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June,
1989.
The summer of the Tiananmen Square massacre. A young student in a white
shirt holding a briefcase in his left hand bars the way of Red Army tanks
rumbling into the square. The lead tank moves right as does the young
man. The tank moves left as does the young man. Hours later, the world
watches as the stark metaphor plays itself out on the world media stage of
the evening news. The young student’s identity or fate has never been
uncovered.
Terrence Cheng was also
watching. Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Cheng emigrated to the United States
where he earned his MFA in fiction at the University of Miami where he was
a James Michener Fellow. In this debut novel, the author creates an
intense reconstruction of the events leading up to and include Tainanmen
Square as told by his protagonist, the young student holding the
briefcase. While the vast, sweeping story of China’s political and social
upheaval sets the background, Cheng’s protagonist, having returned from
school in America, is thrown headlong into the tumultuous and dangerous
student uprising of that hot, fateful summer.
Cheng artfully weaves
history and fiction into a breathtaking tale of political conflict made
all the more emotionally compelling by the infusion of a story of
mind-numbing choices, personal growth, and stunning, individual courage.
Like many young Chinese, the protagonist is mired in a frustrating
dichotomy of desires rooted in an ancient cultural heritage of grandparent
and parents and a modern urban internationalism coming into conflict with
Mao’s Little Red Book. As if disillusionment and bitterness were not
enough, the author twists and intensifies the protagonist’s dilemma by
giving him an older brother, an ardent member of the Red Army whose
assignment is to arrest is younger brother. As all Italian roads lead to
Rome so do all Chinese roads lead to Tiananmen Square.
Sons of Heaven is a
novel of thought-provoking depth and compelling insight written with a
strong sense of compassion, morality and human promise. Terrence Cheng’s
voice is filled with a dynamism and intelligence far beyond his years. We
are fortunate to be here at his literary birth.
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The Global Forum |
Reviewed by
Lawrence Checkett
SCC English
Associate Professor
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