Sons of Heaven: A Novel

This isn't something I would normally pick up, but I heard the author speak and was curious. I loved this book. It is so well written. He writes in a smooth lyrical way and the characters burst from the pages. I found myself tearing through this to get to the end. Cheng takes a real historical event and personalizes it in such a realistic way. I almost believe he was actually there and knew the stories of everyone involved. I think we'll see great things from this author.

Who was that young man who stunned the world as he stood in front of the tanks sent to put an end to the Tiananmen Square student demonstrations in 1989? Not only has Terrence Cheng given him a fictitious name, Xiao-Di, he has also created a family, a life and a history for him. But what is truly remarkable about this book is that Cheng has portrayed Deng Xiaoping, the leader thought to have ordered the military intervention, as a man struggling with his own ideals. Westerners, eager to side with the oppressed, have rushed to condemn human rights violations attributed to China's rulers without much thought to the making of the men they hold responsible. The giant that is China has stumbled its way through the twentieth century irritated relentlessly by insatiable beasts gnawing at its parts. Under siege since the beginning of the century when Dr. Sun Yat-sen formed the Nationalist Party to overthrow the corrupt Qing Dynasty that collapsed in 1911, China suffered several tumultuous decades with power divided among warlords, nationalists, communists, and even Japanese invaders at various times. The Long March of the Chinese communists in the mid-1930's is deeply embedded in the psychology of the men who ultimately took power in 1949. Deng Xiaoping was one of those men. He recalls the dreams of his own youth when he joined a trek of 6,000 miles in pursuit of a better life for China's peasants. Of the 80,000 people who began the Long March, only 8,000 survived to reach the caves outside of Beijing. He remembrs when, in the early stages of Mao's Cultural Revolution, he was denounced as a "capitalist roader" and subjected to "re-education." He muses on the fate of his son, Deng Pufang, who remains in a wheel chair, the result of a "fall" from a third story window while being interrogated. Xiao-Di, recently returned from an American university where he was introduced to the concepts of freedom, is a reluctant participant in the demonstrations, having joined at the urging of his childhood friend, Wong. When Wong is shot by soldiers, Xiao-Di cannot believe that the soldiers would turn on their own people and impulsively resists the onslaught of the tanks. Aware of the fate that awaits him if he's caught, he becomes a fugitive. The third central character, Lu, Xiao-Di's older brother, is an angry young man, once a member of Mao's Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. He has found a home of sorts in the People's Liberation Army. To prove his loyalty and perhaps earn a promotion, Lu becomes instrumental in the hunt for his brother. He is a largely unsympathetic character until the end of the story, but Cheng does a fine job of helping us understand his dark side even though we don't like him. In a society largely uneducated and with too many bureaucrats, where power can be a fleeting thing, the complexities of the situation in Tiananmen Square are thoughtfully presented in SONS OF HEAVEN. The ghosts of the past have found their voice

In SONS OF HEAVEN, Terrence Cheng deftly weaves together fact, fiction, and conjecture. Most everyone in the Western World has by now seen the unknown young man in front of the tank, seen images so powerful that they brought worldwide attention back to the human condition in modern China. By taking such a well-known event with an indelible image, Cheng risked falling under the shadow of the very image he was attempting to explore. Instead, Cheng creates a fast-paced plot driven novel about two brothers on different sides of the same coin, and we now have a thoughtful, powerful novel that humanizes not only the figure in front of the tank, but the leaders that made it seem so necessary to him that he make that desperate stand. I look forward to more from this young writer.

SONS OF HEAVEN by Terrence Cheng is a fictionalized account of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. The strength of the novel lies in Cheng's bold attempt to interweave the story of Xiao Di; the lone demonstrator standing in front of the tanks, his brother Lu, a soldier in the People's Army and most notably Deng Xiaoping. The risk pays off as it is the strongest segment and gives the novel weight. We see Deng as a father, a husband, a comrade. Cheng humanizes Xiaoping, who, justly or unjustly is considered a tyrant here in the West. How could he order the soldiers to open fire on the students? What led him to that decision? Cheng's painstaking research gives the reader insight to the enigmatic Communist ruler. That is not to say we agree with his actions, but Cheng offers up Deng's point of view in order to decipher the turn of events.SONS OF HEAVEN eloquently tells the story of modern China, haunted by its past and helpless to see its future.

The Tiananmen Square uprising of 1989 left in its wake scores of casualties and haunting images that aired again and again on international television. SONS OF HEAVEN, Terrence Cheng's first novel, is remarkable in many ways, but mostly, centrally, for its thrilling ability to imagine the life of the now famous (but still unidentified) young man who dared to step in the path of an approaching government tank. Cheng gracefully interweaves three distinct points of view in a way that ultimately humanizes China's complex modern history. We are privy to the point of view of that young, skinny boy (named Xiano-Di in the novel), of Xiano-Di's brother Lu (who is a soldier in the army) and also, most daringly, of Deng Xiaoping. The passages from Deng's perspective are gripping. Deng is a riveting character: he is a revealed as a complicated man, full anger, sadness, and humanity. With Cheng's portrayal of Deng, he manages to articulate the passion, motivation, and desire for freedom and power that fuels all revolutionary acts. We should never forget the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Now that we have this impressive and thrilling debut novel, the powerful images from 1989 will haunt us anew.