''Loving Sabotage'' (french: Le Sabotage amoureux) is a Belgian novel by
Amélie Nothomb
Baroness Fabienne Claire Nothomb (), better known by her pen name Amélie Nothomb (; born 13 August 1967),''État présent de la noblesse belge'', éditions of 1979, 1995 and 2010. Her birth is announced in n° 87, aout 1967, p. 340 of the ''Bull ...
. It was first published in 1993 by the
Albin Michel.
Plot
The narrator of ''Loving Sabotage'' is a five year old girl who arrives in Beijing in 1972 as the daughter of a Belgian diplomat. She joins the other children in the diplomatic enclave, engaged in various nasty wars. She owns a bicycle, which she has convinced herself is a horse. She falls madly in love with a six year old Italian girl and attempts to gain the affections of cruel Elena. Based in part by Nothomb's own childhood experience in Beijing, the novel includes observations of China under the
Gang of Four
The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...
and on the way Westerners perceived China.
dannyreviews
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References
Fiction set in the 1970s
1993 Belgian novels
French-language novels
Novels by Amélie Nothomb
Novels set in Beijing
Éditions Albin Michel books
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