A New York Times Notable BookA Washington Post, Los Angeles times, and San Jose Mercury News Best Book of the YearHa Jins seismically powerful new novel is at once an unblinking look into the bell jar of communist Chinese society and a portrait of the eternal compromises and deceptions of the human state. When the venerable professor Yang, a teacher of literature at a provincial university, has a stroke, his student Jian Wan is assigned to care for him. Since the dutiful Jian plans to marry his mentors beautiful, icy daughter, the job requires delicacy. Just how much delicacy becomes clear when Yang begins to rave.Are these just the outpourings of a broken mind, or is Yang speaking the truthabout his family, his colleagues, and his lifes work? And will bearing witness to the truth end up breaking poor Jians heart? Combining warmth and intimacy with an unsparing social vision, The Crazed is Ha Jins most enthralling book to date.From the Trade Paperback edition.