It’s rare to read Chinese historical fiction that’s not about the Cultural Revolution—hence my excitement about this refreshing tale set afterward, leading up to Tiananmen Square and student protests. I particularly enjoyed the moments of solidarity between the grandma and the granddaughter and the complex friendship set against the increasingly authoritarian rule.

While there are some mentions of politics, SQUARE’s focus on coming-of-age and teenage drama left me wanting more historical background. The telling rather than showing style also detracts from my emotional connection with the characters. SQUARE is a solid read I’ll recommend to those who want to gain a deeper understanding of modern Chinese history through a teen/tween lens.

This book is amazing. It takes you a very interesting time in China and allows you to see what is going on that leads up to Tianamen Square from a you girls experience. It is historical fiction and also a true coming of age story filled with love, friendship, and family complexities. I highly recommend this book and could see it fitting perfectly in a high school classroom.

Wow! Just wow! I remember the Beijing protests like it was yesterday, and this novel brought it to life and tied nicely to the infamous Tankman. It created a huge conversation piece in our household, bringing back the powerful and brave movements of the students. A must-read.

Thank you, #Netgalley and #Spotifyaudio, for this ARC

This felt like a memoir.

I love Historical fiction and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. My mother and I discussed it at great length because she was able to recall hearing about this even during her younger years.

I found this to be an extremely well written, piece of history. Told from a relatable perspective.

10/10

I am old enough to remember the protests at Tiananmen Square but not quite old enough to have understood. Largely censored and suppressed, that piece of history has long been an enigma—until Lai Wen’s beautiful coming of age novel. The protagonist shares the author’s name so it is not far-fetched to believe that some of this story may be rooted in truth. I don’t want to give anything away, but I cried real tears when Tank Man came on the scene. Jocelyn Tam’s narration was the perfect blend of optimism and gravitas.

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT. This book was amazing! I stood there teary-eyed and breathless in the end. What a heartbreaking, beautifully written exploration of an incredibly important historical event - and based on the author's real experiences.

A must-read for everyone with a resonance that rings sadly true for today's protests and the governments that play by the same tired, terrible old playbooks.

A gritty novel about a girl growing into a woman after the cultural revolution in China, this story was interesting enough to keep me reading, and intimate in a way that breaks the reader’s heart. The narration was especially good at driving the play, helping to understand how the MC felt during many of her stories.

It was difficult to watch this young girl grow and become a woman, it’s told as though it were a memoir, which really drew me in. I loved Lai and her blunt way of telling the story. It was warm at times (speaking of her grandmother and younger brother) and disturbing and uncomfortable at others, but I enjoyed it.

My only disappointment was that it is called Tiananmen Square, so I was expecting it to be more about the actual events, which eventually did come, but a small portion was dedicated to it. I see now that the story encompasses the way Tiananmen Square was sort of a touch point for the main character’s life at various stages, and how it represented the governing body’s touch in her life throughout the book in general. It just wasn’t my expectation. But still very good.

CW/TW: realistic sexual encounters in highschool and middle school described; mentions of people tortured or missing by the government; mentions of the deaths at Tiananmen Square;

When we think about major historical events very much defined by the decisions made by groups of humans, there is often a tendency to want to zoom out and take an overall look to get as unbiased a perspective as possible. While there is some utility in that, I also believe that there is great value in inspecting individual stories: how did a person come to participate in these events as they did? Lai Wen’s Tiananmen Square serves that goal invaluably.

You start the narrative learning about the life of a lower class girl growing up in Beijing in the 1980’s. In many senses her childhood seems indistinguishable from that of any other child you may learn about, but there are moments throughout the novel where you can feel the influences of a powerful state apparatus on Lai’s life. This comes both directly through her interactions with the police and the propaganda she receives, as well as indirectly through the ways in which trauma has manifested in those around her.

But this novel really isn’t just about Tiananmen square, and why Lai chose to participate and what that was like, but also a coming of age in which a deeply troubled child comes to gain some agency and a network of people who are truly happy to let her be herself. The fact that she chooses to take the step of participating in the protest is in itself a huge sign of personal growth.

From a writing perspective, I really like the structure where the author is writing mostly from the perspective of herself in the moment, but can also add context which she has learned in some cases years later without it feeling jarring.

I would call this a 4.5 because I was often very irritated by Lai as our perspective character for a number of reasons, but I can’t dock a whole point for that because the things which irritated me played into the theme of personal growth which I found powerful. Overall I thoroughly recommend this book!