*Starred Review* Yan Shi, an aging Chinese code-cracker, views his life labor as “a sort of madness that pulls you close to insanity and to genius.” Readers skate the line separating insanity from genius in Mai Jia’s riveting tale of cryptographic warfare. At the center of Mai Jia’s taut novel, the mathematical genius Rong Jinzhen is spirited away as a young man to China’s secretive Unit 701, an elite cadre of code masters. There Jinzhen encounters the hero who broke WWII Japanese ciphers, now a helpless, chess-playing lunatic. Such is the peril Jinzhen faces as he launches his own lonely assault on PURPLE, the fiendish brainchild of his own former professor. In a narrative challenging readers to do their own decoding of its ruptures and inversions, readers see the brilliant protagonist survive daunting psychological dangers as he unravels PURPLE, inspired by a dream about the Russian chemist Mendeleyev. But when PURPLE’s sinister sibling, BLACK, emerges as the new foe, Jinzhen ventures forth again, veering toward mental breakdown when he loses a research notebook. A denouement at once heartbreaking and thought-provoking leaves readers pondering the collective sanity of a world shrouding knowledge in enigmas. Gifted translators bring English-speaking readers a Chinese literary treasure. --Bryce Christensen
Praise for
Decoded“
Decoded, the debut work of Mai Jia, breaks the mould . . . It stands out among Chinese novels for its pace, liveliness and the sheer novelty of the tale it tells. It grips from the first page. [Mai Jia] offers a beguiling and magical mystery tour of China. It is an absolute joy to read.” —
The Economist“There is a determination to unsettle the reader; an uneasiness abotu settling on one focused point of view, almost as if the narrative style is attempting to replicate the complexities of code breaking that lie at the heart of the novel . . . [
Decoded] possesses an aesthetic of its own, a world in which the characters feel constantly teetering on the edge of obsession.” —Tash Aw,
The Telegraph“
Decoded is a subtle and complex exploration of cryptography, politics, dreams and their significance . . . In the end, it’s the complexity of the characters that is
Decoded’s enduring pleasure.” —
The London Review of Books“Subtle and psychologically focused . . . the central story is a gripping one . . . it leaves you eager to read more of his work.” —Alexander Larman,
The Observer“A mixture of Kafka and Agatha Christie . . . An utterly fascinating read.” —Edward Wilson,
The Independent “The book’s subtle ambiguity is extended to its own conclusion, the decoding of which the reader is compelled to take part in.” —The Wall Street Journal
“An engaging and highly unusual read.” —
The Sunday Independent“
Decoded is a subtle and complex exploration of cryptography, politics, dreams and their significance . . . There is much of interest in this book, from the strange, superstitious beginning to the gradual decline of the Rong family as the twentieth century progresses . . . But, in the end, it is the complexity of the characters that is
Decoded’s enduring pleasure.” —
The Times Literary Supplement“Between the thrills of pulp fiction and those novels which come to be considered classics, there are boundaries and lines which, for many writers, are difficult to cross, and may take a lifetime (if ever) to realize. Mai Jia’s achievement is that he has overcome that barrier with steady and assured strides. The footprints he has left behind form an ingenious, secretive literary treasure map.” —Wong Kar-wai, director of
The Grandmaster“When I say that [Decoded] is excellent, I am referring both to its remarkable literary qualities and to the fact that it demands to be read in a single sitting.” —Alai, Mao Dun Literature Prize–winning author of Red Poppies
“The illogical nature of destiny, the brilliance and fragility of genius, and circumstances that bind people together irrevocably as they drift through the darkness of the night all form part of Mai Jia’s strange and mysterious novel.”—Beijing Evening News