The House of Memory - Hardcover

Harrison, T. Rowland

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0345381491 ISBN 13: 9780345381491

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1994

Synopsis

"Nicholas R. Clifford has written a beguiling novel that pierces the labyrinth of modern China's sad history with breathtaking ease....This is historical fiction of a high order, and nobody who begins THE HOUSE OF MEMORY could possibly resist its spell."

JAY PARINI

Author of THE LAST STATION

In the spring of 1989 Matthew Walker, a young American scholar, travels to Shanghai to finish research on a book about the city's turbulent past. But he is also determined to discover the fate of his American lover's uncle, Simon Larson, who vanished from Shanghai three weeks before the Nationalists crushed the Communist uprising in 1927. Simon had left behind and journal, and Matthew combes for clues to his disappearance, arranging secret meetings with reluctant participants and uncovering long-suppressed documents. What he discovers, however, are striking parallels between two worlds, decades apart, as echoes from history reverberate to brutal consequence in Tiananmen Square. And Matthew finds himself walking dangerously close to the path taken by Simon, both personally and politically. For now he, like Simon, once a detached observer, must decide whether to become an active participant in the shaping of China's destiny.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

In his first novel, historian Clifford (Retreat from China, not reviewed) sets fictional characters in motion against the backdrop of Shanghai during two explosive historical moments: 1989 and 1925-27. Harvard Chinese history PhD Matthew Walker teaches at a small northern Massachusetts college and hopes that the book he's working on about Shanghai will boost his chances for tenure. Returning to the city in 1989 to complete his research, Matthew has also promised to find out what happened to his girlfriend Laura's great- uncle Simon, a writer who disappeared from Shanghai in 1927, just after a Communist uprising was put down by the Nationalists. Against a contemporary background of student cries for democracy in Tiananmen Square, Matthew is gradually compelled to take a political stand, as was Simon, who, we discover from the diary he kept (interwoven in the text with Matthew's adventures), led a double life. Clifford compellingly describes the charged atmosphere of 1920s-era Shanghai--filled with revolutionaries, foreign police, spies, and drug lords--and offers thoughtful insights into Chinese character, language, and politics. But the author is better at placing people in a historical context than evoking personal dramas: The scenes between Matthew and Laura before he leaves for Shanghai drag on for too long, as does the build-up to an explanation of Simon's significance, although the pacing picks up once chunks of the writer's past are revealed. At times Clifford's prose is gratifyingly reflective, even lyrical, but more often it has a dry academic tone. Like a Chinese painting in which humans seem dwarfed by a vast natural backdrop, the book works as a social study rather than a portrait of individual characters. A rewarding read for those curious about China, but not good enough for people who expect more from fiction than a history lesson. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

While it doesn't take a historian to point out the similarities between two bloody uprisings in China five decades apart, it certainly helps when events are depicted with the knowledge that historian Clifford ( Spoilt Children of Empire ) brings to his first novel. This is a sophisticated analysis of 20th-century Chinese history with expert insight into the Chinese character and perceptive comments about historical theory. Two eras are evoked simultaneously here. Matthew Walker comes to Shanghai in May 1989 to research a book for his graduate degree. At the same time he will try to discover for Laura Donati, the woman he loves, why her great-uncle, journalist Simon Larsen, disappeared from the city in 1929, just as Chiang Kai-shek was about to seize control, betraying the Communists who had been his allies against the warlords. Though he is well versed in the intrigue that dominated Chinese politics of the 1920s--the Communists, the Nationalists and the notorious opium-running Green Gang were all vying to wrest control from the foreigners who dominated Shanghai's government--Clifford doesn't achieve the dramatic momentum that would make it compelling fiction. Matthew discovers surprising secrets both about Simon's involvement with the revolutionaries, and about a love affair that helps illuminate Matthew's own problems in winning Laura's commitment. This latter device seems strained, the parallels between the two sets of lovers too pat; so too are the similar crises of conscience that confront both Simon and Matthew. In fact, at times the story seems more devised and earnest than impassioned. Yet the authenticity of detail with which Clifford conjures the city of Shanghai and the Chinese social and political landscape make this novel well worth reading.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0345381491
• ISBN 13: 9780345381491
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384