The Blue-Eyed Shan

The Far East Trilogy #3

by Stephen Becker

The battle between East and West explodes in a remote corner of Burma in this electrifying saga from master storyteller Stephen Becker

In the years before World War II, Harvard-trained anthropologist Greenwood journeyed to the Shan States in eastern Burma to study the people of Pawlu, an isolated mountain village. He fell in love with Loi-mae, a local woman, and fathered a daughter, but when war erupted across the globe, Greenwood left his family behind to fight for the Allied cause.
 
In 1949, he returns to Pawlu to help an old friend on the run from China’s Red Army—a friend who claims to be in possession of the missing bones of the Peking Man. But Greenwood isn’t welcomed back to Burma with open arms. Loi-mae has a new husband who doesn’t take kindly to the return of her former lover, and the village is preoccupied by attacks from the wild Wa, a fearsome, headhunting tribe. When a band of refugee Chinese soldiers arrives, the stage is set for a dramatic showdown in which Greenwood risks everything to save the people he loves.
 
The Blue-Eyed Shan is the 3rd book in the Far East Trilogy, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Stephen Becker (1927–1999) was an American author, translator, and teacher whose published works include eleven novels and the English translations of many works, including Elie Wiesel’s The Town Behind the Wall and The Forgotten and André Malraux’s The Conquerors.

He was born in Mount Vernon, New York in 1927, and after serving in World War II, he graduated from Harvard University and studied in Peking and Paris, where he was friends with the novelist Richard Wright and learned French in part by reading detective novels. The recipient of Paul Harris and Guggenheim Fellowships and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, Becker taught at numerous schools throughout the United States, including the University of Iowa, Bennington College, and the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

His best-known works include A Covenant with Death (1965), which was adapted into a Warner Brothers film starring Gene Hackman and George Maharis; When the War Is Over (1969), a Civil War novel based on the true story of a teenage Confederate soldier executed more than a month after Lee’s surrender; and the Far East trilogy of literary adventure novels: The Chinese Bandit (1975), The Last Mandarin (1979), and The Blue-Eyed Shan (1982).

Equally distinguished as a translator, a biographer, a commentator on the popular arts, and a novelist, Stephen Becker brings to his fiction a breadth of experience with world culture and human behavior which yields moral complexity and psychological verity in his work. Two major themes intertwine through his novels—the problems of justice and the necessity for self-knowledge and self-fulfillment.

Becker's examination of society's structure and limitations and his portrayal of men seeking "grace under pressure" is a significant contribution to contemporary fiction. The existential premises of the works—individuals finding meaning inside the arbitrary bounds of social order—reflect our acceptance of the civilization we have built.

Read more: Stephen (David) Becker Biography - JRank Articles http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4144...

Reviews

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becker is one of my favorite authors, and his trilogy of books set in Asia are exceptional.

This novel relates the intertwined destinies of the American Greenwood, Yang a Chinese general, Olevskoy a Russian count, and the hidden Shan village of Pawlu hidden in the mountains of Burma in the years after WWII.

The Chinese and Russian lead a small troupe of Nationalist soldiers fleeing the Red Army and carrying a cache of ancient bones from 'Peking Man'. They are heading for Pawlu to meet Greenwood, and anthropologist who had spent the war in Pawlu fighting the Japanese. When in Pawlu he had fathered a daughter before returning the US after the war, and now seeks to return, both to see his daughter again and to obtain the fossils for study.

Both the Chinese and the American have to contend with both headhunters and the villagers of Pawlu, as cultures collide.

[Joseph Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadly little known, this novel by the underrated Becker is a fascinating, haunting tale--part historical novel, part adventure story, part thriller--set in and around World War II and showing how the war and the arrival of Americans and other combatants changed forever a secluded region of Asia and its people. This was a novel I had trouble getting out of my head long after I finished it, a journey to a distant world that seemed as realistic to me as if I had visited myself.

[Biskit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really got lost in it. Strangely similar to The Wind Up Bird Chronicle in its descriptions of WWII ugliness that's usually glazed over otherwise. Also reminds me of For Whom The Bell Tolls w/ its mix of nature/war/love/dread. A great war book for people who don't like war books.

[Tgdelaney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written adventure story in an exotic setting, the remote tribal uplands of Burma just at the time the Communists are taking over China nearby. Becker writes a distinctive, wiry prose and creates characters that are varied, strong, and deep. And the ending is a real surprise.

[Sue Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

An adventure with depth and soul: compelling, insightful, witty, heart-breaking. I don't usually read historically-based fiction, but this one - set in WWII-era Burma - I love, and couldn't put down, even on second read. Becker's other books are good. This one is wonderful.

[Richard Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here's an amazing historical fiction adventure about some of the little known sections of "old" Burma. If you have visited modern Myanmar in the south of the country, don't expect this to be a joy ride through the places you are familiar with. Our story is set in the north east of the country in 1949-50 when the world was very different from today. WWII historians of Burma will remember that Merrill's Marauders jungle crashed for months on end to take the Japanese occupied town of Myitkyinia in Northern Burma. Then following the war, Mao Tse-Tung chased many of the Nationalist Chinese army under Chiang Kai-shek, the Kuomintang, into the highlands of Burma. They fled with their weapons, south into the Golden Triangle of Burma ultimately taking over the opium trade. Against this background, our hero, Greenwood, an anthropologist, is pulled into WWII to work as an OSS because he speaks Shan and has lived in the hills as a Shan tribesman in Northern Burma. Following the war, Greenwood returns to America, becoming a Professor of anthropology in university life. Growing jaded with civilization, he decides to revisit his Burmese wife in the up-country village of Pawlu. Of course, in the intervening years, life in Burma has changed. The village has a new religious leader, a green skinned man, formerly a slave in the tin mines. The local wild head-hunting mountain tribes now have more modern weapons and are a threat to the village and to any strangers crossing their territory. The dwindling Kuomintang under a failed general and womanizing Russian are searching for a place to call home. Armed with his favorite weapon, a Thompson machine gun, Greenwood and his guide set off along the old Burma Road to find his wife and beautiful daughter in Pawlu.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a place where bandits and headhunters lurk waiting to strike. This is the place you are transported to while reading The Blue-Eyed Shan by Stephen Becker. This book takes place in Burma, China, and the Shan States soon after world war two. The small village of Pawlu is the epicenter of the story and is where all the characters meet. This story is told from the perspectives of four main characters: Greenwood, General Yang, Nikolia Olevskoy, and Naung. These characters with different motives are all lead to an epic final showdown in Pawlu.
I gave The Blue-eyed Shan a four-star review. In the book, the imagery was great and really made me feel like I was in this place I knew very little about. The book also had a great ending that kept me wanting to read more. However, there is a reason I did not give this book a five-star review. At some parts of the story, especially the start, it was challenging to understand what was happening because of the constantly changing perspectives and my limited knowledge of the Shan States culture. This caused parts of the book to be slow and really made some parts hard to read. But overall I found this book enjoyable as I had the opportunity to learn about the Shan culture through an exciting and vibrant tale.
I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn or already knows about the Shan culture. But I would avoid this book if you are someone who likes fast-paced books as there are some slow parts.

[Pablo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sadly, I've come to the end of this adventurous trilogy. Excellent reads, all three ! Becker seems to be, sadly, seldom read these days and that's a pity. Highly entertaining, well written and informed books that simply sweep one away to another world. Solid 4 stars !!

[Adrian Benson]

I learned a lot about the politics of this time period and about how events swoop you up whether you like it or not. This book is a bit fatalistic but all the more real for that. I would recommend it.