CHINA GATE

by William Arnold ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 24, 1983

Arnold (Shadowland) has a wealth of promising material in this first novel--Americans in Taiwan, 1961-79--but, alas, a storyteller he's not: the plotting here is choppy and episodic, with characters who never even threaten to take on full-bodied life. The symbolic stick-figure at the center is All-American super-youth Bryan Whyte, son of a former Shanghai taipan who lost his fortune under the Communists and fled to Taiwan in 1949. So, as an early-1960s teenager with a black-market gang, Bryan has ""a deep, sacred, all-consuming obligation to restore"" the family fortune and the American ""Dream""; in the book's first third, while ill-coordinated flashbacks fill in Bryan's father's story, mastermind Bryan teams up with the US government and the Mafia-like Green Society (whose leader is Bryan's secret godfather) to battle an evil rival gang. Then, after a disappointing look at America and college, Bryan is back in Taiwan--exporting pool cues, soon taking advantage of the R&R industry created by the war in Vietnam: he establishes control over the bar/brothel biz from Hong Kong to Manila--again in conjunction with the Green Society and with secret US State Dept. backing. But, though Bryan is ""well on his way to being the most wealthy and powerful American in Asia,"" the late 1960s bring problems galore. One by one, Bryan's old gang-buddies become tinnily disillusioned with the ""Dream""--one as a hippie, one as an antiwar activist, one as a doomed anti-VC guerrilla fighter. That evil rival gang keeps resurfacing, determined to kill Bryan (who has, with a show of reluctance, gotten into the drug-trade too). Then comes the recognition of Red China, the collapse of Bryan's empire, his new start in kung-fu movies--damaged by the foul-play death of his Bruce Lee-ish star. But even though Bryan is next framed for a Washington murder, making him a US outcast, ""The Doubt was not powerful enough to completely eradicate the Dream"": he leads the way in Taiwan/Peking trade deals and returns to the mainland ""a king,"" knowing that ""China is being restored from an evil, anti-Chinese philosophy and it is being done by the example of Taiwan and your belief in capitalism."" Bryan, unfortunately, is a very iffy embodiment of the American Dream, a specious mix of Don Corleone and Johnny Apple-seed; more important, he's utterly faceless, especially in sketchy relationships with two barely visible women. Still, though weak as fiction and dubious as a political sermon, this addition to the China-novel shelf does feature fresh specifics in the Taiwan details--which may be enough to keep undemanding readers moderately engaged.

Pub Date: Oct. 24, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Villard/Random House

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION