RaveBooklistCompelling ... Her deep insight into a nation’s painted-over trauma explains how mass hysteria, rampant betrayal, and even cannibalism have shattered a society for generations afterwards. This communal trauma is where the simultaneous aggression and insecurity that shape Chinese policy come from; it’s the malaise driving this powerful nation. Particularly valuable is the author’s perception of the absence of clearly demarcated good and evil ... [A] priceless work of oral history.
Vesna Goldsworthy
PositiveBooklistThe irony of finding families, governments, and other institutions crumbling on both sides of the iron curtain and the Cold War propels this unusual, cutting, thought-provoking novel.
Dunya Mikhail
PositiveBooklistCompelling ... Just because this is fiction doesn’t mean it isn’t true. The bird tattoo of the title is one of the rare comforting constants, a shared emblem of Helen and Elias’ love within this hellish reign of terror. A harrowing and resonant achievement.
