Thank you Netgalley & Spiegel& Grau for an eARC ♥️

Meet Lai, a young woman growing up in 1970s Beijing, where the echoes of the Cultural Revolution still linger in the air. As she navigates the treacherous landscape of family secrets, first loves, and friendships, Lai's journey will draw you in and leave you breathless.

With each turn of the page, you'll be swept up in the intoxicating world of literature, as Lai discovers the forbidden fruit of Hemingway, Camus, and Orwell. Feel the thrill of rebellion as she and her friends dare to dream of a life beyond the suffocating grip of the Communist Party.

As the protests swell and the regime cracks down, Lai's story will leave you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. Will she find her voice, her courage, and her true calling? Will she and her friends survive the brutal crackdown?

This book is more than just a historical novel - it's a love letter to the human spirit, a testament to the power of ideas, and a reminder that even in the darkest moments, hope can never be fully extinguished ♥️

"Tiananmen Square" is a moving novel about a young girl, names Lai, coming of age between China's Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square massacre. Lai is a compelling narrator, part of a unsettled family living in a crowded apartment building in a poor neighborhood in Beijing. Her father is a shadow following his detention during the Cultural Revolution. Her mother is brittle and critical, her beloved grandmother earthy and inappropriate. When Chinese citizens are ordered to stay indoors and away from windows during the visit of Zbigniew Brzezinski to Beijing, Lai and a friend sneak out to see the motorcade, a misstep that will haunt her for years. She wins a scholarship to the prestigious Beijing University which may be in her home city, but is a world apart. There, she begins to understand what made her so frightened and recognize her real self.

There is a gentleness to this story that is irresistible. Lai Wen is a beautiful writer, showing, not telling us what it was like to grow up in that time and place. The humanity of her tale makes every page a treasure, very much like the classic world literature Lai discovers in the old bookstore.

I highly recommend this novel, and I hope that Lai Wen is working on another novel. Lai's story is not over, and I would love to know more.

Many thanks to Spiegel & Grau, NewGalley and Edelweiss for a digital review copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. I loved this book.

The hardships of the Chinese people are given space in Tiananmen Square and our heroine Lai is a sad character. I found the novel a little hard to relate too and that's probably because it was written for Chinese people. I did follow it with interest and found myself moderately rewarded.
thanks NetGalley for the ARC.

First let’s address the fact that Lin Wen is a pseudonym. This reads like a memoir but is categorized as historical fiction, which makes me think that she doesn’t want her family or students (or China?) knowing this was her life.

This was difficult to read, not just because of the aggression by the government, but because of Lin’s teenage years. Her mother was cold and cruel, she experienced a huge loss, and her boyfriend was a selfish asshole.

I usually get bored with long books (528 pages) but this one pulled me along the whole time. It clearly paints a picture of what it was like to live in China in the 80s and why the conflict at Tiananmen Square happened. The first 75% of the book was Lin’s story, the last 25% is her involvement in the protests.

Even more than the political theme, it is a story of growing up and deciding what you stand for in an environment that likes to dictate how you should think, talk, and act.

AGAIN it’s a difficult one to read, but it’s worth it.

Content warnings:
R for language, violence, self harm, and sex (brief scenes, not even close to as graphic as Fourth Wing)

Side note for the editor:
Could’ve taken out about 20 “all at once”s.

The novel tells the story of the post - Cultural revolution and unrest leading up to the events in Tiananmen Square. The protagonist tell her story and while reading it, I was always wondering if this is really a novel or an autobiography. Nevertheless this book gives a good insight about the historical event. I found some parts quite confusing and couldn't really follow, but overall I liked the novel.

Tiananmen Square is a moving and gentle novel about the childhood and young adulthood of a girl in Beijing during the 1970-1980s. Lai lives with her family – father, mother, younger brother and grandmother – in a crowded apartment complex in a lively neighborhood in the city, with views of the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square off in the misty distance. Lai navigates the lessons of childhood friendship, the repressive Chinese government and family dynamics, eventually going to university in Peking. There she falls in love, learns to overcome loneliness and embraces a new circle of quirky and talented friends who expand her views. As students begin to chafe against the restrictions of the Chinese state, a movement gradually begins in the student body of the University of Peking, along with other universities in China, and Lai becomes involved in the peaceful advocacy for more freedoms. This movement culminates in the tragic events in Tiananmen Square and on Chang’an Avenue during June 1989, and Lai bears witness to the heart-breaking crushing of rebellion that takes place.

This novel reads like a blend of memoir and fiction. It is a beautiful, gently flowing love letter to the Beijing of the author’s childhood, and the family and city that raised her. We all know how the cruel and violent repression of June 1989 turned out, but this novel gives an inside perspective and shows how idealistic students and everyday citizens became unintentional protestors and proponents of reform. A groundswell of dissent became a tidal wave that shook a regime and captivated the attention of the world. The novel is written from a point of view that feels deeply personal and emotional. The optimism of those students and their trust in their nation was crushed during those fateful weeks. More than thirty years later, the reader can still feel the waves of pain and loss rippling from the pages, as the author reflects upon everything she lost and pays her respects to the friends she knew during those heady days. I was overwhelmed with emotion and admiration at the courage it took for the author to recount these experiences. It is a novel that will remain with me. So much gratitude to Spiegel and Grau for allowing me to read this remarkable book.

This book was fine. I didn't love it and I found the revelation at the end was very contrived. You did get a sense of what it must've been like at the time and she told the story well but I really disliked the ending.

This book was very different from what I expected, when I requested it on Netgalley. The author’s style of writing was difficult to follow and understand. At many points I was unsure whether the narrator was a young child or a teenager; she referred to herself as a young child even in passages where I knew she was 14 or 15. And, it was just a very strange novel to wrap my head around. That’s what I kept thinking as I pushed myself through it; that it was extremely weird. I finished it, but I did not enjoy it.

Memoir or novel? It's called a novel but is written under a pseudonym and the pacing, content, and writing style lend more to a memoir.

The novel tells the story of China and the sentiment and unrest leading up to the events in Tiananmen Square. We follow our main character from her childhood to her time at University. She was a student involved in the protests and the hunger strike that resulted in the tragedy of martial law being declared and the violence that occurred against the students at Tiananmen Square.

The most action occurred in the last 75% of this book, and I did find that part really interesting. If you've never read anything about this time period and moment in time, you may enjoy this novel.

I wish I could say that I loved this book, but I don't think I'm the right reader for the literary style. If you enjoy slower paced novels with a focus on storytelling and have a memoir like feel, you will enjoy this. I enjoyed the overall story I gleaned from this novel, but it took me such a long time to get there. 😬

Thank you to netgalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

4⭐ for the last quarter of the book but overall pacing and content, 3⭐.

I love the way the book flows. It has made for an easy and compelling read. Lai Wen's characters are built in gentle tender layers bringing to life their very essence. The details written within are soft and gentle but give you a real sense of being part of the story, of seeing and feeling for real all its elements. Yes a young girls coming of age but it is so much more. A fabulous novel and an outstanding piece of work. If you have read and enjoyed Hanya Yanagihara's novel 'A Little Life ' then this book is for you.
My appreciation goes to NetGalley and Spiegel &Grau for giving me early access to this novel for my honest review.

Lai is growing up during China's post-Cultural Revolution. The novel is pensive and well written, a "normal" girl coming of age in tense times. A memorable protagonist and a part of history that is not often written about, leading up to the protests in Tiananmen Square and the lives of the students involved.

This story, set against the tumultuous backdrop of post-Cultural Revolution China, is both powerful and haunting.

The foreword mentions that Lai Wen was inspired by Elena Ferrante, and that is evident in the writing. It feels very similar to memoir-esque, expository style My Brilliant Friend, subtracting the friend and adding political activism.

It explores a moment in history that is not commonly covered in the English language—I’ve never come across a novel on the topic. It fills an important gap, providing a detailed account of growing up in 1970s China and the resistance movement among students. It could have been written more tightly, but some will no doubt enjoy that level of detail to become immersed in the world.

I recommend this book to anyone who likes Elena Ferrante’s writing style and is interested in the subject matter.

This book is a masterpiece! The writing is absolutely stunning. The way she describes childhood, and what it's like to be a young adult who is stuck between childhood and adulthood is so relatable. The events that happen, the protests against censorship and oppression are so relevant even though these events took place several decades ago. She ties together little details beautifully and with such meaning and purpose. I laughed and cried while reading; it's like you're really there. This book isn't just a story, it's an experience, and I can't recommend it enough!

This book is out of my normal reads, but it’s a powerful one. At over 500 pages, I felt it. There were many parts that went horribly slow and the book honestly could have been. 100-150 pages less.

I am not familiar with the historical piece post Chinese culture revolution so it was interesting. Lai was a great character and I definitely hated her treatment … and reading the self destructive behavior. However, it was impactful and truthful.

Wen has written a compelling story about how the politically trying times in China post-Cultural Revolution influenced the way the country lived and operated. You can see it in the way Lai and her family live with each other and the way that everything is written in a slow, tense manner. It felt like we were building, building, building up to something with no way of knowing for sure how Lai herself would be impacted.

There were moments that I wondered where the story was going to go because there were scenes that felt unbearably slow and pointless. I was mostly frustrated with the way Lai's family treated her and how this treatment ultimately led to some of her self-destructive habits. The self-harm in this book was horribly brutal as well so be warned.