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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I received a copy of Shanghailanders from a Goodreads giveaway.
Shifting point of view between members of the Chinese/French/Japanese Yang family, we get a tantalizing look at their lives, their secrets and the lives of the people around them looking from the outside in.
I have read quite a few of these collections of short stories, but I strongly prefer when they revolve around interconnected characters. Seeing how all of these characters interact and impact each other's lives is so interesting.
Juli Min writes beautiful prose and this is one of the first paperbacks I've actually gotten through so far in 2024.
Shifting point of view between members of the Chinese/French/Japanese Yang family, we get a tantalizing look at their lives, their secrets and the lives of the people around them looking from the outside in.
I have read quite a few of these collections of short stories, but I strongly prefer when they revolve around interconnected characters. Seeing how all of these characters interact and impact each other's lives is so interesting.
Juli Min writes beautiful prose and this is one of the first paperbacks I've actually gotten through so far in 2024.
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
3,5 stars ⭐️—Ambitious and intriguing, but keeps you at a distance.
The narrative takes a bold approach, moving backward through time, weaving together the lives of mothers and daughters across generations. It’s a fascinating structure, but one that might divide readers I think. On the one hand, it creates a sense of mystery, a puzzle you’re desperate to piece together. On the other, it keeps you at arm’s length from the characters, making it hard to truly connect before the perspective shifts to someone new.
Still, as historical fiction, it delivers something rich. The characters, while fleeting in focus, feel vivid and real—products of their time, yet timeless in their struggles. They navigate cultural displacement, family expectations, and the sacrifices demanded by survival. These are lives shaped by history, and the book captures the push and pull between personal desires and collective trauma with elegance.
But the very thing that makes Shanghailanders unique—its fragmented storytelling—also makes it frustrating. Just as you begin to immerse yourself in one character’s world, the narrative slips away, leaving questions unanswered and arcs unfinished. It’s not a flaw, necessarily, but it does create a certain distance, a barrier to full engagement.
For readers who love historical fiction that experiments with structure, this book offers plenty to appreciate. Its portrayal of identity, migration, and the complex ties between women across generations is both compelling and thought-provoking. But for those who crave deep emotional immersion and closure, it might feel a bit like standing outside a beautifully lit window, never quite able to step inside.
The narrative takes a bold approach, moving backward through time, weaving together the lives of mothers and daughters across generations. It’s a fascinating structure, but one that might divide readers I think. On the one hand, it creates a sense of mystery, a puzzle you’re desperate to piece together. On the other, it keeps you at arm’s length from the characters, making it hard to truly connect before the perspective shifts to someone new.
Still, as historical fiction, it delivers something rich. The characters, while fleeting in focus, feel vivid and real—products of their time, yet timeless in their struggles. They navigate cultural displacement, family expectations, and the sacrifices demanded by survival. These are lives shaped by history, and the book captures the push and pull between personal desires and collective trauma with elegance.
But the very thing that makes Shanghailanders unique—its fragmented storytelling—also makes it frustrating. Just as you begin to immerse yourself in one character’s world, the narrative slips away, leaving questions unanswered and arcs unfinished. It’s not a flaw, necessarily, but it does create a certain distance, a barrier to full engagement.
For readers who love historical fiction that experiments with structure, this book offers plenty to appreciate. Its portrayal of identity, migration, and the complex ties between women across generations is both compelling and thought-provoking. But for those who crave deep emotional immersion and closure, it might feel a bit like standing outside a beautifully lit window, never quite able to step inside.
Thank you Spiegel and Grau for the gifted ARC book.
A cosmopolitan Shanghai household is followed backward from 2040 to 2014 as the family remakes itself throughout the years.
The backward timeline of SHANGHAILANDERS was an interesting choice and challenged my reading experience more than I would have expected. Rather than being a typical family saga novel, this read more like a set of interconnected vignettes centered on family. The characters were compelling despite the story feeling quite disjointed at times. The writing was beautiful though and I enjoyed this overall.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Really just unlike anything I’ve ever read. Really enjoyed it.
Shanghailanders was a book with no plot, just vibes and the vibes were comforting, maddening and gut-wrenching, all at the same time.
This book explores the lives of the Yang family (a very rich family) and the day-to-day ups and downs they face living in Shanghai. However, instead of showing its readers how a once happy, picture-perfect family can slowly become fragmented and distant, this book shows us the exact opposite. Chapter one starts in the year 2040 and the book takes you all the way back to 2014, and I think this is such an interesting way to tell a story. Somehow going from the future to the past makes the story so much more sadder than it would’ve been otherwise — I may have disliked a character at the start but I felt so sad for them later (yes, even for Leo).
The character that had the biggest impact on me was the mother, Eko. I think we often don’t think of the lives our moms must’ve had before they decided to start a family; what were their dreams? their beliefs? their personalities? etc. etc. when they were not bound by such big responsibilities. Through the course of this book we see Eko go from being a mom of three daughters, wife of Leo, owner of an embroidery business to a woman who likes listening to The Strokes, who coloured her hair blue on a whim, and who slept with a guy because he had beautiful eyes. The juxtaposition of it all just made me sad.
While Leo and Eko grew up seeing financial difficulties, their daughters grew up in an extremely comfortable farmhouse with their own rooms, their ponies in a stable and unlimited access to a nearby hotel. Consequently, the book shows us how the daughters’ childhoods, where they had everything they wanted, impacted their lives as teenagers and soon-to-be young adults. Yumi, Yoko and Kiko all sought different experiences as they slowly grew up and grew apart. These three girls and their bond with each other and their parents makes you so nostalgic but at the same time, the flaws in their lives back then become extremely evident and I was left with mixed feelings in the end.
Overall, Shanghailanders felt like a big character study into seemingly unassuming yet big roles within families. It was a story about two people in love who slowly grew out of love and yet they started a family; it was about sacrifices we make or are expected to make throughout our lives. But mostly, it was a story about belonging.
I loved reading Shanghailanders and 10/10 would recommend to everyone!!!
This book explores the lives of the Yang family (a very rich family) and the day-to-day ups and downs they face living in Shanghai. However, instead of showing its readers how a once happy, picture-perfect family can slowly become fragmented and distant, this book shows us the exact opposite. Chapter one starts in the year 2040 and the book takes you all the way back to 2014, and I think this is such an interesting way to tell a story. Somehow going from the future to the past makes the story so much more sadder than it would’ve been otherwise — I may have disliked a character at the start but I felt so sad for them later (yes, even for Leo).
The character that had the biggest impact on me was the mother, Eko. I think we often don’t think of the lives our moms must’ve had before they decided to start a family; what were their dreams? their beliefs? their personalities? etc. etc. when they were not bound by such big responsibilities. Through the course of this book we see Eko go from being a mom of three daughters, wife of Leo, owner of an embroidery business to a woman who likes listening to The Strokes, who coloured her hair blue on a whim, and who slept with a guy because he had beautiful eyes. The juxtaposition of it all just made me sad.
While Leo and Eko grew up seeing financial difficulties, their daughters grew up in an extremely comfortable farmhouse with their own rooms, their ponies in a stable and unlimited access to a nearby hotel. Consequently, the book shows us how the daughters’ childhoods, where they had everything they wanted, impacted their lives as teenagers and soon-to-be young adults. Yumi, Yoko and Kiko all sought different experiences as they slowly grew up and grew apart. These three girls and their bond with each other and their parents makes you so nostalgic but at the same time, the flaws in their lives back then become extremely evident and I was left with mixed feelings in the end.
Overall, Shanghailanders felt like a big character study into seemingly unassuming yet big roles within families. It was a story about two people in love who slowly grew out of love and yet they started a family; it was about sacrifices we make or are expected to make throughout our lives. But mostly, it was a story about belonging.
I loved reading Shanghailanders and 10/10 would recommend to everyone!!!
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes