Tree of Heaven - Softcover

Binstock, R. C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 150591423X ISBN 13: 9781505914238

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 1995

Synopsis

The year is 1938. The Japanese army has occupied Nanking.

Kuroda, a reluctant officer trained as a botanist, is left in charge of a garrison town. When he comes upon a starving, filthy Chinese refugee about to be raped by his soldiers, a common occurrence, he does the remarkable: he rescues her and gives her his protection. Li has no choice but to accept it; she becomes his servant, and an extraordinary intimacy ensues.

Psychologically taut, etched in spare, compelling prose, a deep yet dynamic novel of safety and risk, guilt and captivity, power and love.

Published by R.C. Binstock Books in a new author's edition.

About this title

About the Author:

I started writing stories around age eight. At Harvard I studied writing with Ann Beattie, Monroe Engel, and Grace Mojtabai. My story collection THE LIGHT OF HOME was published by Atheneum in 1992, and my novels TREE OF HEAVEN and THE SOLDIER by Soho in 1995 and 1996. My writing career was interrupted in the late 1990s. The publication of my novel SWIFT RIVER in 2014, my own edition of TREE OF HEAVEN in 2015, and NATIVE CHILD in 2016 represent my renewed effort to write and be read. I have lived in Cambridge, Mass for since 1976. Learn more about my books at http://rcbinstock.com.

From School Library Journal:

YA?A hauntingly beautiful love story of two people trapped by the circumstances of war during Japan's invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s. Binstock draws a sensitive portrait of a Japanese scholar, Kuroda, who has enlisted in the army because his father, a former officer, shames him into doing so. Much to Kuroda's dismay, he finds himself actually enjoying the fighting. However, when his subordinates prove to be inhumane in their treatment of Chinese women, he re-evaluates what it means to be at war. He prevents the rape of Li, a Chinese doctor's daughter; it is this rescue that begins the short-lived but emotional bonding of two enemies that challenges readers' senses. The author is skillful in structuring the narrative from both Kuroda's and Li's points of view. His delving into matters of the human psyche, particularly as it pertains to stereotypes, reminds readers how easy it is to justify the subjugation of people based on difference. Although the characters' introspection may be tedious to some YAs, those interested in Chinese or Japanese cultures might have the sensibility and patience to reap the rewards of this marvelous tale.?Michele L. Simms-Burton, George Washington University, DC
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 150591423X
• ISBN 13: 9781505914238
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 204