Honor and Duty: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Way better than China Boy
Review: Honor and Duty and even better than China Boy.

Rating:
Summary: Ugh!
Review: I read this FICTION some time ago. Unfortunately, many take it as non-fiction. That's my knock on it, and other books of similar ilk. They take an unnecessary shot at a national icon, tending to help keep the cauldron of doubt boiling for many influential people. Ugh! What a bad idea!

Rating:
Summary: Touching Close to the Heart
Review: This book has been deeply inspiring. As an ethnic Chinese living in America, reading this book has helped me answer questions about myself that I never even knew I was asking. Everything that Kai Ting went through seemed somehow strangely familiar to me even though I wasn't raised in the hood, never went to West Point, and am not even a boy.

Gus Lee is as powerful a writer as you will ever read. His prose is tight and flowing. This book is in no way an action thriller or mystery, but he keeps you on the edge of your seat as if it were. Contrary to the protests of some of the other reviewers, his characters are not one dimensional. They demonstrate very real conflicts and feelings. As we get to see the world through Kai's eyes, we get to know Kai, and we get an important social perspective into the tumultuous world of the 1960s. This is not just a book for Chinese Americans or for potential West Point cadets. It is a book for humanity. About humanity and what it means to find yourself.

This book taught me the honor of upholding your Eastern core while embracing Western culture. It showed me that it is possible to retain your own honor in the face of failure or defeat. And for that I thank Gus Lee.