Heart Sutra

(Paperback)

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The five major religions collide in an exploration of spirituality and gender fluidity in a novel imbued with celebrated Chinese author Yan Lianke's distinctive wit and humour The Heart Sutra is the most mysterious scripture in Chinese Buddhism. In Yan Lianke's new novel, disciples of China's five main religions-Buddhism, Daoism, Protestantism, Catholicism and Islam-gather for a year at the Religious Training Centre of Beijing's National Politics University. They live together, study together, exercise together in the blazing sun, and get caught up in financial and sexual shenanigans. Heart Sutra explores the complex relations between humans and gods, between the secular and the divine, and between genders. The youngest Daoist monk and the youngest Buddhist nun fall in love. But as their faith is tested, will they stay committed to the path of a holy life The choices they make are confronting, because nothing less than the fate of the gods is at stake. Illustrated with beautiful woodcuts, animated by an incisive sense of humour, and inhabited by an unforgettable cast of mortals and deities, Heart Sutra is a stunning addition to Yan Lianke's oeuvre, which highlights the best and worst in humankind.

Reviews

One of those rare geniuses who finds in the peculiar absurdities of his own culture the absurdities that infect all cultures. * Washington Post *
Yan Lianke speaks to the agitation and absurdity of human existence, and the unquenchable need to believe in a cause greater than ourselves. * Jessie Au, author of Cold Enough for Snow *
'Picaresque, but with serious matters of faith, love, and political wrangling at its fast-beating heart. * Kirkus Reviews *
Intriguing satire[Yan Liankes] barbs against organised religion frequently hit their targets[T]here is plenty to admire. * Booklist *
Heart Sutra is a warm-hearted, if not gentle, satire that skewers religious institutions without mocking faith itself...by its end, it has moved through absurdity, darkness, and body horror into a strange and flickering form of hope...a deeply satisfying read...Yan's storytelling has a luminous, irrepressible quality...in its darkness, it shines. * NPR *
Extremely intriguingGlimpses of early Salman Rushdie. * RNZ: Nine to Noon *

Author Bio

Yan Lianke is the author of the memoir Three Brothers and numerous novels and novellas, including Hard Like Water, The Day the Sun Died, The Explosion Chronicles, The Four Books, Lenin's Kisses, Serve the People!, Dream of Ding Village, and The Years, Months, Days. He was awarded the Newman Prize for Chinese Literature and the Franz Kafka Prize, among many accolades. He was twice a finalist for the Man Booker International Prize, and he has been shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, the Man Asian Literary Prize, and the Prix Femina tranger. He has also received two of China's most prestigious literary honors, the Lu Xun Prize and the Lao She Award. Carlos Rojas has translated seven books by Yan Lianke.