LoveReading Says
Incredibly powerful and moving, this novel is based on the life of the author as she traverses her childhood and teenage years in Beijing during the 70’s and 80’s. This is a novel, so there are undoubtedly aspects that have been imagined, but oh my, it feels so authentic. There is a quiet gentleness that leads most of this tale which ensures the moments of violence strike with even more precision. Lai’s voice, so openly sincere, welcomes you into her life and yet also remains at a slight distance. Feelings bubble beneath the surface, social and political notes weave their way through the pages, and Tiananmen Square looms in the background, biding its time. Although set within a pivotal moment in history, this is an incredibly intimate story and so allows you to see, to feel, to experience thoughts and feelings in a profound way. Small things matter, and help to paint the most vividly colourful picture. Friends and family sit centre stage, the importance of relationships with others and yourself is clearly drawn. Particular favourites of mine included older characters, and both her grandmother, and the bookseller, entered my mind and existed just as they were written. This feels like a love letter to innocence, to hope, to freedom, and has been chosen as a LoveReading Star Book as well as Liz Pick of the Month. Highly recommended, Tiananmen Square is an eloquent and penetrating coming-of-age novel.
Liz Robinson
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Tiananmen Square Synopsis
A stunning, deeply moving novel about growing up in Beijing in the 1970s and 80s and taking part in Tiananmen Square protests
It is Beijing in the 1970s, and Lai lives with her parents, grandmother and younger brother in a small flat in a working-class area. Her grandmother is a formidable figure – no-nonsense and uncompromising, but loving towards her granddaughter – while her ageing beauty of a mother snipes at her father, a sunken figure who has taken refuge in his work.
As she grows up, Lai comes to discern the realities of the country she lives is: an early encounter with the police haunts her for years; her father makes her see that his quietness is a reaction to experiences he has lived through; and an old bookseller subtly introduces her to ideas and novels that open her mind to different perspectives. But she also goes through what anyone goes through when young – the ebbs and flows of friendships; troubles and rewards at home and at school; and the first steps and missteps in love.
A gifted student, she is eventually given a scholarship to study at the prestigious Peking University; while there she meets new friends, and starts to get involved in the student protests that have been gathering speed. It is the late 1980s, and change is in the air...
A truly remarkable novel about coming to see the world as it is, Tiananmen Square is the story of one girl's life growing up in the China of the 1970s and 80s, as well as the story of the events in 1989 that give the novel its name: the hope and idealism of a generation of young students, their heroism and courage, and the price that some of them paid.
About This Edition
| ISBN: |
9781800753464 |
| Publication date: |
4th June 2024 |
| Author: |
Lai Wen |
| Publisher: |
Swift Press |
| Format: |
Hardback |
| Pagination: |
528 pages |
| Primary Genre |
Family Drama
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| Other Genres: |
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| Recommendations: |
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