The Far East Trilogy: The Chinese Bandit, The Last Mandarin, and The Blue-Eyed Shan

by Stephen Becker

Three thrillers set in WWII-era Asia by a New York Times–bestselling author who writes “like a cross between Joseph Conrad and James Clavell” (Houston Chronicle). “A master of terse, ironic dialogue,” the author of A Covenant with Death presents a trilogy that journeys from the Gobi Desert to Peking to Burma in the chaotic years following the Second World War (Kirkus Reviews).  The Chinese An American ex-marine must run for his life in the cutthroat atmosphere of postwar China, pursued by both a dangerous criminal and Chiang Kai-shek’s forces. This one “will keep readers turning pages through the night” (Los Angeles Times).  The Last An American mercenary chases a Japanese war criminal through the war-torn streets of Peking in this “fascinating . . . exciting” adventure (ThePhiladelphia Inquirer).  The Blue-Eyed The battle between East and West explodes in a remote corner of Burma, as an anthropologist in an isolated mountain village finds himself fighting to save the people he loves from the Chinese Red Army and a fearsome tribe of headhunters. A thriller “as exciting as Raiders of the Lost Ark” (Publishers Weekly).   Described as “absolutely ripping adventure” by Time and “sublime entertainment” by John Irving, the Far East Trilogy is an unforgettable saga filled with suspense, epic scope, and rich historical atmosphere.  

1087 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 25, 2016

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

[Mikel Rhodes]

Rest and West and war.

I thoroughly enjoyed all three books, the characters, plots and sub plots. I highly recommend the reading of these books!

[Janka H.]

Firstly, Mr Becker is a master of a pen, a gifted storyteller. Few are capable to paint his literary worlds with such finery and nyances, taking you immediately "there" to see, touch, smell and wonder with him and his characters. His worlds are colourful, written with journalistic, clear view - he is portraying the Eastern countries (mostly China, but Mongolia and Burma amongst others, too) as he sees them, with all layers of historical richness, tumultous times and often cruel fates of the individual under the wheel of the time. He is not for a reader faint of heart - he is no intentional writer of the horrors, but he simply reports them without going easy on his audience. And, in my opinion, he is very right to do that, as we need to see and to remember.
He might be less right with his attitude on women - you see, this is a very man's literature, full of young, virile American men interested in all the females can offer concerning sex. And his heroes have much sex. While this is not an erotic literature, the author's male characters are very, very much interested in sex and pleasure - read: their pleasure. Females need to be VERY interesting to get into these men's hearts, too - otherwise, they are only forgettable chapters serving their physical needs (also - why are they so sure that the prostitutes love their job?). And that does not sit well with me, because as much I grudgingly admire the male characters's get-go attitude and their invincible youngness, I am also not interested in this kind of men, living for the day without any higher calling and purpose.
Yet, still - the author's journalistic eye makes up for this less than pleasant features with his precise storytelling. And for this mastery and for the descriptive richness I will remember these novels fondly. Truly, what an informed, capable writer!

[Bill]

Two out of three

The first novel is an over the top adventure of a Marine deserter which might have been a great B&W film like Gunga Din. The second is a sort of mystery set in the wake of WWII. It moves forward nicely for a satisfying ending. Book three rambles, talks in long flowering passages while telling us about Burma and the indigenous people living in the hills and of the foreigners who come and die there disrupting their primitive life.

[Pat]

Difficult reading

The stories are complex and characters too. The writing at times goes on, and on....into physical description of architecture, landscape, and other elements of the story...it becomes underwhelming. I enjoyed the trilogy yet was at times irritated by the writing style I think this is one to re-read in attempt to feel the the writing more.

[James]

An interesting set of novels. Most readers will find the plots unbelievable, but if you read any history of post War period they are either very well researched or the author lived in the neighbourhood in the late '40s early '50s.

The last Mandarin seemed to be written a bit tongue in cheek, and the denoument seemed too much like a Keystone Kops film to me. Otherwise enjoyed them.

[Linda]

Interesting to me because I've lived in Asia and freaked out people with my language skills but otherwise just another Trevanian-like triple tale