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The Far East Trilogy #1
The Chinese Bandit
Jake Dodds - a wartime hero and a peacetime bum. Fighter, thief, black marketeer, courageous leader, quiet dreamer...and a lyrical lover of women. Across China's most merciless land, aswarm with warlords, cut-throats, Japanese deserters, whores and nomads...Jake Dodds is running for his life!
309 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
About the author
Stephen Becker
45 books13 followersStephen 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...
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...
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 28, 2015
Many of Stephen Becker's novels have been recently re-released. I had no idea who Stephen Becker was until I found one of his earlier books, A Covenant with Death while looking for something else entirely in my Mom's attic.
Mr. Becker was a talented writer who served in WWII and spent time studying and living in China. The Chinese Bandit, though crass at times, is quite the adventure story and I'm sure that Mr. Becker's knowledge of the country was helpful in writing this book. I had to find an old map that listed Peking (now Beijing) to keep track of where this adventure was headed.
This is the story of Jake Dobbs, a Marine deserter and lover of the ladies of the night turned thief, merchant, murderer, bandit, sheep herder and butcher. I hated Jake Dobbs at times and felt sorry for him at others. In the end, what goes around comes around as they say. If you like adventure stories, read this book. Just don't expect a happy ending tied up and all tidy.
Mr. Becker was a talented writer who served in WWII and spent time studying and living in China. The Chinese Bandit, though crass at times, is quite the adventure story and I'm sure that Mr. Becker's knowledge of the country was helpful in writing this book. I had to find an old map that listed Peking (now Beijing) to keep track of where this adventure was headed.
This is the story of Jake Dobbs, a Marine deserter and lover of the ladies of the night turned thief, merchant, murderer, bandit, sheep herder and butcher. I hated Jake Dobbs at times and felt sorry for him at others. In the end, what goes around comes around as they say. If you like adventure stories, read this book. Just don't expect a happy ending tied up and all tidy.
on-going
March 28, 2025What a great opening line:
That summer they hanged a fat man at the Western Gate as a warning and example to all.
That summer they hanged a fat man at the Western Gate as a warning and example to all.
April 10, 2025
Becker’s 1975 book of adventure is gloriously boisterous, fully packed with sex and violence (in one sequence, though, the union of the two takes a pretty grim turn). I didn’t see the lead character, Jake Dodds, so much of an anti-hero, like a bad dude with a heart of gold or a dreadful villain who nevertheless plays by a certain code, but more of just an out and out louse. I had a distinct lack of sympathy for the guy, but, thanks to Becker’s elevated writing, I still had a blast of a time with the book.
July 29, 2013
This is one of my favorite adventure novels ever, and it seems I reread it every couple of years. My paperback copy bears the announcement, "Soon to be a major motion picture." But sadly, no such film exists. And it would make a great one.
The hero, Jake, is a US Marine stationed in China before WWII. After assaulting a superior officer when drunk, he deserts to avoid prison and joins a camel caravan on the silk road. When the caravan is attacked by a gang of bandits, he becomes first their prisoner, and later a member of the gang. The group is led by a bandit of fearsome reputation whose face has been scarred by an encounter with a tiger. The bandits are pursued by a Japanese officer, who discovered that the caravan carried a fortune in gold concealed in kegs of nails.
The hero, Jake, is a US Marine stationed in China before WWII. After assaulting a superior officer when drunk, he deserts to avoid prison and joins a camel caravan on the silk road. When the caravan is attacked by a gang of bandits, he becomes first their prisoner, and later a member of the gang. The group is led by a bandit of fearsome reputation whose face has been scarred by an encounter with a tiger. The bandits are pursued by a Japanese officer, who discovered that the caravan carried a fortune in gold concealed in kegs of nails.
July 20, 2012
This is one of my favorites novels ever. I think part of the appeal for me is that much of the book is set in Tibet which I find exotic and mystical. I first read it back in the late '70's so it might be hard to find. If you can find a copy, pick it up. It's a great read.
September 11, 2011
Old-school book with lots of killing, drugs, and sex. Lots of fun to read.
March 8, 2012
My favorite book of all time.
dnf-abandoned
June 29, 2026DnF at pg 20
What a horribly written book. It's mentioned the author lived in Peking after World War II, but still wrote this reductive stereotypical portrayal of Chinese culture.
It's clearly written through a white man's gaze; James Bond but in China where;
1) Names are shoddily translated:
Palace of the Night Chicken, Nagging wife wine place, Wild Pigeon Alley
2) Caricatures that portray chinese as mercantile, seemingly always seeking to keep from harm or to make a quick buck whenever advantageous (at least in the first 20 pages), whilst Jake, is depicted as the "white saviour", wanting to do right and fight for justice.
3) the sex scenes... yikess...
"She was all of China, yellow plains and yellow-green meadows, pagodas and temples, mountains of jade and rivers of gold, silks and spices, and Jake was under lord of all heaven."
"And he laughed happily as the sun rose between his thighs.... he buried his face between her warm breasts, and soon his risen sun between her her thighs, and they were floating on the warm yellow light"
What a horribly written book. It's mentioned the author lived in Peking after World War II, but still wrote this reductive stereotypical portrayal of Chinese culture.
It's clearly written through a white man's gaze; James Bond but in China where;
1) Names are shoddily translated:
Palace of the Night Chicken, Nagging wife wine place, Wild Pigeon Alley
2) Caricatures that portray chinese as mercantile, seemingly always seeking to keep from harm or to make a quick buck whenever advantageous (at least in the first 20 pages), whilst Jake, is depicted as the "white saviour", wanting to do right and fight for justice.
3) the sex scenes... yikess...
"She was all of China, yellow plains and yellow-green meadows, pagodas and temples, mountains of jade and rivers of gold, silks and spices, and Jake was under lord of all heaven."
"And he laughed happily as the sun rose between his thighs.... he buried his face between her warm breasts, and soon his risen sun between her her thighs, and they were floating on the warm yellow light"
October 16, 2025
this book taught me better how to be racist against chinese people. i mean you know it's gonna be good when it refers to fu manchu
a book that reminds me a lot of crazy weather, but chinese version. bounce on it, CRAZY WEATHER STYLE! spelling kazakh as qazaq is also dope
some of the most interesting ways of describing things that i've ever seen, like sorta a "what is the most interesting way i can say this" but i think more literal readers (aka people with NO IMAGINATION) tend not to fare well with that. but i always really respect that and it creates the whole vibe
very fragmented flow in general, jumping all over the place at the sentence level - can argue this is a matter of style, which everything is, but it makes it hard to read
the best opening of any book i've ever read in my life
a book that reminds me a lot of crazy weather, but chinese version. bounce on it, CRAZY WEATHER STYLE! spelling kazakh as qazaq is also dope
some of the most interesting ways of describing things that i've ever seen, like sorta a "what is the most interesting way i can say this" but i think more literal readers (aka people with NO IMAGINATION) tend not to fare well with that. but i always really respect that and it creates the whole vibe
very fragmented flow in general, jumping all over the place at the sentence level - can argue this is a matter of style, which everything is, but it makes it hard to read
the best opening of any book i've ever read in my life
March 14, 2018
Sorry to all those who enjoyed this book...well, I almost gave up after the first few chapters! Just not my type of book at all...I'm not into reading about some uncouth, foul-mouthed, morally-bankrupt ex US Marine with a hang up for genitals' pests & diseases whether male or female, and who enjoys roaming the Chinese outback killing and plundering with pleasure. The story-line itself was quiet interesting, hence the one star, but for me there was at times just a 'bit too much information'.
May 14, 2025
A true anti hero
The prose was short, and sweet, leaving the reader to extract meaning. The protagonist was the definition of "flawed", and thus, all too real. His arc throughout the tale illustrates both the terrible and wonderful ways that circumstances can change who one is.
Definitely reading the sequels.
The prose was short, and sweet, leaving the reader to extract meaning. The protagonist was the definition of "flawed", and thus, all too real. His arc throughout the tale illustrates both the terrible and wonderful ways that circumstances can change who one is.
Definitely reading the sequels.
March 16, 2025
Now I want to read the second book in this trilogy.
The Chinese Bandit was isn't that bad of a book; and I will have to read the next book in the trilogy to see if it really ties into this series starter.
The Chinese Bandit was isn't that bad of a book; and I will have to read the next book in the trilogy to see if it really ties into this series starter.
September 12, 2021
This is the best book I have read in my entire life without challenge I am so sad to have finished it and I’m sure I will reread it many times <3
January 21, 2023
Fascinating novel of a US Marine in China who was captured by a gang of bandits, and became one of them.
April 1, 2024
My dad's favourite novel, he rereads it all the time.
July 15, 2024
An adventure yarn rather different than others. Raw and rough, pretty entertaining as it progresses and moves like lightning. Fun ! 4 stars
May 28, 2022
A Great Read
A unique setting with intriguing characters, scintillating action and a story that keeps you reading into the wee hours of the morning.
A unique setting with intriguing characters, scintillating action and a story that keeps you reading into the wee hours of the morning.
October 25, 2015
Violenza, sesso, droga e un meraviglioso viaggio in Asia.
Dopo aver finito questo libro ho trovato l'insulto perfetto: Che i cani smerdino tuo/a (inserire nome di un/una parente della persona che vuoi insultare).
Dopo aver finito questo libro ho trovato l'insulto perfetto: Che i cani smerdino tuo/a (inserire nome di un/una parente della persona che vuoi insultare).
November 8, 2016
Really good "literary adventure" novel, if a bit slow in the middle. Unfortunately, it only tells part of the story with one big, gigantic question left unresolved.
October 12, 2017
A fast-paced adventure set in the waning days of pre-communist China.
March 30, 2017
Maybe a new genre if imitated: pulpacopolyse. Take 'The Sand Pebbles' or 'The Sheltering Sky', strip them of any higher moral context, throw in a dead body or two per page and a rapid cadence of depravity, and you have this book.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews