The Rebel of Rangoon: A Tale of Defiance and Deliverance in Burma

by Delphine Schrank

One of Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2015

An epic, multigenerational story of courage and sacrifice set in a tropical dictatorship, The Rebel of Rangoon captures a gripping moment of possibility in Burma (Myanmar)

Once the shining promise of Southeast Asia, Burma in May 2009 ranks among the world's most repressive and impoverished nations. Its ruling military junta seems to be at the height of its powers. But despite decades of constant brutality-and with their leader, the Nobel Peace Prize-laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, languishing under house arrest-a shadowy fellowship of oddballs and misfits, young dreamers and wizened elders, bonded by the urge to say no to the system, refuses to relent. In the byways of Rangoon and through the pathways of Internet cafes, Nway, a maverick daredevil; Nigel, his ally and sometime rival; and Grandpa, the movement's senior strategist who has just emerged from nineteen years in prison, prepare to fight a battle fifty years in the making.

When Burma was still sealed to foreign journalists, Delphine Schrank spent four years underground reporting among dissidents as they struggled to free their country. From prison cells and safe houses, The Rebel of Rangoon follows the inner life of Nway and his comrades to describe that journey, revealing in the process how a movement of dissidents came into being, how it almost died, and how it pushed its government to crack apart and begin an irreversible process of political reform. The result is a profoundly human exploration of daring and defiance and the power and meaning of freedom.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics

352 pages, Hardcover

First published April 22, 2014

Reviews

[Corey Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have immense admiration for this book: for the ambitious, proudly intelligent prose; for the essential, multi-layered story it tells; for the incredible work and sacrifice that must've gone into the reporting.
But despite all those fantastic qualities, it was ultimately a slow, tedious read. I'm a full-on literary snob, but there were many times when the hifalutin tone, the overlapping metaphors, were exhausting even for me.
There is an extraordinary human story at the heart of this book--and at its best, Rebel of Rangoon found that vitality in a powerful way. But more often than not, the overheated prose and overly-complex structure got in the way.
I really don't want to be too negative here. This book is an achievement, and a really interesting, unique addition to my frailty-of-democracy bookshelf. Burma is, to a degree, a painful mirror image of the U.S. - a society where the antithesis of democracy is so ingrained that it becomes impossible to imagine anything else - and there are real, remarkable lessons to be learned from this cast of relentless heroes. If thats your bag, its worth a read, for sure.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delphine Schrank is a journalist who spent 4 years underground in Burma with a group of dissidents including a man named Nway. She describes their attempts to get Democratic reform. IDs in Burma list your name, ethnic group and religion. Burmese are usually Buddhist, many minority groups are Christian or animist, and groups to the East are mostly Muslim. The Christian groups tend to get most interest internationally and the government decides to go after the Muslim minorities with immunity. Education is decimated because most dissidents attend university. The author describes how the dissidents survive and work. She also goes through the history of the movement with one member who was released from prison after 15 years.

[Joanne Monte · Rating 4 out of 5]

After writing a novel set during the Korean War, my interest in Asian history grew, leading me to read The Rebel of Rangoon which I won in a Goodreads giveaway. It's a true account written by an award winning journalist who spent four years underground in a quest to document the courageous and ambitious struggle of a young dissident and his friends who, inspired by their leader, Aung San Sui Kyi, then under house arrest, fought against a ruthless military regime in Burma. This story is beautifully written and vividly depicts Burma's history and culture, enhancing the reader's imagination of time and place. It is a harrowing account of courage, sacrifice, and perseverance--a must read for anyone interested in Asian history.

[Jennifer Nelson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Received through FirstReads..
I think first off, I want to say that I went back and forth between 2 and 3 stars. I would not recommend this unless you have a particular interest in Burma and/or its recent history. To me this felt like a 2-3 part magazine article that was stretched into a book. So much could have been trimmed. The people portrayed were drowned in all the repetitive details.

[Valerie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book through Firstreads.
Honestly, I really wanted to like this book more than I did. I thought the story itself was very interesting, as I always enjoy learning more about political and social situations in other countries, especially those I don't know too much about. However, I feel like this story was buried too deep in details that weren't necessary. I would've liked a more straight forward approach to the stories of the characters. Rather, I felt like a characters story would start in one sentence, followed by 2-3 paragraphs of historical data/descriptions of the country, then it would pick up the characters' story again, yet I had already forgotten what was happening with them because it was muddled with too much detail.
I do think that the situation in Burma is important for people to read about, and I liked that the story was told through the eyes of those who are fighting underground to help change the political situation in the country. For that reason, I did enjoy this book.
So I suppose in summary, I enjoyed this book, but I feel like the author's writing style just was not my cup of tea. For a journalist, I would've thought that the writing would've been a bit more cohesive, but honestly at times I felt like I was reading the writings of a non-native speaker trying to write in English. There were many paragraphs I had to re-read just to get the main point of what she was trying to say.
Overall, I'm giving this book 2 stars, because I did like the message of the book, but would've liked it to be more fluid to read.

[Hunter Marston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Delphine Schrank provides a valuable contribution to the literature on Myanmar's political transformation. She is a talented writer. I think the book suffers from the typical western journalistic romanticization of Burma, underground activists, and the shadow of the military junta. The characters are murky and their activities vague. What are they doing running around passing notes? Schrank never really makes clear what the opposition's (teachers, dissidents, NLD organizers and recruiters, etc.) role is, nor how they contributed to the country's democratic breakthrough. Moreover, despite her professed intent to remove herself from the book, she obviously places the author in fancy hotel scenes and upscale cafes interviewing the subjects. I think part of the reason I am so critical of Schrank's book is because I spent a summer doing similar research on civil society and political activists in Yangon in 2010 and came away with a similarly murky picture. Then again, I never tried to sell a book off the experience. In the end, this is not a great historical piece - I wish there were more historical factota - but a nicely written and rather rosy embellishment of democracy activists' struggle in military-dominated Myanmar.

[Ramesh Shrestha]

Romanticized and exaggerated ... if you have lived in Yangon you will know what mean.

[Wallace Thorns · Rating 1 out of 5]

Although I read this book a few years ago, I've never had much to say about it until I just joined Goodreads. I've been browsing for new books about Myanmar that are well written and not driven by bias such as the trendy "Rohingya good Buddhist bad" set of so called Burma Experts. Then, I just saw Rebel of Rangoon and I recalled it as if I'd scratched an old scab and re-opened it.

The author of this book certainly went to Burma but she seems to have embellished and glorified her presence as so many westerners are want to do in all matters Burma. A lot of the book, the places, the people, what they do, seems made up. As someone who's lived in Burma a while, I know there are as many stories as there people. But the idea of passing a note as a clandestine activity is hard to believe. People in Burma have much more intricate ways to communicate secretive information. Everything else is also contrived - quite a lot. Also, the writing is awful, granted the author's first language may not be English, but there are people called editors who can help. Shrank should have known better. Yes, she won an award but journalists support each other and that's what got her recognition. If she had no corporate connects her book would've been ignored completely - it's that bad.

If anyone wants to learn what it was like to be in Burma, read Emma Larkins books. They are authentic, deeply meaningful, and they are well written. Rebel of Rangoon is the wrong book to go to for any reason.

[Brandon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't get through this more than half way. Stilted prose, tortuous pacing that's constantly looping back on itself or getting mired in minutiae. After 150 pages I had very little big picture understanding of what's actually going on in Burma. At its best, this book illustrates the injustices and absurdities of an autocratic system through the details of the personal stories of the subjects. But Schrank starts getting into more and more intricate back stories for characters whose positions and relationships remain opaque and whose actions and impacts are vague for reasons of anonymity. The result is a mess that is just not readable. I'll look elsewhere for an understanding of Burma/Myanmar.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have lived in Burma since 2008, I knew everyone in the movement when this author was there, and this book is made up--mostly. Some authenticity exists, but it wholly incredible.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book takes the reader on a five years journey in the lives of key political activists in Burma prior to (and also during) the relative political opening of the country. Being on the ground in Yangon while reading this book and having visited some of the streets and places (for instance, 19th street in downtown and 54 University Avenue at Inya Lake), I felt a lot more immersed in the details of this well researched book. It provided me (as a tourist in this beautiful country) with a different perspective and a broader context of Myanmar.

[Anthony Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an almost novelistic look at a few key players in Myanmar's democracy movement, with a special focus on young people in the waning days of the military junta. Although its chronology is sometimes frustrating as it can jump back and forth in a haphazard way, the authors deep engagement with subjects and expressive writing style keeps you engaged and makes you feel a part of the action

[K T]

eye opener

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to know how the activists survived the military dictatorship in Burma (Myanmar).