Reading (Some of) Shawn's 5-Star Books: Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing — The LAST One
(Image from Goodreads)
This long, family saga was one that I wasn’t too sure
about before I decided to pick it and read it for my “Reading Shawn’s 5-star
Reads” project. Reading a Canadian classic that’s beloved by many is always a
dangerous choice because you never know whether it’s going to be a fantastic
book or a flop. And sometimes they’re downright depressing despite the great writing.
What was Do Not Say We Have Nothing going to be for me? Since I hadn’t
read anything written else by Madeleine Thien, I was both excited and
apprehensive.
So, what did I think? Well, let me first say that if
you’re someone who didn’t enjoy this chunky book, I understand. The fact that I
could switch between the physical book, which I found in a little free library,
and the audiobook—at times reading both—was helpful with such a long book. It
also helped me understand the pronunciation of certain words in Mandarin. But
this has a lot of characters and at times, I wasn’t sure who the protagonist
was. Just as I was getting to know and connecting to one character, we’d switch
POV, and I’d feel frustrated with Thien. However, that I was so interested in
all of the characters demonstrated how well Thien was able to interweave the
characters, their development, and the plot. And in terms of a big cast of
characters, this book reminded me of Edward P. Jones’ novel, The Known World.
If you’re not a fan of a big cast, then steer clear!
The other reason I loved this book is because of the inclusion of music and the
musicality (lyricism) of Thien’s writing. I have also heard readers complain
about this element of the story, but as someone who loooves music, the
inclusion of it was so lovely.
I think that this is only book that, if you asked me
specifically about why I enjoyed it, I wouldn’t be able to tell you exactly
what it was, but between Thien’s writing, the connection I felt to the characters,
and the heartbreak I felt reading about not only the events but how they
affected the characters, I couldn’t not enjoy it. I also happened to be
reading this while the wonderful and infamous Jo Smith was buddy-reading it
with two other BookTube superstars, so she and I were also able to chat about
it and it elevated my reading experience—especially since we both were enjoying
the book!
I realize that two of the three novels in this
grouping are written by Canadian women, but they are both great reads for good
reasons. One of the things that this reading challenge reminded me about is that there
are so many amazing books written by women—including Canada. I know that many
people immediately think of Margaret Atwood when “female Canadian writer” is
mentioned, but she’s not the only superstar and hard-hitter in this country, and believe me
when I say that Shawn is a great proponent of Canadian literature written by women!
Conclusion: This reading project has demonstrated that
Shawn and I have very similar reading tastes! Our tastes are not always
perfectly aligned, but I feel that if Shawn raves about a book (like Lydia Sandgren’s
Collected Works) my interest in it is going to be piqued!
Many thanks to Shawn for supporting me during this
project, and I hope his reading journey (He’s going to read some of my 5-star
reads now!) is just as enjoyable, interesting, and eye-opening as mine was!
You can watch the wrap-up video we filmed here.
If you’ve followed me during this reading journey,
thank you so much! I hope that if any of these books sound enjoyable, you’ll let
Shawn (the Book Maniac) and me know 😊
Happy reading!
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