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takekarame's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
zhzhang's review against another edition
2.0
This book is the pure revelation of the life of the 2nd generation of so-called "successful" businessman from China. The story does not develop well, nor the establishment of the characters. Even though I found it is very close to my native language.
hm0ng's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
mimiku's review against another edition
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
ejbrammer's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars, rounded up. Good, fun. Potential for a good fun series.
carleeiigh's review against another edition
3.0
Not really Beijing Payback as Victor gets manipulated throughout the whole thing and is really sad about it.
Really wanted this to be an action packed gang adventure - when it was more a meandering, fumbling young man constantly over his head and he never really gets a real resolution or a really cool moment. Sun was a much more interesting character and while I liked the reveal of him being the killer, I didn't feel like it was necessary. I feel like a really smart writer could have made this from his perspective, knowing everything that we know in the end, and make it work.
I did appreciate the conflicted feeling Victor had throughout the story, but it does take way too long for the actual story in Beijing to begin! It's halfway through before he gives in and goes to avenge his father! And even then its not very interesting, they just want to pay off some guy for information and then leave - obviously it gets messed up, but Sun is the one who figures out how to get them all out of the situation.
And the issue of stereotypes a lot of people are complaining about - and yeah they're pretty bad. The sister and Wei are the only female characters who get any focus; and Julie is sort of relegated to the worrying, annoying sister, and Wei is kind of just there as a support for Victor and give him a handjob near the end. And steal his money? Because? I mean good for her but it doesn't really teach him anything or have any affect on the plot. Every other girl is completely a prop. The black friend is also just that, a black friend who plays basketball and Victor is confused when he "talks black" around his black friends "because that's not who he is" and it made me roll my eyes. Also a Jewish friend who's good with money and computers and doesn't actually believe in any Judaism - because THATS a subtle message /s
Ultimately its not the worst, and I did enjoy the emotional toll everything takes on Victor, but I wanted more action.
Really wanted this to be an action packed gang adventure - when it was more a meandering, fumbling young man constantly over his head and he never really gets a real resolution or a really cool moment. Sun was a much more interesting character and while I liked the reveal of him being the killer, I didn't feel like it was necessary. I feel like a really smart writer could have made this from his perspective, knowing everything that we know in the end, and make it work.
I did appreciate the conflicted feeling Victor had throughout the story, but it does take way too long for the actual story in Beijing to begin! It's halfway through before he gives in and goes to avenge his father! And even then its not very interesting, they just want to pay off some guy for information and then leave - obviously it gets messed up, but Sun is the one who figures out how to get them all out of the situation.
And the issue of stereotypes a lot of people are complaining about - and yeah they're pretty bad. The sister and Wei are the only female characters who get any focus; and Julie is sort of relegated to the worrying, annoying sister, and Wei is kind of just there as a support for Victor and give him a handjob near the end. And steal his money? Because? I mean good for her but it doesn't really teach him anything or have any affect on the plot. Every other girl is completely a prop. The black friend is also just that, a black friend who plays basketball and Victor is confused when he "talks black" around his black friends "because that's not who he is" and it made me roll my eyes. Also a Jewish friend who's good with money and computers and doesn't actually believe in any Judaism - because THATS a subtle message /s
Ultimately its not the worst, and I did enjoy the emotional toll everything takes on Victor, but I wanted more action.
iffer's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to like this more than I did. I was hoping for something like a gritty, violent K-drama, and while there's plenty of action and violence, and I could see what the author was going for (moral ambiguity; dichotomies of US-China and superficial law-corrupt underbelly; main character's experiences of biculturalism and biracial existence), this ultimately fell flat for me. Even though it was at least partially intended by the author, I found the main character self-indulgent and annoying. At the end, he was supposed to have matured, but then he just seemed like a possible wish-fulfillment hardened Asian-American guy who has previously been made fun of.
rmtinsl13's review against another edition
3.0
3+. I enjoyed it enough to want to read the next in the series. Hopefully that one will have a little more polish.
bluebirdsongs's review against another edition
3.0
Well...this was almost a DNF for me. Really I was only able to stick with it was because it was so short. Had it gone on for even another 50 pages I'd have tapped out.
The biggest reason this was a failure to launch for me was I just could not rally behind Victor or his goals. His immaturity and naivete made him an insufferable narrator. This would have been OK if his thought processes developed and evolved over time, but this was not the case. The plot events dictated his decisions and rationales, instead of the other way around. The first-person perspective made Victor a required participant in all the major events, no matter the danger posed to him or the people around him. As a result his internal monologues served to justify why he continually chose to disregard the opinions of his sister and closest friends in favor of following known mobsters and complete strangers.
Victor also repeatedly contradicted his own value system for the sake of the plot. I found it extremely hard to believe that someone as idealistic as Victor who sees the world in terms of "good vs. bad" would be capable of carrying out the level of violence this novel puts on display. Furthermore, how was a privileged American kid whose days were full of basketball practice and beer pong not scared shitless by the level of crime & cruelty he was exposed to in the underbelly of Beijing? All of this seriously stretched plausibility for me and led me to not feel very sympathetic to Victor or invested in his goals.
As far as the plot goes, I had been enjoying the developing mystery until a couple of giveaway clues early on made it extremely obvious to me what the ultimate twist was going to be. I didn't have all the details right and I enjoyed being surprised when some of those came to light. However I had picked out all the right breadcrumbs that put me spot-on for the final reveal. The answer being so obvious to me coupled with Victor's ignorance and stupid decisions made throughout the story left me feeling extremely exasperated by the end and just ready to be done.
For the side characters, Jules was underutilized in the book and showed more character development than her brother despite appearing in the story largely as his set dressing and chauffeur. Also Eli is disgusting and while I could go on as to why I thought so, he isn't worth it. I've already spent enough time here and am ready to move on.
The biggest reason this was a failure to launch for me was I just could not rally behind Victor or his goals. His immaturity and naivete made him an insufferable narrator. This would have been OK if his thought processes developed and evolved over time, but this was not the case. The plot events dictated his decisions and rationales, instead of the other way around. The first-person perspective made Victor a required participant in all the major events, no matter the danger posed to him or the people around him. As a result his internal monologues served to justify why he continually chose to disregard the opinions of his sister and closest friends in favor of following known mobsters and complete strangers.
Victor also repeatedly contradicted his own value system for the sake of the plot. I found it extremely hard to believe that someone as idealistic as Victor who sees the world in terms of "good vs. bad" would be capable of carrying out the level of violence this novel puts on display. Furthermore, how was a privileged American kid whose days were full of basketball practice and beer pong not scared shitless by the level of crime & cruelty he was exposed to in the underbelly of Beijing? All of this seriously stretched plausibility for me and led me to not feel very sympathetic to Victor or invested in his goals.
As far as the plot goes, I had been enjoying the developing mystery until a couple of giveaway clues early on made it extremely obvious to me what the ultimate twist was going to be. I didn't have all the details right and I enjoyed being surprised when some of those came to light. However I had picked out all the right breadcrumbs that put me spot-on for the final reveal. The answer being so obvious to me coupled with Victor's ignorance and stupid decisions made throughout the story left me feeling extremely exasperated by the end and just ready to be done.
For the side characters, Jules was underutilized in the book and showed more character development than her brother despite appearing in the story largely as his set dressing and chauffeur. Also Eli is disgusting and while I could go on as to why I thought so, he isn't worth it. I've already spent enough time here and am ready to move on.