Do Not Say We Have Nothing is a novel by Madeline Thein, which focuses on the 20th century Communist Revolution in China and its effects on multiple generations of Chinese citizens. This book won the Scotiabank Giller Prize as well as the Governor General’s Award. It was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2016. This guide refers the American paperback edition published by W.W. Norton.

Plot Summary

During the first horrific years of the Revolution in China, Big Mother Knife and her sister Swirl dance, sing, and tell stories in order to make enough money to survive. Not too long after they begin this endeavor, Big Mother Knife gives birth to Sparrow, a wispy little boy who quickly becomes part of their musical act. Wanting to avoid the horrors that surrounded him, Sparrow concentrates on music, his mother’s love, and nothing else.

Eventually the fighting ceases, so Big Mother Knife’s family settles down in Shanghai where Sparrow takes lessons at the Conservatory. Long after life has fallen back into the safety of routine, Sparrow finds his emaciated and lonely cousin Zhuli, Swirl’s daughter, waiting on their doorstep, holding very little but a few music records.

Swirl and her husband Wen had been sent away to re-education camps for harboring precious art and forbidden literature, so Zhuli has come to Shanghai to live with Big Mother Knife and Sparrow. Sparrow and Zhuli become fast friends as they both love music, and soon Zhuli joins Sparrow among the talented at the Conservatory.

The two make friends with a pianist named Jiang Kai who lost all his family members to a famine in the small village where he grew up. The three practice together, with Jiang Kai attracting the affections of both Zhuli and Sparrow. When political tensions rise again, however, Zhuli commits suicide and Jiang Kai sells his soul to the Party to continue playing music. Sparrow continues to compose until being re-assigned to a factory in the South of China. There, he gives up all hope of playing music again and marries a former philosophy major named Ling. They have a daughter named Ai-Ming who lives a happy if limited life until her late teens when political turmoil breaks out yet again. Ai-Ming meets a spunky, pretty protestor named Yiwen who convinces Ai-Ming to become involved in the student protests at Tiananmen Square. At first, Ling and Sparrow balk at her involvement but then they join her in her fight for freedom.

Quickly, the protest is put down, Sparrow is killed, and Ai-Ming must flee the country. She goes to stay with the family of Jiang Kai, though Jiang Kai recently committed suicide, most likely after finding out about Sparrow’s death. Jiang Kai’s wife and his daughter Marie welcome her into their home and lives. Though the history between Jiang Kai and Sparrow was one marked by tension, Marie and her mother find Ai-Ming to be interesting and enjoyable. They help her get to America where she plans on applying for asylum. Years pass, however, and though they try to contact Ai-Ming, they fall out of touch with her. Jiang Kai’s wife dies of cancer and Marie tries to breach the distance between her and Ai-Ming, going so far as to travel to China looking for her. In the end, Marie meets many of her father’s friends, but Ai-Ming’s whereabouts remain a mystery.