Book Review of Blazing China by R.F. Whong
This is a deviation from the types of books I normally read. Not crime fiction. However, it is a story of redemption for several of the characters. This book is a stand-alone book, but there is also a follow up book with some of the same characters called Detour to Agape.
The book is set in China and Hong Kong in the mid 1960’s through late 1970’s. The story is a fascinating look at the uprise of Chinese communism and the impact it has on the citizens of China, especially Christians. The story follows Leesan, who is the mother of twin girls, May May and Ann Ann. Though they are identical twins, their journeys are nearly polar opposites. There are a lot of characters and there are a lot of points of view.
Two aspects of the writing to be aware of. First, there are some interesting phrases used that threw me off. However, not enough to detract from the story, but enough to make me pause and consider. I attribute this to the author possibly not having English as her first language. Second is the time jumps that are only separated at times by paragraphs rather than sections. The reader needs to pay attention to when things are happening because from one paragraph to the next a day, a week, a month, and sometimes several months can elapse. I would have preferred the author use section breaks for time jumps. Again, not enough to detract, but enough to pull the reader out to think about the time movement.
Another important aspect of this story is the explanations of Christianity throughout. I encourage you, if you are not Christian, to read this anyway. The story does a great job of showing true Christian faith and showing people in times of tribulation but getting through those times because of their faith. It also portrays what can happen when that faith is not embraced or abandoned.
The characters are fleshed out well. I did run into some confusion occasionally due to the names and not always remembering the relation to the point of view character of another character that sometimes was referred to by their name and sometimes by that relationship.
I recommend this book to both Christians and non-Christians especially on the merit of the setting and the view into how communism impacted China and the devastation it caused and continues to cause.
There are some sexual situations in this book. The author gives a warning on her Amazon page. However, they are relevant to the story and add to the realism as well as emotion the story conveys. No profanity and no over-the-top violence.
I’ll rank this one number eight so far, again on the merits of the historical setting and the excellent characterization to show the impact. However, it’s a bit of an orange in a list of apples, so take the ranking with a grain of salt.
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