Changes

|title=Lenin's Kisses

|author=Yan Lianke

|publisher=Chatto & Windus

|date=February 2013

|summary=Fascinating literary fiction translation of a Chinese award winning book that tells of the role of a rural village of disabled residents and their role in funding an ambitious plan to move Lenin's body to China. Full of allegory and symbolism, this is a rare example of modern Chinese literary fiction in translation.

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Yan Lianke's 2004 novel, ''Lenin's Kisses'', newly and beautifully translated by Carlos Rojas, is a rare and fascinating example, not just of Chinese fiction from a writer living and working in China, but also a book that has won literary awards (the prestigious Chinese ''Lao She Literary Award''), now available in English. In many respects, the fact that this book won such a literary prize is somewhat surprising - not I hasten to add because of any lack of quality - but because Lianke, who has previously sailed too close to the political wind for Chinese censors, here presents a not altogether flattering view of Chinese politics. It's a book that is literary with a capital L, and while the core of the plot is relatively simple, what makes this book so interesting is the structure and way the story is told.