciation for that, but my overriding impression is actually confusion, wondering how I could have completely missed what was supposed to be a fine novel.
What do You think about El Don (2014)?
Quite nice, especially the narrative structure.
—Izzy
