The Organization Minister, Part 1

Da MuQunyan Publishing House2009

Rating 3.5
Word count
280K words
Chapters
40
Series
Damu's The Organization Minister Series
ISBN
9787802560765

Tags

Male-Oriented Fiction Political Fiction Cadre SelectionSocial TransitionCounty Party SecretaryUnwritten RulesIdeals and RealityRealismInstitutional SystemContemporary Literature

Summary

The first book of The Organization Minister trilogy and the starting point of the whole story. The protagonist, Jia Shizhen, is an ordinary Party school teacher who, through a recommendation and an assessment opportunity, is temporarily transferred to the cadre division of the provincial Party committee's organization department. Entering this core department that oversees the assessment and appointment of cadres, he faces complex personal relationships, a rigid hierarchy, and invisible unwritten rules: probing questions at leaders' dinner parties, warnings and criticism from veteran colleagues, and various requests that come with old school ties. Through his daily work assessing cadres, Jia Shizhen comes to realize that evaluating cadres is far from reading files and following procedures; behind selection criteria lie intertwined personal ties, interests, and power. He therefore proposes open selection of leading cadres and encounters criticism and disagreement in practical work such as assessing County Party Secretary Zhou Yigui; he is once forced back to his hometown, then transferred back again because of the hidden circumstances of his "temporary transfer," and is repeatedly tempered by a series of events—the treacherous banquet at Hongmen Hotel, his stint as acting secretary, and a sudden inspection. The book depicts the operating procedures of the organization department and the psychological ups and downs of people within the system in a realistic style, presenting the dilemmas faced by the cadre selection system during social transition and one young cadre's choices between ideals and reality. This is the first volume of the series.

Editor's review

官场小说里写“当官”的多，写“选官”的少。大木恰好选了一个旁人不易窥见的切口：组织部的机关干部处。作者在县、市、省机关从事文秘、组织、人事工作三十余年，这份“内部人”的经验落到纸上，使饭桌上的寒暄、考察谈话的分寸、借调与调动的门道都带着真实的现场感，读来不像编排，更像旁听。全书没有把主人公塑造成一路开挂的“爽文主角”：贾士贞有理想、提建议，却也会碰壁、退回故里、被调离岗位，甚至经历突如其来的考察与试探。这种不回避阻力的写法，让“公开选拔”“干部考察”这些制度话题变得可感。更难得的是，作者并不刻意渲染猎奇，而是把制度的漏洞、人情的重量与个人的坚守摆在一起，让读者自己去判断。对于希望理解干部选拔机制如何实际运转、又不喜欢夸张权谋套路的读者，本书是一部耐读的入口之作。

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A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. 不必急于看结论，留意每次考察谈话、饭局与人事调动中的分寸与潜台词。
  2. 把本书当作三部曲的起点来读，读完再看第二部，人物的选择脉络会更清楚。
  3. 对书中涉及的组织程序若感陌生，可随手记下概念，不必强求一次读懂全部背景。
  4. 读后不妨比较不同角色对“公开选拔”的态度，思考制度与个人之间的张力。

About the publisher

Qunyan Publishing House China · Founded in 1989

Founded in 1989, Qunyan Publishing House has long been committed to publishing academic and educational books for mid- and high-level readers, and has built up a certain presence in Eastern philosophy, classical literature, and classic works. Representative titles available in the database include Records of the Grand Historian, Dream of the Red Chamber, Selections of Refined Literature, Complete Song Ci, Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio, Record of Daily Knowledge, Taiping Huimin Hejiju Fang, and The Collected Works of Wang Yangming, covering common categories such as ancient poetry, medicine, and examinations. Its author resources include Sima Qian, Cao Xueqin, Xiao Tong, Li Shan, Pu Songling, and Gu Yanwu. The press also offers distinctive series such as the Biographical Series of the China Democratic League and the Historical Documents Series of the China Democratic League, and publishes research on historical documents, biographies, memoirs, and textbooks and academic works by League members. Public information is limited, and its overall publishing scale and complete catalogue require further verification.

Contents

  1. Chapter 1: The Young Newcomer at the Organization Department
  2. Chapter 2: On the Way to the Post
  3. Chapter 3: Entering the Organization Department Smoothly
  4. Chapter 4: A Vivid Lesson
  5. Chapter 5: The Secret in the Heart
  6. Chapter 6: Thoughts on Assessing Cadres
  7. Chapter 7: Director Wang's Banquet
  8. Chapter 8: Director Tong's Criticism
  9. Chapter 9: Meeting Director Wang Again
  10. Chapter 10: Confusion Within
  11. Chapter 11: A Bold Remonstrance
  12. Chapter 12: A Heavy Blow
  13. Chapter 13: Sent Back Home
  14. Chapter 14: The Secret of the Temporary Transfer
  15. Chapter 15: A Lost Life
  16. Chapter 16: A Strange Phone Call
  17. Chapter 17: Rapid Changes
  18. Chapter 18: A Former Acquaintance
  19. Chapter 19: Returning to the Provincial Organization Department
  20. Chapter 20: The "Hongmen Banquet" at Hongmen Hotel
  21. Chapter 21: A Thrilling Scene
  22. Chapter 22: Acting Secretary
  23. Chapter 23: A Sudden Inspection
  24. Chapter 24: No One Is Perfect
  25. Chapter 25: Transferred Out of the Cadre Division
  26. Chapter 26: After the Article Was Published
  27. Chapter 27: It Can Only Be This Way
  28. Chapter 28: A New Task
  29. Chapter 29: Old School Ties
  30. Chapter 30: Another Deep Shock
  31. Chapter 31: The Proposal for Open Selection of Leading Cadres
  32. Chapter 32: Assessing County Party Secretary Zhou Yigui
  33. Chapter 33: The Details of Cadre Assessment
  34. Chapter 34: More Criticism
  35. Chapter 35: Disagreement
  36. Chapter 36: Major News
  37. Chapter 37: The Truth Comes Out
  38. Chapter 38: Special Operation
  39. Chapter 39: Waiting for News
  40. Chapter 40: The Critical Moment

FAQ

这本书和《组织部长》全三册是什么关系？ 本书是《组织部长》三部曲的第一部，另有第二部、第三部。市面上常见“全三册”套装，本书只是其中单独的一册，内容从贾士贞进入省委组织部写起，不包含后两部的情节。
作者大木是谁？ 大木原名樊素科，江苏人，中国作家协会会员，长期在县、市、省机关从事文秘、组织、人事工作三十余年。他还著有《欲望树》《执政者》《奔腾年代》等作品。
这本书是纪实作品还是虚构小说？ 是虚构的长篇小说，主人公贾士贞为小说人物。作者依托自身组织人事工作经历取材，因此细节写实、现场感强，但情节与人物并非真实事件的记录。
没读过官场小说，能直接读这本吗？ 可以。本书是三部曲的第一部，人物与线索从这里展开。不过书中涉及不少组织工作术语与程序，慢慢读即可，不需要提前背景知识。

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About the author

Da Mu Author

Da Mu (Chinese: 大木) is the author's name, while details such as nationality, birth and death years, and other personal information have not been clearly recorded in publicly available sources, and accessible public information remains limited. Judging from the works currently available, Da Mu is known for fiction on officialdom themes. The library holds three of the author's works, namely Organizing Minister (Zuzhi Buzhang) Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. This series revolves around personnel work in the organization department and is a typical example of officialdom fiction, also categorized as male-oriented fiction and premium fiction. The works focus on personnel affairs and the exercise of power within government bodies, with the plot driven by the various matters and relationships confronted by the organizing minister, showing a distinctly realistic orientation. Although the author's own background and experience remain unknown, the Organizing Minister series has attracted a certain readership within the relevant genre and stands as the author's most representative creative achievement to date.