A iNew York Timesi Notable BookbrA iWashington Post, Los Angeles times, and San Jose Mercury Newsi Best Book of the Year brHa Jin's 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 mentor's beautiful, icy daughter, the job requires delicacy. Just how much delicacy becomes clear when Yang begins to rave. brAre these just the outpourings of a broken mind, or is Yang speaking the truth--about his family, his colleagues, and his life's work And will bearing witness to the truth end up breaking poor Jian's heart Combining warmth and intimacy with an unsparing social vision, bThe Crazedb is Ha Jin's most enthralling book to date.