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Gunga Din Highway
Nothing - not even Lassie - is held sacred when Frank Chin starts off by tilting at Hollywood's windmills and then moves on to topple many of today's other sacred cows.
Rich with wicked humor and biting honesty, Gunga Din Highway is a freewheeling saga of two generations of the Kwan Longman, The Chinaman Who Dies in countless cinema epics, and his son Ulysses, who despises his father's dream of someday playing Charlie Chan.
Joined by a broad assortment of complex and often hilarious characters, their story spans a lifetime - full of sixties protests, Chinese mythology, enduring friendships, bittersweet family conflict, the strains of flamenco guitar, and cameo appearances by Hollywood greats ranging from John Wayne to Annette Funicello.
Gunga Din Highway is an impassioned and entertaining American tale, revealing big truths in a compelling, one-of-a-kind read.
Rich with wicked humor and biting honesty, Gunga Din Highway is a freewheeling saga of two generations of the Kwan Longman, The Chinaman Who Dies in countless cinema epics, and his son Ulysses, who despises his father's dream of someday playing Charlie Chan.
Joined by a broad assortment of complex and often hilarious characters, their story spans a lifetime - full of sixties protests, Chinese mythology, enduring friendships, bittersweet family conflict, the strains of flamenco guitar, and cameo appearances by Hollywood greats ranging from John Wayne to Annette Funicello.
Gunga Din Highway is an impassioned and entertaining American tale, revealing big truths in a compelling, one-of-a-kind read.
- GenresFiction
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1995
38 people want to read
About the author
Frank Chin
20 books12 followersFrank Chin was born in Berkeley, California, but was raised to the age of six by a retired Vaudeville couple in Placerville, California. At six his mother brought him back to the San Francisco Bay Area to live in Oakland Chinatown. He attended college at the University of California, Berkeley. He received an American Book Award in 1989 for a collection of short stories, and another in 2000 for Lifetime Achievement. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Chin is considered to be one of the pioneers in Asian American theatre. He founded the Asian American Theatre Workshop, which became the Asian American Theater Company in 1973. He first gained notoriety as a playwright in the 1970s. His play The Chickencoop Chinaman was the first by an Asian American to be produced on a major New York stage. Stereotypes of Asian Americans, and traditional Chinese folklore are common themes in much of his work. Frank Chin has accused other Asian American writers, particularly Maxine Hong Kingston, of furthering such stereotypes and misrepresenting the traditional stories. Chin, during his professional career, has been highly critical of American writer, Amy Tan, for her telling of Chinese-American stories, indicating that her body of work has furthered and reinforced stereotypical views of this group.
In addition to his work as an author and playwright, Frank Chin has also worked extensively with Japanese American resisters of the draft in WWII. His novel, Born in the U.S.A., is dedicated to this subject.
Chin is also a musician. In the mid-1960s, he taught Robbie Krieger, a member of The Doors how to play the Flamenco guitar.
Chin is considered to be one of the pioneers in Asian American theatre. He founded the Asian American Theatre Workshop, which became the Asian American Theater Company in 1973. He first gained notoriety as a playwright in the 1970s. His play The Chickencoop Chinaman was the first by an Asian American to be produced on a major New York stage. Stereotypes of Asian Americans, and traditional Chinese folklore are common themes in much of his work. Frank Chin has accused other Asian American writers, particularly Maxine Hong Kingston, of furthering such stereotypes and misrepresenting the traditional stories. Chin, during his professional career, has been highly critical of American writer, Amy Tan, for her telling of Chinese-American stories, indicating that her body of work has furthered and reinforced stereotypical views of this group.
In addition to his work as an author and playwright, Frank Chin has also worked extensively with Japanese American resisters of the draft in WWII. His novel, Born in the U.S.A., is dedicated to this subject.
Chin is also a musician. In the mid-1960s, he taught Robbie Krieger, a member of The Doors how to play the Flamenco guitar.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 13, 2008
I can never really get into Frank Chin novels... some people are stuck in the 60s... zzzz
Displaying 1 of 1 review