Gunga Din Highway - Hardcover

Chin, Frank

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1566890241 ISBN 13: 9781566890243

Publisher: Coffee House Press, 1995

Synopsis

Nothing - not even Lassie - is held sacred when Frank Chin starts off by tilting at Hollywood's windmills and then moves on to topple many of today's other sacred cows.
Rich with wicked humor and biting honesty, Gunga Din Highway is a freewheeling saga of two generations of the Kwan family: Longman, The Chinaman Who Dies in countless cinema epics, and his son Ulysses, who despises his father's dream of someday playing Charlie Chan.
Joined by a broad assortment of complex and often hilarious characters, their story spans a lifetime - full of sixties protests, Chinese mythology, enduring friendships, bittersweet family conflict, the strains of flamenco guitar, and cameo appearances by Hollywood greats ranging from John Wayne to Annette Funicello.
Gunga Din Highway is an impassioned and entertaining American tale, revealing big truths in a compelling, one-of-a-kind read.

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Reviews

Ancient and contemporary myths of China and America propel this provocative, multilayered tale of a willful Chinese American's 50-year odyssey from black sheep to reluctant head of the family. Ulysses Kwan, son of actor Longman Kwan-famous for his roles as Charlie Chan's Number Four Son and as "the Chinaman Who Dies" in numerous war films-never accepts his lot in the family or in the San Francisco Bay Chinese community. Nor does he respect the life's work of his ambitious, self-absorbed father. Through the sweeping changes of four decades, from the 1950s to the present, Ulysses, in a kaleidoscope of roles, from artist to revolutionary, from railroadman to writer, confronts various societal presumptions. Chin's forceful, often vitriolic narrative alternates among the points of view of Longman Kwan, of Ulysses's two childhood blood-brothers, and of Ulysses himself. Juxtaposing Hollywood mythology with Chinese legend, Chin (Donald Duk) writes with penetrating insight into the power and persistence of ethnic stereotypes-implicating fellow Chinese American authors and artists in the process. The multiplicity of Chin's narrative agenda does occasion some flaws, however; initially convincing characterizations and plot elements weaken as Chin molds them into targets for ideological or satiric fusillades. Nevertheless, Chin's strong prose, angry wit, intelligence and even arrogance make this a vital, always interesting read. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

With his brilliant first novel, Donald Duk (1991), playwright Chin accomplished what Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan could not: used Chinese-American culture as a springboard into original and hilarious art. What next? Eccentric movie star Longman Kwan can frequently be seen playing Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and Charlie Chan's Number Four Son. Now he wants to be the first Chinese actor to play Charlie himself. In an America where even the Chinese don't take this detective seriously, Longman's plea for the role is a plea for credibility as a person and as an actor. His wife's family criticizes him for choosing Hollywood over traditional Chinese opera, and his sons want little to do with him. Once again, a fascinating premise. The only trouble is that, by page 50, Longman has stepped offstage in favor of his son Ulysses, who's often seen through the eyes of various friends. Scenes of Ulysses in Chinese school or lost in the muddle of racial unrest are memorable, yet the life they describe fails to hold our interest. Chin sets up a situation whereby readers identify with Longman and then are forced to wait for 300 pages--alleviated by only a few cameos--for him to reappear in earnest. When the focus shifts back to a dying Longman, some dozing readers will snap to attention. Bits of the book's dense middle begin to come together, but it's too little, too late. A novel this massive requires a strong plot, which Chin, vacillating between linear narrative and a disastrous hopping about, fails to provide. One wishes he had cut out the book's bulky middle, then filled in the gap with a continued focus on the father-son struggle that first caught our attention. Second novel slump? Let's hope so. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Chin (Donald Duk, LJ 2/15/91) has written an epic novel, combining elements of Chinese myth with a wandering, searching Ulysses. A series of first-person narratives divided into four sections, the book begins with Longman Kwan, the Hollywood-star father, famous for his portrayal of Charlie Chan's Number Four Son. The second section is told primarily from the viewpoint of Ulysses, the son and main character. He has a poor relationship with his father and sees his Hollywood role as insulting. The rest of the novel includes the writings of Ulysses's two sworn blood brothers, Diego Chang and Benedict Mo, and draws to a conclusion with the unearthing of the family skeletons. The story is filled with many characters, young and old, U.S.-and China-born; it takes place all over the country during several different time periods. Despite the odd pedantic paragraph, descriptions are vivid and arresting and the writing is convincing. Chin is an important writer, and this new book should be added to all collections.
Rebecca Stuhr-Rommereim, Grinnell Coll., Iowa
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Chin continues the full-force assault against Chinese stereotypes he began with such gusto in Donald Duk (1991). His latest work is a frenetic, irreverent, and episodic father-and-son saga that encompasses some five decades of American clich{‚}es, moviemaking, and image bashing. Chin starts things rolling with Longman Kwan, a film and TV actor who specialized in playing "The Chinaman Who Dies" as well as being Charlie Chan's Number Four Son. Although Kwan's dream is to be the first Chinese Charlie Chan, his son Ulysses wants nothing to do with authentic Chinese culture or Hollywood's warped version of it. He evolves into a very cool, artistic, and perpetually bemused dude who works for the railroad and writes, all the while effortlessly seducing women and acquiring a host of extremely eccentric friends. Chin sets Ulysses' serendipitous adventures within a comic book-style cultural survey that mocks everything American, from movies to music, drugs, politics, the media, pornography, and racism. Ambition makes Chin's Chinese American heroes outsiders: either they're resented for their dreams and efforts or their talent is squandered, a sorry state of affairs shared by members of many groups. Donna Seaman

Edition details

• Publisher: Coffee House Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1566890241
• ISBN 13: 9781566890243
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 400