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Wuhan
Gleich nach dem Ausbruch des Corona-Virus reist der Bürgerjournalist Li in das Epizentrum der Katastrophe. »Weil er keine Angst vor Gespenstern hat«, so die Stellenanzeige, findet er einen Job im Krematorium. Schnell begreift er, dass die offiziellen Opferzahlen nicht stimmen. Doch der kurze Augenblick, in dem er glaubt, die Wahrheit sagen zu dürfen, vergeht über Nacht: Er wird entdeckt, verfolgt und dokumentiert im Internet live, wie er brutal verhaftet wird.
In diesem bestürzend aktuellen Dokumentarroman »Wuhan« führt uns Liao Yiwu in das Herz der ungelösten Fragen und erzählt die spannende Recherche der Hintergründe einer gewaltigen Vertuschung. Woher stammt das Virus und was geschah in Wuhan? Protokolle verschwinden, und neue Lügen zementieren die Geschichte vom heroischen Sieg der Partei – Propaganda, die die Menschen vergiftet wie das Virus.
In diesem bestürzend aktuellen Dokumentarroman »Wuhan« führt uns Liao Yiwu in das Herz der ungelösten Fragen und erzählt die spannende Recherche der Hintergründe einer gewaltigen Vertuschung. Woher stammt das Virus und was geschah in Wuhan? Protokolle verschwinden, und neue Lügen zementieren die Geschichte vom heroischen Sieg der Partei – Propaganda, die die Menschen vergiftet wie das Virus.
- GenresChinaNonfictionHistory
352 pages, Hardcover
Published January 26, 2022
11 people are currently reading
149 people want to read
About the author
Liao Yiwu
34 books119 followersLiao Yiwu is a writer, musician, and poet from Sichuan, China. He is a critic of the Chinese regime, for which he has been imprisoned, and the majority of his writings are banned in China. Liao is the author of The Corpse Walker and God Is Red. He has received numerous awards for his work, including the prestigious 2012 Peace Prize awarded by the German Book Trade and the Geschwister-Scholl-Preis in 2011 for the publication of his memoir in Germany.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 19, 2024
Thank you to NetGalley and Post Hypnotic Press Inc. for providing me with access to this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.
I wasn’t sure that I was really ready to read a book about COVID, but I was very interested in getting a behind the scenes look at what was going on in Wuhan. I checked out the author, and was impressed by his willingness to criticize the Chinese Communist Party as well as pay the consequences for that. You know those nonfiction stories that read like fiction? This felt like the exact opposite—a documentary novel that blends both fact and fiction, with characters who are real and those who are made up, yet the book felt like a cohesive peek behind the curtain of secrecy in Wuhan and China as a whole.
This book starts out through the perspective of Kcriss, a citizen reporter who hears about rumors of some mysterious kind of flu occurring in Wuhan. He then makes the decision to travel to Wuhan and see what is happening there for himself. Applying as a corpse carrier at a local funeral home, he realizes how large the death toll is, especially compared to what the government is reporting to its citizens and the world.
From there, we get to see through the eyes of other people close to ground zero for what we know now is COVID-19. Ai Ding is a married man returning from business in Germany, and struggling to get home to Wuhan through all of the roadblocks that arise. His elderly father is sick and he’s very motivated to get home, facing multiple disinfections and quarantines (paid for out of his own pocket), as the government tries to do everything to keep the events in Wuhan quiet. The entire book is told through the eyes of several characters, and narrated by one narrator, Ernest Reid. He did a fantastic job with the characters and the story, effortlessly switching between British-accented English and Mandarin Chinese, with a Wuhan dialect, although I’d defer to a Mandarin speaker since I don’t speak Chinese.
This combination of fact and fiction in order to provide a look into Wuhan gives the start of the pandemic a personalized feel. Rather than seeing lists of names and numbers of people dead, we get to know a few people very well, and see how deeply this wreaked havoc under the oppressive regime in China. I’m always fascinated by the experiences of ordinary people, especially when they’re featured against the backdrop of extraordinary circumstances. We got an in-depth view of what it is like living under a communist regime that controls every aspect of their citizens lives, including using an Internet wall to prevent free exchange of ideas on the web.
It doesn’t take long for claustrophobia to set in while reading this. There’s a simmering threat throughout the story, and it bubbles over as the government works harder to manage the crisis playing out in Wuhan and media propaganda scrambles to find a way to spin it. Despite reading books about life under various dictatorships, and having heard about it first-hand from my father, it wasn’t until this book that it hit home how corrupt the dictatorship always becomes, and how quickly they manage to bring an entire population under their control.
One of the first similarities for me was seeing how this crisis was handled compared to the USSR management of the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Meltdown, which I actually remember seeing on the news as a kid. The government of the USSR downplayed the nuclear reactor accident until they were unable to, as reactors in Western Europe were picking up increased levels of radiation. Much like in Wuhan, the government was offering significantly lower death tolls than the people on the ground were seeing, with trucks full of dead bodies being brought to the crematorium. The people of Wuhan were dying in large numbers, with entire families succumbing to this new disease that the government is telling them not to worry about. As with any other oppressive regime, they have a complex system of monitoring residents and quickly identifying anyone who isn’t toeing the party line, subjecting them to imprisonment and torture.
Overall, this was a really well done novel, and it felt like the perfect combination of facts and fiction to give a documentary feel with a personal spin. It’s a lot easier to identify with the characters when we realize it’s just a matter of location between them and us—I may not be living under a dictatorship, but this book also tears off the rose-colored glasses being shone on communism, and how the people in China coped with this explosion of disease. Throughout the book, the author refers to COVID as ‘the Wuhan virus’ in that it originated in Wuhan, and shares the wet market story of where the virus came from, along with the more sinister idea that it was a leak from the P4 lab that led to this pandemic which changed the world as all of us know it. This would be a great read if you like thoughtful novels, getting a sneak peek into the start of a pandemic, are intrigued by China or life under communism, and documentaries that read like fiction, and I can enthusiastically recommend the audiobook version for clear pronunciation of Chinese words that I would never have had any idea how to pronounce.
I wasn’t sure that I was really ready to read a book about COVID, but I was very interested in getting a behind the scenes look at what was going on in Wuhan. I checked out the author, and was impressed by his willingness to criticize the Chinese Communist Party as well as pay the consequences for that. You know those nonfiction stories that read like fiction? This felt like the exact opposite—a documentary novel that blends both fact and fiction, with characters who are real and those who are made up, yet the book felt like a cohesive peek behind the curtain of secrecy in Wuhan and China as a whole.
This book starts out through the perspective of Kcriss, a citizen reporter who hears about rumors of some mysterious kind of flu occurring in Wuhan. He then makes the decision to travel to Wuhan and see what is happening there for himself. Applying as a corpse carrier at a local funeral home, he realizes how large the death toll is, especially compared to what the government is reporting to its citizens and the world.
From there, we get to see through the eyes of other people close to ground zero for what we know now is COVID-19. Ai Ding is a married man returning from business in Germany, and struggling to get home to Wuhan through all of the roadblocks that arise. His elderly father is sick and he’s very motivated to get home, facing multiple disinfections and quarantines (paid for out of his own pocket), as the government tries to do everything to keep the events in Wuhan quiet. The entire book is told through the eyes of several characters, and narrated by one narrator, Ernest Reid. He did a fantastic job with the characters and the story, effortlessly switching between British-accented English and Mandarin Chinese, with a Wuhan dialect, although I’d defer to a Mandarin speaker since I don’t speak Chinese.
This combination of fact and fiction in order to provide a look into Wuhan gives the start of the pandemic a personalized feel. Rather than seeing lists of names and numbers of people dead, we get to know a few people very well, and see how deeply this wreaked havoc under the oppressive regime in China. I’m always fascinated by the experiences of ordinary people, especially when they’re featured against the backdrop of extraordinary circumstances. We got an in-depth view of what it is like living under a communist regime that controls every aspect of their citizens lives, including using an Internet wall to prevent free exchange of ideas on the web.
It doesn’t take long for claustrophobia to set in while reading this. There’s a simmering threat throughout the story, and it bubbles over as the government works harder to manage the crisis playing out in Wuhan and media propaganda scrambles to find a way to spin it. Despite reading books about life under various dictatorships, and having heard about it first-hand from my father, it wasn’t until this book that it hit home how corrupt the dictatorship always becomes, and how quickly they manage to bring an entire population under their control.
One of the first similarities for me was seeing how this crisis was handled compared to the USSR management of the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Meltdown, which I actually remember seeing on the news as a kid. The government of the USSR downplayed the nuclear reactor accident until they were unable to, as reactors in Western Europe were picking up increased levels of radiation. Much like in Wuhan, the government was offering significantly lower death tolls than the people on the ground were seeing, with trucks full of dead bodies being brought to the crematorium. The people of Wuhan were dying in large numbers, with entire families succumbing to this new disease that the government is telling them not to worry about. As with any other oppressive regime, they have a complex system of monitoring residents and quickly identifying anyone who isn’t toeing the party line, subjecting them to imprisonment and torture.
Overall, this was a really well done novel, and it felt like the perfect combination of facts and fiction to give a documentary feel with a personal spin. It’s a lot easier to identify with the characters when we realize it’s just a matter of location between them and us—I may not be living under a dictatorship, but this book also tears off the rose-colored glasses being shone on communism, and how the people in China coped with this explosion of disease. Throughout the book, the author refers to COVID as ‘the Wuhan virus’ in that it originated in Wuhan, and shares the wet market story of where the virus came from, along with the more sinister idea that it was a leak from the P4 lab that led to this pandemic which changed the world as all of us know it. This would be a great read if you like thoughtful novels, getting a sneak peek into the start of a pandemic, are intrigued by China or life under communism, and documentaries that read like fiction, and I can enthusiastically recommend the audiobook version for clear pronunciation of Chinese words that I would never have had any idea how to pronounce.
August 24, 2022
Das Buch hat mir leider nicht gefallen. Gekauft hatte ich es weil fett drauf steht „Dokumentarroman“.
Mir war das zu viel Fiktion u zu wenig Fakten.
Hatte eine höhere Erwartung an nachweisbaren Fakten an das Buch. Ist aber eher wirrwarr.
Mir war das zu viel Fiktion u zu wenig Fakten.
Hatte eine höhere Erwartung an nachweisbaren Fakten an das Buch. Ist aber eher wirrwarr.
March 19, 2022
Wuhan von Liao Yiwu
Gelesen dank Netgalley
Dieses Buch ist keine Faktensammlung und kein Erfahrungsbericht, aber es ist auch nicht nur eine fiktive Geschichte.
Zusätzlich ist das Lesen anstrengend, weil der Stil dem von klassischen chinesischen Romanen entspricht.
D.h. im Buch mischen sich reale Geschehnisse z.B. im Bereich der Bürgerreporter, die fiktive Reise eines fiktiven Helden zur Zeit des Lockdown in Wuhan und all die Elemente, die chinesische Romane ausmachen: Rückblenden, Zitate klassischer Texte, mäandernde Erzählweise, Exkurse zur Herkunft von Nebenfiguren inklusive der Erläuterung wie es zu ihren Namen kam usw.
Der Held unterhält sich während des ganzen Geschehens immer wieder mit einem Chinesen, der sich in Deutschland aufhält. Ungeachtet der Einschränkungen durch Firewall usw. tauschen sie sich über Fakten, Vermutungen und Belege zu Ursache und Verlauf der Pandemie aus.
Neben allem anderen steht für den Autoren fest:
Die Zahlen, die China vermeldet sind nicht nur ungenau, sondern grob gefälscht.
Es gibt Indizien, dass der Virus nicht vom Wildtiermarkt, sondern aus einem Labor kam, diese Belege beziehen sich auf Erfahrungen mit Fledermaus-Viren, Aussagen von Wissenschaftlern, vermutete Infektionsreihen und das Verhalten der Politik und lokaler Polizei, sobald sich jemand zu Recherchezwecken den Labors nähert.
Sich in China zu Dingen zu äußern, die Politik und Regierung in ein schlechtes Licht bringen, gefährdet die eigene Freiheit.
Das Buch ist durchaus anstrengend zu lesen, dennoch aber lohnend. Trotz der Erläuterungen bleibt es aber auf der Grenze zwischen Beleg und Fantasie – so dass der Leser selbst entscheiden kann und muss, ob bzw. wie viel der Geschichte er/sie für bare Münze nimmt.
#WUHAN #LiaoYiwu #NetGalleyDE #Pandemie #KathrinliebtLesen #Rezension #Bookstagram
Gelesen dank Netgalley
Dieses Buch ist keine Faktensammlung und kein Erfahrungsbericht, aber es ist auch nicht nur eine fiktive Geschichte.
Zusätzlich ist das Lesen anstrengend, weil der Stil dem von klassischen chinesischen Romanen entspricht.
D.h. im Buch mischen sich reale Geschehnisse z.B. im Bereich der Bürgerreporter, die fiktive Reise eines fiktiven Helden zur Zeit des Lockdown in Wuhan und all die Elemente, die chinesische Romane ausmachen: Rückblenden, Zitate klassischer Texte, mäandernde Erzählweise, Exkurse zur Herkunft von Nebenfiguren inklusive der Erläuterung wie es zu ihren Namen kam usw.
Der Held unterhält sich während des ganzen Geschehens immer wieder mit einem Chinesen, der sich in Deutschland aufhält. Ungeachtet der Einschränkungen durch Firewall usw. tauschen sie sich über Fakten, Vermutungen und Belege zu Ursache und Verlauf der Pandemie aus.
Neben allem anderen steht für den Autoren fest:
Die Zahlen, die China vermeldet sind nicht nur ungenau, sondern grob gefälscht.
Es gibt Indizien, dass der Virus nicht vom Wildtiermarkt, sondern aus einem Labor kam, diese Belege beziehen sich auf Erfahrungen mit Fledermaus-Viren, Aussagen von Wissenschaftlern, vermutete Infektionsreihen und das Verhalten der Politik und lokaler Polizei, sobald sich jemand zu Recherchezwecken den Labors nähert.
Sich in China zu Dingen zu äußern, die Politik und Regierung in ein schlechtes Licht bringen, gefährdet die eigene Freiheit.
Das Buch ist durchaus anstrengend zu lesen, dennoch aber lohnend. Trotz der Erläuterungen bleibt es aber auf der Grenze zwischen Beleg und Fantasie – so dass der Leser selbst entscheiden kann und muss, ob bzw. wie viel der Geschichte er/sie für bare Münze nimmt.
#WUHAN #LiaoYiwu #NetGalleyDE #Pandemie #KathrinliebtLesen #Rezension #Bookstagram
December 14, 2024
3.5 stars
Liao Yiwu (b. 1958) is a Chinese dissident, author, reporter, musician and poet. Liao is a critic of China's Communist Party, for which he's been imprisoned. Most of Liao's writing has been banned in China, and he's been living as an expat in Germany since 2011.
Author Liao Yiwu
Liao is critical of China's early handling of the Covid pandemic, and this 'documentary novel', first published in Germany in 2022, depicts China's mismanagement of the crisis and its harsh repression of 'truth-tellers.' Liao calls Covid-19 the 'Wuhan virus' and begins his book with a note that says: "Wuhan virus" is not a political term, but rather an objective description of the truth. Wuhan is the birthplace of the powerful virus that is harming the world today; or one could say the virus was first discovered in Wuhan.
Some characters in the novel are real people portraying actual events, and the book paints a picture of a secretive regime trying to obfuscate the origin of the Covid virus, and a government determined to deflect blame for the Covid catastrophe.
Chinese officials downplayed the Covid crisis
Many non-fiction books have been written about China and the Covid pandemic, but Liao's novel takes a more personal approach, showing characters separated from their families, experiencing losses, writing poems (including a suicide poem), committing suicide, getting arrested and 'disappeared', and more.
For example, the family of Chinese film director Chang Kai fell ill one after another, and all died within 17 days. Chang left a testament of his ordeal:
'As everyone knows, a nightmare has befallen us. On New Year's Day, my father came down with a fever and a cough, had difficulty breathing, and I went with him to several hospitals for treatment. But they all reported there were no beds available. Extremely disappointed, we came home to attempt to save ourselves. A few days later, my old father left this world with recriminations in his heart. After such a heavy blow, my mother was exhausted both physically and mentally, her immune system failed, and she too became severely infected and died. After serving my parents at their deathbeds for several days, the ruthless coronavirus also devoured my wife and me.....To all the people I love and who love me, I bid you farewell forever.'
Chinese film director Chang Kai
The story is replete with this kind of hardship.
*****
The book opens with a real-life event: In February 2020, when the city of Wuhan has been sealed off for more than a month, rumors are circulating about a Wuhan virus killing thousands of people. A 25-year-old citizen reporter called Kcriss Li wants to expose the truth.
Citizen reporter Kcriss Li
So Kcriss goes to Wuhan to investigate. The number of bodies at funeral homes/crematoriums show China is vastly downplaying the number of Covid deaths, and the Huanan Seafood Market, suspected as being the source of the virus, is closed down and has been sterilized.
Huanan Seafood Market
Some people believe Covid was released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a P4 lab (highest biosafety level), and Kcriss drives over to have a look.
Wuhan Institute of Virology
While Kcriss is surveilling the lab, National Security Agents notice him, and a frenzied car chase ensues.
Kcriss
Kcriss manages to get back to the apartment he's renting, and sets up his computer to record sound and video as the National Security Agents pound on his door. After several hours, Kcriss lets the agents in, and is taken away on camera (you can see this on YouTube).
Kcriss is arrested by Chinese National Security Agents
The rest of the book largely revolves around a (fictional) Chinese man named Ai Ding, who lives in Wuhan with his family, but works in Germany. Just as Ai Ding is flying from Berlin to China for the annual Spring Festival, Wuhan and other cities are shut down tight, with no one allowed in or out.
Ai Ding's flight from Beijing to Wuhan is therefore canceled, and Ai Ding phones his wife, assuring her he'll get home one way or another. Ai Ding's wife urges him to be cautious, explaining she's looking after Ai Ding's sick 93-year-old father, and can't help if Ai Ding gets into trouble. Ai Ding's wife also describes the terrible situation in Wuhan, including seeing a crematorium van - loaded with bodies - from her window.
Ai Ding is shocked. "At the time, he still didn't understand what his wife was describing would also eventually become the daily epidemic situation throughout the country." Before the closure of the cities, anticipating the Spring Festival, millions of people fanned out across China from Wuhan, and there was no way to test them, much less diagnose and isolate them. "Hundreds of thousands of people who were fine today, without a fever or cough, might tomorrow suddenly fall to the ground, twitch a few times and die."
Intensive care units in China, filled with Covid patients
The remainder of the book follows Ai Ding as he attempts to make his way back to his family, a VERY DIFFICULT proposition. Ai Ding is frequently stopped by guards at checkpoints, where's he's sprayed with disinfectant and his papers are checked.
Sometimes Ai Ding is allowed to proceed, and sometimes he's forced to stay quarantined in a hotel (at his own expense). Along the way, Ai Ding has some good luck and some bad luck, and he meets other 'refugees', including people experiencing severe hardships. One man, whom Ai Ding dubs 'Hatchet Face' is living in his van on a short bridge, not allowed to get off at either end. Once a week Hatchet Face's wife comes to one of the checkpoints to bring her husband food and take away his trash.
Ai Ding can communicate with the rest of China via Weibo and WeChat, but Ai Ding - and everyone else in the country - has to be VERY CAREFUL about posting online. Controversial comments about Covid (or anything else) are deleted immediately by Chinese censors, and any comments that don't toe the Communist party line can lead to arrests, disappearances, and 'suicide' by "jumping' off a building. So the population is afraid to even hypothesize about China's role in the pandemic.
Ai Ding manages to get over the Chinese firewall to Skype with his Chinese friend in Germany almost every day, and the two men 'share' many glasses of wine as they talk about their families; the situation in China; philosophy; poetry; the possible origin of the Covid virus; and so on.
Slowly but surely Ai Ding gets closer and closer to his home in Wuhan, and eventually restrictions are lifted. This isn't the end of Ai Ding's story though.....
Towards the end of the book, there's a long chapter about the origin and spread of Covid, including a whole gamut of opinions. One idea is even that an American soldier was patient zero, and joint military operations in China brought Covid there. The consensus is that Covid originated in China, perhaps jumping from bats to humans, and the determination of the Chinese government to cover up the problem allowed the spread of the virus to the whole world.
Bats harbor hundreds of coronaviruses
The novel provides a sad picture of human suffering caused by the pandemic. One scene, in which a little Chinese boy covers his dead grandfather with a blanket 'to keep him warm', then subsists on crackers for days until the neighbors find him, is just one tragic tale.
This 'hybrid' book, which adds to the many tomes addressing Covid, is worth reading to get a wider picture of the pandemic.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Ernest Reid, who does an excellent job.
Thanks to Netgalley, Liao Yiwu, and Post-Hypnotic Press Audiobooks for a copy of the book.
You can follow my reviews at http://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
December 21, 2024
Liao Yiwu’s Wuhan: A Documentary Novel was an eye-opening read for me. As someone completely outside of China’s culture and politics, it gave me a perspective I don’t think I’d ever get from our news. What we hear is often filtered through political agendas, and Liao Yiwu's book offers a more raw, human view of what was happening in Wuhan during those early pandemic days. Through personal testimonies, it allowed me to connect with the experiences of ordinary people—many of whom were caught in the turmoil of the lockdown.
What I really appreciated was how easy the narration was to follow. The voices in the book were clear and authentic, with each person’s story standing out in its own unique way. Even though I’m unfamiliar with Chinese names and cultural contexts, the way Liao presented everything felt accessible, allowing me to connect with the stories without feeling lost.
There were parts that hit me hard. The separation of families was especially painful to read about, as family is such a huge part of life for me. The sadness of people being cut off from their loved ones felt so deep. Another section that stayed with me was when some Chinese citizens seemed to celebrate as more and more Americans died. It was difficult to digest, but it made me reflect on how often we find an enemy to blame, especially when our own struggles feel insurmountable. Regardless of politics, every life is valuable, and every death is someone’s family lost.
The historical details were fascinating, particularly the stories around virus research and the camps where testing was being done. Hearing about the fears of researchers, especially before the coronavirus outbreak officially began, was chilling. The thought that a bat escaping a cage might have led to the outbreak really brought home the gravity of the situation.
One quote that struck me was about how “political beliefs are aesthetic.” That hit hard and made me reflect on the nature of political alignment—how often it’s shaped by appearances and not deeply held beliefs.
Overall, Wuhan: A Documentary Novel was thought-provoking. It wasn’t just about the virus or the politics—it was about the people, their struggles, and the deep emotional cost of what they faced. It’s a heavy read, but one that’s well worth the time if you want to understand the human side of a global crisis.
Thank you to #Netgalley and #posthypnoticpressaudiobooks for letting me listen to #wuhan
What I really appreciated was how easy the narration was to follow. The voices in the book were clear and authentic, with each person’s story standing out in its own unique way. Even though I’m unfamiliar with Chinese names and cultural contexts, the way Liao presented everything felt accessible, allowing me to connect with the stories without feeling lost.
There were parts that hit me hard. The separation of families was especially painful to read about, as family is such a huge part of life for me. The sadness of people being cut off from their loved ones felt so deep. Another section that stayed with me was when some Chinese citizens seemed to celebrate as more and more Americans died. It was difficult to digest, but it made me reflect on how often we find an enemy to blame, especially when our own struggles feel insurmountable. Regardless of politics, every life is valuable, and every death is someone’s family lost.
The historical details were fascinating, particularly the stories around virus research and the camps where testing was being done. Hearing about the fears of researchers, especially before the coronavirus outbreak officially began, was chilling. The thought that a bat escaping a cage might have led to the outbreak really brought home the gravity of the situation.
One quote that struck me was about how “political beliefs are aesthetic.” That hit hard and made me reflect on the nature of political alignment—how often it’s shaped by appearances and not deeply held beliefs.
Overall, Wuhan: A Documentary Novel was thought-provoking. It wasn’t just about the virus or the politics—it was about the people, their struggles, and the deep emotional cost of what they faced. It’s a heavy read, but one that’s well worth the time if you want to understand the human side of a global crisis.
Thank you to #Netgalley and #posthypnoticpressaudiobooks for letting me listen to #wuhan
January 3, 2025
WUHAN is a captivating documentary novel. Liao Yiwu, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, chronicles the beginnings of the pandemic in China, which he tracked in exile from Germany. The book's unique blend of fact and fiction gives an insight into China's state and social restrictions during COVID-19, adding a personal touch that makes the narrative more relatable.
This book starts from the perspective of Kcriss, a citizen reporter who hears rumors of some mysterious flu occurring in Wuhan, and deciding to travel to Wuhan to see what is happening there for himself. Applying as a corpse carrier at a local funeral home, he is confronted with the stark reality of the pandemic's impact, a reality that is far more severe than what the government is reporting.
From there, the main plot is carried by Ai Ding, a fictional historian who embarks on a personal journey to return home to Wuhan from Germany to celebrate New Year. Wuhan is locked down, and through Ai's communications with his wife, we follow the unfolding tragedy, the official lies and cover-up, and the desperation and deaths of the citizens, all interspersed with journalistic and official reports. As Ai attempts to make his way across an unrecognizable landscape, a disaster on individual, national, and international scales is relived through a dramatic, hybrid narrative.
The story was informative, and the historical details were fascinating, particularly the stories around virus research and the camps where testing was being done. Hearing about researchers' fears, especially before the coronavirus outbreak officially began, was chilling.
Ernest Reid's narration is a standout feature of the audiobook, delivering a stellar performance. Shifting between British-accented English and Mandarin Chinese, his narration not only enhances the overall experience but also brings the characters and the story to life, making it a great listen.
Thank you, NetGalley and Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks, for providing me with the audio copy of WUHAN in exchange for an honest review.
This book starts from the perspective of Kcriss, a citizen reporter who hears rumors of some mysterious flu occurring in Wuhan, and deciding to travel to Wuhan to see what is happening there for himself. Applying as a corpse carrier at a local funeral home, he is confronted with the stark reality of the pandemic's impact, a reality that is far more severe than what the government is reporting.
From there, the main plot is carried by Ai Ding, a fictional historian who embarks on a personal journey to return home to Wuhan from Germany to celebrate New Year. Wuhan is locked down, and through Ai's communications with his wife, we follow the unfolding tragedy, the official lies and cover-up, and the desperation and deaths of the citizens, all interspersed with journalistic and official reports. As Ai attempts to make his way across an unrecognizable landscape, a disaster on individual, national, and international scales is relived through a dramatic, hybrid narrative.
The story was informative, and the historical details were fascinating, particularly the stories around virus research and the camps where testing was being done. Hearing about researchers' fears, especially before the coronavirus outbreak officially began, was chilling.
Ernest Reid's narration is a standout feature of the audiobook, delivering a stellar performance. Shifting between British-accented English and Mandarin Chinese, his narration not only enhances the overall experience but also brings the characters and the story to life, making it a great listen.
Thank you, NetGalley and Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks, for providing me with the audio copy of WUHAN in exchange for an honest review.
January 9, 2025
Third book in and I’m still working through my NetGalley requests. When I originally read the brief description of this book and it referred to someone responding to an ad for corpse carriers, I knew this was the dark side of the Pandemic that we weren’t told about, the side that wasn’t supposed to get out and the bit I of course wanted to know!
I’ve always been interested in cults, sects and closed societies and China is literally the epitome. I amnt a doomsday chaser or a conspirator in any sense, but I think enough time has passed for us to delve in and see for ourselves what exactly happened.
In this book we are told two different sides of the pandemic, a YouTuber/influencer who his trying to break into the P4 lab, who has answered the ad to be a corpse carrier who’s trying to educate his followers and beyond what’s really going on in Wuhan and then the other side we hear about a Chinese citizen who has come back from Berlin for Spring festival and is trying to make it back to his family in Wuhan, but all the borders and ways in are closed. We hear about the lies, bribes, deception, propaganda, infiltration, banned posts, the discrimination amongst Wuhan citizens and how the racial discrimination spread as fast as the virus.
The writing style or way the book is organised could have been better. It starts out with the influencers story. I don’t want to spoil it, but we abruptly move on to the man trying to travel home before at the end referring to him again. We then have a chapter of conspiracy theories and references to the disappeared. I understand why we need to know about the disappeared and how it makes us understand the CCP, their powers and their control more, but I would loved to have a delved a bit more into the secrecy and lies. Still very interesting and would recommend.
I’ve always been interested in cults, sects and closed societies and China is literally the epitome. I amnt a doomsday chaser or a conspirator in any sense, but I think enough time has passed for us to delve in and see for ourselves what exactly happened.
In this book we are told two different sides of the pandemic, a YouTuber/influencer who his trying to break into the P4 lab, who has answered the ad to be a corpse carrier who’s trying to educate his followers and beyond what’s really going on in Wuhan and then the other side we hear about a Chinese citizen who has come back from Berlin for Spring festival and is trying to make it back to his family in Wuhan, but all the borders and ways in are closed. We hear about the lies, bribes, deception, propaganda, infiltration, banned posts, the discrimination amongst Wuhan citizens and how the racial discrimination spread as fast as the virus.
The writing style or way the book is organised could have been better. It starts out with the influencers story. I don’t want to spoil it, but we abruptly move on to the man trying to travel home before at the end referring to him again. We then have a chapter of conspiracy theories and references to the disappeared. I understand why we need to know about the disappeared and how it makes us understand the CCP, their powers and their control more, but I would loved to have a delved a bit more into the secrecy and lies. Still very interesting and would recommend.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2024
As much as I try not to have specific expectations about books before I start them, I was intrigued by this one. I wasn’t sure exactly what a “documentary novel” was, but Chinese citizens’ perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic sounded like something worth hearing.
I did get some new perspectives from the book - particularly when the author gets going and sticks with telling one story for a while, you do get some sense of how awful things were in those early days of 2020 for the Chinese people. The problem is that the author doesn’t seem to have a clear vision of what they think a documentary novel is, either. So there are seemingly random asides to rail against subjects not directly part of the story they interrupted. For example, international perspectives on the Chinese actions in Hong Kong are important and the author’s anger is certainly justified- but since it wasn’t what was being discussed where it was inserted, it feels like a random diatribe rather than part of the book.
Part of the issue is the translation - since the Chinese language is structured so differently from English, it takes special skill and no small amount of literary expertise to translate dialogue, slang, colloquialisms, etc. without falling into parody. While the translator probably did an accurate job, there are sections, particularly when multiple people are quoted in rapid succession, that are really clunky. The choice of a BBC-voiced narrator was also…a choice, since the aloof accent makes the choppy translation even more noticeable.
I hope there will be more pandemic stories - both fiction and nonfiction- from the Chinese perspective. This one gets points for starting the conversation, but it shouldn’t be the end of it.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
I did get some new perspectives from the book - particularly when the author gets going and sticks with telling one story for a while, you do get some sense of how awful things were in those early days of 2020 for the Chinese people. The problem is that the author doesn’t seem to have a clear vision of what they think a documentary novel is, either. So there are seemingly random asides to rail against subjects not directly part of the story they interrupted. For example, international perspectives on the Chinese actions in Hong Kong are important and the author’s anger is certainly justified- but since it wasn’t what was being discussed where it was inserted, it feels like a random diatribe rather than part of the book.
Part of the issue is the translation - since the Chinese language is structured so differently from English, it takes special skill and no small amount of literary expertise to translate dialogue, slang, colloquialisms, etc. without falling into parody. While the translator probably did an accurate job, there are sections, particularly when multiple people are quoted in rapid succession, that are really clunky. The choice of a BBC-voiced narrator was also…a choice, since the aloof accent makes the choppy translation even more noticeable.
I hope there will be more pandemic stories - both fiction and nonfiction- from the Chinese perspective. This one gets points for starting the conversation, but it shouldn’t be the end of it.
Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.
December 28, 2024
📚 Audiobook Review – “Wuhan” by Liao Yiwu ⭐️⭐️⭐️ (3 stars)
Thank you to NetGalley and S.Fischer for the free ALC (Advance Listening Copy) in exchange for an honest review.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked within the organisational unit responsible for developing Australia’s vaccine response. As a non-scientist, I became fascinated by Wuhan, pandemics in general, and vaccine development, so I was eager to dive into Wuhan, a novelised documentary by Liao Yiwu.
This book blends fact and fiction, making it difficult at times to distinguish between the two. While I’ve enjoyed novelised documentaries before, this one felt slightly disjointed. However, the moments of raw fear and helplessness experienced by Wuhan’s citizens were deeply sobering.
⚠️ Trigger warning: suicide.
What stood out:
📍 Seeing the pandemic through the eyes of a Chinese citizen was fascinating – and terrifying. The Chinese government’s lengths to control the narrative about the virus were chilling.
📍 The book first follows Kcriss, a citizen reporter, who applies as a corpse carrier at a funeral home to get closer to the truth. His social media documentation is cut short when he is arrested – a powerful reminder of censorship in authoritarian regimes.
📍 Other perspectives weave through the story, providing a broader view of life in Wuhan at the height of the crisis. The claustrophobia and paranoia are palpable throughout.
Narrator Ernest Reid delivers a brilliant performance, shifting between British-accented English and Mandarin Chinese, but as a non-Mandarin speaker, I can’t comment on its accuracy.
The Verdict:
While the combination of fact and fiction left me unsettled, this audiobook gave a personal, human-centred perspective on the pandemic’s origin. If you’re intrigued by China, life under communism, or pandemic narratives, this is worth the read – but brace yourself for heavy material.
For more of my reviews: www.instagram.com/liisalovesreading
#AudiobookReview #WuhanBookReview #NetGalleyReview #PandemicLiterature
Thank you to NetGalley and S.Fischer for the free ALC (Advance Listening Copy) in exchange for an honest review.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, I worked within the organisational unit responsible for developing Australia’s vaccine response. As a non-scientist, I became fascinated by Wuhan, pandemics in general, and vaccine development, so I was eager to dive into Wuhan, a novelised documentary by Liao Yiwu.
This book blends fact and fiction, making it difficult at times to distinguish between the two. While I’ve enjoyed novelised documentaries before, this one felt slightly disjointed. However, the moments of raw fear and helplessness experienced by Wuhan’s citizens were deeply sobering.
⚠️ Trigger warning: suicide.
What stood out:
📍 Seeing the pandemic through the eyes of a Chinese citizen was fascinating – and terrifying. The Chinese government’s lengths to control the narrative about the virus were chilling.
📍 The book first follows Kcriss, a citizen reporter, who applies as a corpse carrier at a funeral home to get closer to the truth. His social media documentation is cut short when he is arrested – a powerful reminder of censorship in authoritarian regimes.
📍 Other perspectives weave through the story, providing a broader view of life in Wuhan at the height of the crisis. The claustrophobia and paranoia are palpable throughout.
Narrator Ernest Reid delivers a brilliant performance, shifting between British-accented English and Mandarin Chinese, but as a non-Mandarin speaker, I can’t comment on its accuracy.
The Verdict:
While the combination of fact and fiction left me unsettled, this audiobook gave a personal, human-centred perspective on the pandemic’s origin. If you’re intrigued by China, life under communism, or pandemic narratives, this is worth the read – but brace yourself for heavy material.
For more of my reviews: www.instagram.com/liisalovesreading
#AudiobookReview #WuhanBookReview #NetGalleyReview #PandemicLiterature
October 8, 2025
Subtitled a documentary novel, Wuhan (2024) by Liao Yiwu is translated by Michael Martin Day. An insightful COVID tale, it begins with a citizen reporter, Kcriss, going to Wuhan to work as a corpse carrier for a local funeral home. He intends to discover what is actually happening, as he recounts the experiences of various people. It’s an unusual book based on actual historical events, with appropriate footnote references, yet it has poetry and a fictionalised recounting of real events and people. This pseudo-fiction novel is an intriguing read, which captures the early chaos and confused feeling of the pandemic. It’s an insightful exposé, full of raw emotion and observation that captures the human element of the global crisis and world-changing consequences for all. Overall, a touching pseudo-fiction account that offers various insightful levels of analysis, earning a four-star read rating. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own, freely given and without any inducement.
December 16, 2024
audio-ARC from NetGalley.
What did I just read? The chaos and confusion from the beginning of the pandemic are perfectly personified in this book.
The narrator did a really good job. My confusion lay within the book overall. I genuinely struggled to make sense of the timelines and people whose stories we followed. I never truly understood what was going on or why or how it all tied together. I'm not even sure what's real and what's not.
Still, this made for a compelling read and I'm still deeply saddened by the loss of life, the ruination of Hong Kong, and the criminalization of those whose only goal was truth.
What did I just read? The chaos and confusion from the beginning of the pandemic are perfectly personified in this book.
The narrator did a really good job. My confusion lay within the book overall. I genuinely struggled to make sense of the timelines and people whose stories we followed. I never truly understood what was going on or why or how it all tied together. I'm not even sure what's real and what's not.
Still, this made for a compelling read and I'm still deeply saddened by the loss of life, the ruination of Hong Kong, and the criminalization of those whose only goal was truth.
December 17, 2024
Confusing! There are so many different things thrown at you that it’s difficult to keep it all straight. I think this was following three distinct parties but I am not sure. I couldn’t make heads or tails of the actual people they were talking about but every so often there would be some nuggets of information thrown in about what is happening in China at the time and these were interesting. Otherwise, I was completely lost.
I received a copy from #NetGalley for an honest review.
I received a copy from #NetGalley for an honest review.
July 1, 2022
Zwischen Fiktion und Dokumentation gibt der Autor einen Einblick in die staatlichen und gesellschaftlichen Restriktionen im China des COVID-19, wobei die Bevölkerung nur auf den eigenen Vorteil bedacht ist und die Institutionen insgesamt völlig unbedarft agieren. Damit lernt man ein liberales, pluralistisches und rechtsstaatliches Europa umso mehr zu schätzen.
February 18, 2025
Thank you NetGalley and Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks for the ARC of this audiobook for my honest review
It was interesting to see Covid and how it affected people elsewhere and really was sad. I just felt confused on what was happening with the way it was written jumping between people, that could be with the audiobook though.
It was interesting to see Covid and how it affected people elsewhere and really was sad. I just felt confused on what was happening with the way it was written jumping between people, that could be with the audiobook though.
December 20, 2024
It is fascinating to see the pandemic through the eyes of a Chinese citizen where the epidemic began. And absolutely scary the lengths the Chinese government was willing to go to so they could control the narrative about the virus.
February 21, 2024
Zutiefst eindrucksvoll und bedrückend
January 23, 2025
it’s good, I had some trouble following. I think reading a fictionalized version of this moment of history maybe wasn’t my interest at the time I picked this one out.
December 13, 2024
This is a novelized documentary of the dire events in Communist China at the beginning of the epidemic of disease and death as related by a citizen reporter. I have not read anything purporting to be written by any reporters in situ before this, only western slants on what happened and its effects on the world at large. The author (and therefore the reporter) is anticommunist and under government scrutiny. This is not a book I chose to read in one sitting, but in bites so that I could think on the similarities and differences in how the information about the epidemic/pandemic was shared to their own populations. I learned a lot and intend to get my own copy so that I can dig into the info in the PDF.
I can only believe that some of the issues about the speed and smooth transitions in the novel relate to translator Michael M. Day's attempts to reformat Chinese standard presentation into customary western readability.
Narrator Ernest Reid is a credit to his profession.
Wuhan on Audio includes supplementary PDF
I requested and received a temporary digital file from Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks via NetGalley. Thank you!
#Wuhan by Liao Yiwu Narrated by Ernest Reid Translated by Michael M. Day #NetGalley #DocumentaryNovel #China #PostHypnoticPressAudiobooks #Politics #Epidemic @goodreads @bookbub @librarythingofficial @barnesandnoble @kobobooks @waterstones **** #Review @booksamillion @bookshop_org @bookshop_org_uk #Covid
I can only believe that some of the issues about the speed and smooth transitions in the novel relate to translator Michael M. Day's attempts to reformat Chinese standard presentation into customary western readability.
Narrator Ernest Reid is a credit to his profession.
Wuhan on Audio includes supplementary PDF
I requested and received a temporary digital file from Post Hypnotic Press Audiobooks via NetGalley. Thank you!
#Wuhan by Liao Yiwu Narrated by Ernest Reid Translated by Michael M. Day #NetGalley #DocumentaryNovel #China #PostHypnoticPressAudiobooks #Politics #Epidemic @goodreads @bookbub @librarythingofficial @barnesandnoble @kobobooks @waterstones **** #Review @booksamillion @bookshop_org @bookshop_org_uk #Covid
December 5, 2024
Okay, so like, this book was kinda a mixed bag for me? Like, I totally get what it was going for, but the vibe just didn’t click. It’s supposed to be this mash-up of fiction and real-life events, and while that sounds super intense and cool, it was, like, all over the place? One minute you're getting these eerie, haunting scenes, and the next it's, like, going on these loooong tangents that made me zone out. Like, part documentary, part storytelling, but not quite nailing either?
I mean, the story had its moments. The whole corpse carrier thing? That was totally chilling, like something out of a dark indie film. The raw moments of, like, actual danger and censorship? Yeah, those hit hard. You feel the weight of it all. But then it got bogged down with this meandering style that just felt... extra? I found myself low-key wishing for more focus and less, like, random backstory vibes.
As for the big message? Yeah, it's heavy. The secrecy, the lies, the everything—I felt that. But TBH, it felt more like the author wanted to point fingers than, like, actually dive deep into the pandemic itself. It’s not super factual, so if you're looking for that, you might be like, umm, what?
In the end, it’s a meh for me. Super interesting premise, but the execution wasn’t it.
Huge thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for my honest thoughts! 💕
I mean, the story had its moments. The whole corpse carrier thing? That was totally chilling, like something out of a dark indie film. The raw moments of, like, actual danger and censorship? Yeah, those hit hard. You feel the weight of it all. But then it got bogged down with this meandering style that just felt... extra? I found myself low-key wishing for more focus and less, like, random backstory vibes.
As for the big message? Yeah, it's heavy. The secrecy, the lies, the everything—I felt that. But TBH, it felt more like the author wanted to point fingers than, like, actually dive deep into the pandemic itself. It’s not super factual, so if you're looking for that, you might be like, umm, what?
In the end, it’s a meh for me. Super interesting premise, but the execution wasn’t it.
Huge thanks to NetGalley for the audiobook in exchange for my honest thoughts! 💕
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February 16, 2023Ich fand das Buch (leider) nicht lesenswert: Ganz allgemein hatte ich den Eindruck, dem Autor war es wichtiger ein negatives Buch über China zu veröffentlichen als ein interessantes Buch über Corona.
Das Buch ist als 'Dokumentarroman' angelegt, also ein wilder 'Mischmasch' aus Erzählung und Fakten was die Lesbarkeit negativ beeinflusst und schlussendlich seltsam 'abgehoben und distanziert' wirkt.
Inhaltlich zum Corona-Virus und möglicher Entstehung erfährt man nichts Neues.
Das Buch ist als 'Dokumentarroman' angelegt, also ein wilder 'Mischmasch' aus Erzählung und Fakten was die Lesbarkeit negativ beeinflusst und schlussendlich seltsam 'abgehoben und distanziert' wirkt.
Inhaltlich zum Corona-Virus und möglicher Entstehung erfährt man nichts Neues.
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