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3.77 AVERAGE
3.77 AVERAGE
Rating 3.5 stars (but giving it a 3 star rating seemed way too low).
Make sure to read the author's note at the end! It absolutely influenced my rating and it's really something we should all know. I didn't mind the fictional element of this book. I thought it was well written overall but the plot wrapped up too perfectly for my liking in a dystopian novel that is based in real problems such as human trafficking and ghettoized communities. The world building & historical information was incredible and so unique.
Make sure to read the author's note at the end! It absolutely influenced my rating and it's really something we should all know. I didn't mind the fictional element of this book. I thought it was well written overall but the plot wrapped up too perfectly for my liking in a dystopian novel that is based in real problems such as human trafficking and ghettoized communities. The world building & historical information was incredible and so unique.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
3.5 stars
It was an excellent read but I could not help comparing it to Wolf by Wolf and it just didn't match up with that. It was a very good book, though. I was gripped and fascinated by both the city and it's real life counterpart. I liked the book and can see the potential for it. It was also nice to be reading a standalone but I sadly did not fall in
love.
It was an excellent read but I could not help comparing it to Wolf by Wolf and it just didn't match up with that. It was a very good book, though. I was gripped and fascinated by both the city and it's real life counterpart. I liked the book and can see the potential for it. It was also nice to be reading a standalone but I sadly did not fall in
love.
Wow.
All the characters in this book were amazing. I loved the relationship between both Dai and Jin, and also Dai and Mei Yee. The plot developed in ways I couldn't imagine, and the ending was so satisfying. This was really, really good.
All the characters in this book were amazing. I loved the relationship between both Dai and Jin, and also Dai and Mei Yee. The plot developed in ways I couldn't imagine, and the ending was so satisfying. This was really, really good.
I've been reading one star reviews of this book trying to figure out if we read the same book. Usually when I do this, I see their points. I see where someone could feel the book dragged, or the characters were undeveloped, or the ending was lackluster.
Not here. Not here when I was sucked in, mesmerized, from page freaking one. When I gasped ALOUD at several parts. When I sobbed at the end. When I spent an hour reading about the real Walled City, Kowloon, scrolling through photographs to try and understand the reality behind the fiction.
God, this book broke me in the best way. I thought about it all the time while I was reading it and I'll probably keep thinking about it.
How did anyone possibly think this book was so boring they couldn't finish it? I think it's amazing. I think it's easily tied with just one other for best book I've read this year so far.
If it wasn't obvious, I love this freaking book.
Not here. Not here when I was sucked in, mesmerized, from page freaking one. When I gasped ALOUD at several parts. When I sobbed at the end. When I spent an hour reading about the real Walled City, Kowloon, scrolling through photographs to try and understand the reality behind the fiction.
God, this book broke me in the best way. I thought about it all the time while I was reading it and I'll probably keep thinking about it.
How did anyone possibly think this book was so boring they couldn't finish it? I think it's amazing. I think it's easily tied with just one other for best book I've read this year so far.
If it wasn't obvious, I love this freaking book.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Pulpy, kinetic, and compulsively readable, but lacking a bit on the brain side and one two many deus (dei?) ex machina. But really fun, and the true story behind it is surprising.
There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife.
That hooked me.
At first, I thought "Ha! Walled City? You mean... China!"
I was close, but not quite. See, the book is based on a real place Kowloon City in Hong Kong. And no, Hong Kong isn't exactly part of the People's Republic of China. But that's a conversation for another day.
Back to the book.
It surpassed my expectations. It really did. I wasn't exposed to any of the hype about it being "a page-turner" or "OMG so good". But, being ethnically Chinese, and knowing Mandarin, I thought "This Westerner is going to butcher everything, isn't she...". From names, to conversation, to the sights and sounds...
But she didn't.
And yes, folks I'm Chinese but I'm not from China. I'm from Singapore. No, that's not a part of China. We're actually in Southeast Asia. No, that's not part of China either. (Pet-peeve. Just let me get it out.)
In fact, I think Graudin did a pretty awesome job.
My favourites were when:
1. Char siew bao was mentioned. If you haven't tried it, add it to your to-do list pronto.
2. She described sights and sounds, emotions and physical struggle with analogies and metaphors. It was kind of like how stories are told in Chinese - full of description and drawing relation to everything else in life. Of course, I'm not sure if she intentionally did this, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
So for all those who aren't very into how she's writing about, say, the sunset.. or the stench of urine, and you know a decent amount of Mandarin, translate it in your head. It may help.
For those who are going to be all "then you should read a Mandarin translation of the book then, meh this book meh!" Come on.. if you knew a second language you'd draw upon it every chance you get when you're reading a book set in the language's origin.
Again, off on a tangent.
We're back.
Besides pork buns and sunsets (oh and urine), I also loved the characters in the book.
I won't describe them to you here, because that kind of counts as a mild spoiler. The book will feed you information about the characters, and their backstory when the information is required. You'll see.
All you need to know now is there are three of them - Jin, Mei Yee, Dai.
I had no issues with jumping between three points of view, in fact I absolutely loved it. Fan of multiple viewpoints on the same subject, right here. At the end of certain chapters/viewpoint, I had this sense of dread, because I know what the other person is up to, or I already know what's going to happen, thanks to another character. So the characters and their fates felt very connected and intertwined. Loved it.
Last point, I swear it.
I loved how there's no presence of typical romance, or even young adult hero/heroine tropes. Thank. You. Graudin.
TLDR:
1. Char Siew Bao
2. Sunsets and Urine
3. Stayed up till 3am to finish it. No regrets.
That hooked me.
At first, I thought "Ha! Walled City? You mean... China!"
I was close, but not quite. See, the book is based on a real place Kowloon City in Hong Kong. And no, Hong Kong isn't exactly part of the People's Republic of China. But that's a conversation for another day.
Back to the book.
It surpassed my expectations. It really did. I wasn't exposed to any of the hype about it being "a page-turner" or "OMG so good". But, being ethnically Chinese, and knowing Mandarin, I thought "This Westerner is going to butcher everything, isn't she...". From names, to conversation, to the sights and sounds...
But she didn't.
And yes, folks I'm Chinese but I'm not from China. I'm from Singapore. No, that's not a part of China. We're actually in Southeast Asia. No, that's not part of China either. (Pet-peeve. Just let me get it out.)
In fact, I think Graudin did a pretty awesome job.
My favourites were when:
1. Char siew bao was mentioned. If you haven't tried it, add it to your to-do list pronto.
2. She described sights and sounds, emotions and physical struggle with analogies and metaphors. It was kind of like how stories are told in Chinese - full of description and drawing relation to everything else in life. Of course, I'm not sure if she intentionally did this, but I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.
So for all those who aren't very into how she's writing about, say, the sunset.. or the stench of urine, and you know a decent amount of Mandarin, translate it in your head. It may help.
For those who are going to be all "then you should read a Mandarin translation of the book then, meh this book meh!" Come on.. if you knew a second language you'd draw upon it every chance you get when you're reading a book set in the language's origin.
Again, off on a tangent.
We're back.
Besides pork buns and sunsets (oh and urine), I also loved the characters in the book.
I won't describe them to you here, because that kind of counts as a mild spoiler. The book will feed you information about the characters, and their backstory when the information is required. You'll see.
All you need to know now is there are three of them - Jin, Mei Yee, Dai.
I had no issues with jumping between three points of view, in fact I absolutely loved it. Fan of multiple viewpoints on the same subject, right here. At the end of certain chapters/viewpoint, I had this sense of dread, because I know what the other person is up to, or I already know what's going to happen, thanks to another character. So the characters and their fates felt very connected and intertwined. Loved it.
Last point, I swear it.
I loved how there's no presence of typical romance, or even young adult hero/heroine tropes. Thank. You. Graudin.
TLDR:
1. Char Siew Bao
2. Sunsets and Urine
3. Stayed up till 3am to finish it. No regrets.
This book was sooo refreshing. I had no idea what I was getting into when I picked up the book. Also, I was kind of confused at the beginning, but before I knew it I was hooked. The world building and the characters are very different from what I was used to, so it was fun to read The Walled City.
ALSO, this is a stand alone, guys!
ALSO, this is a stand alone, guys!
This book was so,,,,,underwhelming????? That's the only way that I can think of putting it, I don't know if it was just me but I was expecting something completely different from what actually happened. I don't even know what exactly I was expecting it just wasn't, that.
In terms of writing, there wasn't anything terrible about the writing itself or the style. It wasn't purple prose or anything, it was suitably descriptive it's just the content itself. I'm not gonna lie it was pretty boring until the last maybe 100 pages of the book and by that point, I was already skimming but I got the general gist of what happened.
I think my biggest problem with this was that the suspense dragged on for too goddamn long. It should not have dragged on until deadass the middle of the book before we found out what the fuck Dai was talking about with his angst and stuff. THAT'S TOO LONG FOR A BOOK THAT IS PAINFULLY SLOW AND BORING.
Stuff simultaneously happens throughout the book with also absolutely nothing happening at all,,,,,if that makes any sense. I know that there were some things that went on but they lacked lustre and didn't really stand out from the other parts of the story. Everything was pretty much treated in the same tone as everything else so even if something was important it wouldn't stand out in your memory when you thought back on it.
The romance was stupid it has no solid foundation, it wasn't really based on anything necessary for a relationship? Everything happened literally just because Mei Yee was pretty which just further goes to show how far pretty privilege will get you in this world.
And the thing is, there was a story being told one hundred percent but I don't feel as if I read a proper story. I see the beginning, the climax, and denouement and all that good stuff, but it doesn't actually feel like I read a novel, it reads like someone's really boring diary.
I know Hak Nam was based on Kowloon Walled City and as I'm sure the history of Kowloon Walled City is interesting, I feel like the content of this story would've been better if it had just been a collection of stories from people who had actually lived in Kowloon City instead of the fictional story that the author actually created.
And I think probably the biggest thing that affected my reading of this book was that I'm just not really in a heavy mood to be dealing with the content that was in this book, especially considering the current political and social climate and how content such as prostitution and rape are being handled in modern times. I just feel so drained from reading news article after news article every day of another woman stepping forward with how she was raped that I just don't have any left to deal with it in a book.
So all in all, it's not a terrible book, I'm just not in the reading mood for it at the moment (and even if I was in the mood for it, I don't think my opinion would change all that much, it's just not my type of book).
In terms of writing, there wasn't anything terrible about the writing itself or the style. It wasn't purple prose or anything, it was suitably descriptive it's just the content itself. I'm not gonna lie it was pretty boring until the last maybe 100 pages of the book and by that point, I was already skimming but I got the general gist of what happened.
I think my biggest problem with this was that the suspense dragged on for too goddamn long. It should not have dragged on until deadass the middle of the book before we found out what the fuck Dai was talking about with his angst and stuff. THAT'S TOO LONG FOR A BOOK THAT IS PAINFULLY SLOW AND BORING.
Stuff simultaneously happens throughout the book with also absolutely nothing happening at all,,,,,if that makes any sense. I know that there were some things that went on but they lacked lustre and didn't really stand out from the other parts of the story. Everything was pretty much treated in the same tone as everything else so even if something was important it wouldn't stand out in your memory when you thought back on it.
The romance was stupid it has no solid foundation, it wasn't really based on anything necessary for a relationship? Everything happened literally just because Mei Yee was pretty which just further goes to show how far pretty privilege will get you in this world.
And the thing is, there was a story being told one hundred percent but I don't feel as if I read a proper story. I see the beginning, the climax, and denouement and all that good stuff, but it doesn't actually feel like I read a novel, it reads like someone's really boring diary.
I know Hak Nam was based on Kowloon Walled City and as I'm sure the history of Kowloon Walled City is interesting, I feel like the content of this story would've been better if it had just been a collection of stories from people who had actually lived in Kowloon City instead of the fictional story that the author actually created.
And I think probably the biggest thing that affected my reading of this book was that I'm just not really in a heavy mood to be dealing with the content that was in this book, especially considering the current political and social climate and how content such as prostitution and rape are being handled in modern times. I just feel so drained from reading news article after news article every day of another woman stepping forward with how she was raped that I just don't have any left to deal with it in a book.
So all in all, it's not a terrible book, I'm just not in the reading mood for it at the moment (and even if I was in the mood for it, I don't think my opinion would change all that much, it's just not my type of book).