A review by andrew61
Decoded by Mai Jia
3.0
What a curious book ! I can't remember where I heard about it but it made for an interesting read although I have to confess by the end I was a bit at a loss as to what had happened.
The first part of the book had a conventional arc as we were introduced to a Chinese dynasty of mathematical geniuses. In late 19th century a member of the Rong family is sent abroad to learn in the US from a master how to learn to interpret dreams, the young man returns to set up a Mathematics university and the reader then learns the family tree that eventually leads to rong Zilai (Jinzhen), the illegitimate offspring of the black sheep of the family. Adopted by a European living in the family compound he is recruited in to the Cryptography part of The Chinese secret service. I enjoyed this narrative section with a host of fascinating characters such as the various ancestors ,the European Mr auslander, the secret agent who recruits Jinzhen 'Zhening the Gimp' , and the double agent maths professor Liseiwicz. The middle section however became very abstract with the exploration of how jinzhen cracks the cypher of opposing state X named PURPLE becomes feted in the regime before cracking under the strain of decoding Cypher BLACK. As I read this part I felt a little lost particularly as the finale becomes the narrator interviewing various individuals about Jinzhen's collapse, the craft of deciphering, and an analysis of his final notebook. Thus where the book in the first 100-150 pages was heading to five star I felt it lost it's way towards the end or perhaps I simply lost my way with it. Overall an interesting read but I won't be hurrying to read more even though this is one of the most popular Chinese authors.
The first part of the book had a conventional arc as we were introduced to a Chinese dynasty of mathematical geniuses. In late 19th century a member of the Rong family is sent abroad to learn in the US from a master how to learn to interpret dreams, the young man returns to set up a Mathematics university and the reader then learns the family tree that eventually leads to rong Zilai (Jinzhen), the illegitimate offspring of the black sheep of the family. Adopted by a European living in the family compound he is recruited in to the Cryptography part of The Chinese secret service. I enjoyed this narrative section with a host of fascinating characters such as the various ancestors ,the European Mr auslander, the secret agent who recruits Jinzhen 'Zhening the Gimp' , and the double agent maths professor Liseiwicz. The middle section however became very abstract with the exploration of how jinzhen cracks the cypher of opposing state X named PURPLE becomes feted in the regime before cracking under the strain of decoding Cypher BLACK. As I read this part I felt a little lost particularly as the finale becomes the narrator interviewing various individuals about Jinzhen's collapse, the craft of deciphering, and an analysis of his final notebook. Thus where the book in the first 100-150 pages was heading to five star I felt it lost it's way towards the end or perhaps I simply lost my way with it. Overall an interesting read but I won't be hurrying to read more even though this is one of the most popular Chinese authors.