Nige Arnold

Started of with some fascinating/harrowing backstories about the Cultural Revolution, but then the descriptions of the student protests in Tiananmen Square goes on for literally HUNDREDS of pages of excruciating and tedious detail about each and every student faction, each and every squabble about who should be allowed to make speeches or write slogans. Who was and who was not on hunger strike, what they did/did not eat on each day. None of this drove the plot forward in any discernable way. Still about 100 pages to go, goodness knows how I am going to finish it as a page or two each night and I find myself almost comatose! Such a let down after the strong start.