Brothers: A Novel
(Libby/OverDrive eBook, Kindle)

Part history lesson, part coming-of-age tale, Chen's sweeping saga set against the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution revolves around two half brothers separated by fate. As the legitimate son of a general, Tan Long enjoys every advantage his father's rank provides. Shento, the military leader's bastard child, is not so lucky. His mother, the general's mistress, commits suicide mere moments after his birth; his father denies his existence. The two boys approach manhood with no knowledge of one another. Tan is groomed to become a leader, while Shento is sent to an orphanage run by sadists. When the Long family falls out of favor after Chairman Mao's death, they leave Beijing for their rural ancestral home, where Tan plants the seeds of his career as an entrepreneur. Shento, meanwhile, rises to the head of the new president's security detail, determined to exact revenge on his father. The two brothers have similar taste in women--both fall in love with the beautiful orphan Sumi Wo--but vastly different views on democracy. (Their paths ultimately converge in a series of blood-drenched scenes in legendary Tiananmen Square.) A popular children's and YA author, as well as a memoirist ( Colors of the Mountain0 , 2000), Chen deftly blends pathos and humor in this breathtaking evocation of an era of momentous political, social, and economic change. --Allison Block Copyright 2006 Booklist

Acclaimed memoirist Chen (Colors of the Mountain) draws on his experiences growing up during the Cultural Revolution for this arresting novel about two brothers negotiating the momentous changes that have buffeted China in recent decades. The protagonists are half-brothers: Tan, the privileged, legitimate heir of Gen. Ding Long, and Shento, the general's abandoned bastard child. While Tan is "groomed to be a leader," Shento is placed in a hellish orphanage where he plots revenge. Shento eventually escapes, joins the army and rises to the head of the president's security detail. Meanwhile, caught on the wrong side of the changes sweeping China following Chairman Mao's death, Tan's family is discredited and flees to their ancestral home in the south where Tan builds an economic empire. Tan also falls in love with the beautiful orphan, Sumi Wo, who has an illegitimate son by Shento. When Sumi and Tan become involved in the pro-democracy movement, they attract official attention, putting the estranged brothers on paths that will converge at Tiananmen Square. Chen's inventive and sprawling family saga eloquently recreates a time of enormous upheaval. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Adult/High School-Teens looking for a grand saga in which to lose themselves will appreciate this one set in late-20th-century China. General Long, well-respected by Chairman Mao, has two sons. Tan is born to his wife, and into a life of privilege; Shento is born to a rural mountain woman who commits suicide at his birth. This child's life is full of depravation and cruelty, especially during his time in an orphanage. As the boys mature, Shento learns the identity of his father, but when he is rejected, he vows revenge. As the boys grow up, their paths cross, although sometimes unknowingly. Shento trains as an assassin and during the Cultural Revolution he kills Tan's teacher. Shento is the first to meet Sumi and fall in love with her. Later, believing Shento is dead, she falls in love with Tan. Despite its sprawling nature, the novel is fast-paced, with chapters alternating among the characters, thus eliciting both sympathy and antipathy for each brother as he meets life's challenges. As in Dickens, the numerous coincidences do not detract from the tale, but instead infuse it with a sense of inevitability. This story of revenge, adventure, and an explosive love triangle satisfies a taste for historical fiction as well as for a family saga.-Teri Titus, San Mateo County Library, CA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A mighty general's two sons (one illegitimate) head for a collision during the Cultural Revolution. A follow-up to the memoir Colors of the Mountain. With a New England tour; reading group guide. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

From Shaolin to the sugarloaf mountains of Gwangdong to Tiananmen Square and the skyscrapers of New York: an epic novel that neatly distills modern Chinese history. It's a staple conceit of martial-arts movies that brothers separated at birth will search for each other all their lives, only to fight to the death. Exiled Chinese novelist Da Chen (Colors of the Mountain, 2000, etc.) takes this stratagem and runs with it. The paterfamilias is a great general named Ding Long, a stalwart of Maoism. Stationed away from his family in South China, he sires a young son with a local woman. Ashamed, she leaps from a cliff and into legend. Young Shento's adoptive parents are in turn massacred by Vietnamese, but not before he has been entrusted with the secret of his birth. Packed off to a military camp, he falls in love with the beautiful Sumi Wo. When events force them apart, Shento becomes a secret agent, assassin and presidential bodyguard, all the while nursing his hatred for his missing father--whose "real" family has been in turn blessed with every favor, including a brilliant son, Tan Long, who seems destined for great things in the new China. "Money will change this country, not Marxism," Tan Long intones. "And then when we all have more money, life will be better and misery and hunger will be gone." Of course, Tan Long's path crosses Sumi Wo's, both brothers thus tasting bittersweet love. Tan Long becomes a political prisoner, then exile, while Shento helps suppress China's nascent democracy movement. Yet blood is blood, and Da Chen's elegantly written novel ends on the promise of redemption and perhaps even reconciliation, as Shento realizes that "reality is often the antithesis of one's dream." Often melodramatic, but Da Chen's sweeping tale, reminiscent of Zhang Yimou's film To Live, successfully transports Chinese conventions into English to recount the agony of history. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

/*Starred Review*/ Part history lesson, part coming-of-age tale, Chen's sweeping saga set against the backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution revolves around two half brothers separated by fate. As the legitimate son of a general, Tan Long enjoys every advantage his father's rank provides. Shento, the military leader's bastard child, is not so lucky. His mother, the general's mistress, commits suicide mere moments after his birth; his father denies his existence. The two boys approach manhood with no knowledge of one another. Tan is groomed to become a leader, while Shento is sent to an orphanage run by sadists. When the Long family falls out of favor after Chairman Mao's death, they leave Beijing for their rural ancestral home, where Tan plants the seeds of his career as an entrepreneur. Shento, meanwhile, rises to the head of the new president's security detail, determined to exact revenge on his father. The two brothers have similar taste in women--both fall in love with the beautiful orphan Sumi Wo--but vastly different views on democracy. (Their paths ultimately converge in a series of blood-drenched scenes in legendary Tiananmen Square.) A popular children's and YA author, as well as a memoirist (Colors of the Mountain, 2000), Chen deftly blends pathos and humor in this breathtaking evocation of an era of momentous political, social, and economic change. ((Reviewed August 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

A mighty general's two sons (one illegitimate) head for a collision during the Cultural Revolution. A follow-up to the memoir Colors of the Mountain. With a New England tour; reading group guide. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Set during the Cultural Revolution, memoirist Chen's (Sounds of the River ) first novel is an intriguing and ambitious tale of two half-brothers—both fathered by a prominent Chinese general—whose disparate lives connect through fate. Readers first meet narrator Shento, who was orphaned by his mother's suicide. The bastard son of Gen. Ding Long, Shento is rescued by an act of grace and raised in the remote village of Balan by an herbalist and his wife. Meanwhile, in Beijing, Shento's brother, Tan, lives in the lap of luxury as General Long's legitimate heir. Numerous brief chapters alternate the stories of the two brothers and are interspersed with chapters told by Sumi Wo, Shento's first love. Chen's writing is extremely strong in the first two-thirds of this bittersweet and tension-filled novel; the story line and characterizations, especially those of the brothers, are well drawn. The last portion, however, is slightly disappointing, as the plot twists appear hurried, lessening the novel's intensity, and the violence factor increases. Nevertheless, this is still a quality read that could provide the basis for a major motion picture and fodder for book groups. Recommended for fiction collections in larger public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.]—Shirley N. Quan, Orange County P.L., Santa Ana, CA

Set during the Cultural Revolution, memoirist Chen's (Sounds of the River ) first novel is an intriguing and ambitious tale of two half-brothers—both fathered by a prominent Chinese general—whose disparate lives connect through fate. Readers first meet narrator Shento, who was orphaned by his mother's suicide. The bastard son of Gen. Ding Long, Shento is rescued by an act of grace and raised in the remote village of Balan by an herbalist and his wife. Meanwhile, in Beijing, Shento's brother, Tan, lives in the lap of luxury as General Long's legitimate heir. Numerous brief chapters alternate the stories of the two brothers and are interspersed with chapters told by Sumi Wo, Shento's first love. Chen's writing is extremely strong in the first two-thirds of this bittersweet and tension-filled novel; the story line and characterizations, especially those of the brothers, are well drawn. The last portion, however, is slightly disappointing, as the plot twists appear hurried, lessening the novel's intensity, and the violence factor increases. Nevertheless, this is still a quality read that could provide the basis for a major motion picture and fodder for book groups. Recommended for fiction collections in larger public and academic libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.]—Shirley N. Quan, Orange County P.L., Santa Ana, CA

Adult/High School Teens looking for a grand saga in which to lose themselves will appreciate this one set in late-20th-century China. General Long, well-respected by Chairman Mao, has two sons. Tan is born to his wife, and into a life of privilege; Shento is born to a rural mountain woman who commits suicide at his birth. This child's life is full of depravation and cruelty, especially during his time in an orphanage. As the boys mature, Shento learns the identity of his father, but when he is rejected, he vows revenge. As the boys grow up, their paths cross, although sometimes unknowingly. Shento trains as an assassin and during the Cultural Revolution he kills Tan's teacher. Shento is the first to meet Sumi and fall in love with her. Later, believing Shento is dead, she falls in love with Tan. Despite its sprawling nature, the novel is fast-paced, with chapters alternating among the characters, thus eliciting both sympathy and antipathy for each brother as he meets life's challenges. As in Dickens, the numerous coincidences do not detract from the tale, but instead infuse it with a sense of inevitability. This story of revenge, adventure, and an explosive love triangle satisfies a taste for historical fiction as well as for a family saga.Teri Titus, San Mateo County Library, CA