Set in Japanese-occupied Shanghai in 1945, The Frontiers of Love passes effortlessly in and out of Asian and Western fields of reference to explore the issue of cultural identity in a city dominated by Western colonialism. Diana Chang uses psychologial portrayal, historical narrative, and sociological observation to achieve a multidimensional view of a city both Chinese and Western, liberating and oppressive, national and international. As the character Feng observes of Shanghai, “Strictly speaking, it could not be called Chinese, though it was inhabited mostly by Chinese - Chinese who were either wealthy, Westernized, or prayed to a Christian God.”
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"[A] remarkable first novel..[Chang] enters the minds and hearts of her characters, young and old, European and Oriental, reveals them in their strengths and weaknesses, in their moments of self—deception and revelation. The Frontiers of Love is a beautifully written novel that cries out to be read."
" - Chicago Sun—Times
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"The Frontiers of Love is written with poetic precision of language, with considerable dexterity in handling a large grouop of characters and with fluent ease in narration. Miss Chang knows exactly what she wishes to do and does it expertly."
" - New York Times
