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gannah 's review for:
Shanghailanders
by Juli Min
Juli Min is the kind of writer I’d read books by and give 5 stars. Just not this one.
2.5 stars?
Shanghailanders is about a family living in Shanghai. Rich and powerful. Who are they? How did they become to be? We meet them in the future and trace them back to the past
It was very interesting in premise, a story that goes backwards instead of forward. but I still ended up succumbing to boredom instead. there was no incentive, nothing to keep the reader going on. nothing to find out, nothing to be revealed. eventually, the interest is lost. I understand plotless books, books that look at characters and not events, but even in these there’s an element that keeps us wanting to go on. sometimes the element is just a connection to the character even.
Shanghailanders is a character study, no doubt. a really good one actually. we are looking at what the lives of these characters are, but we are also introduced to what they hoped for their life to be, how they have reached and failed to reach these expectations.
i love the different characters, the peek into their lives and stories. i love the writing. It’s just that I didn’t have time to connect to any of them as I wished. We get only about one chapter of each daughter’s pov. One of each house worker. A little bit more of each parent. I enjoyed these short POVs really, I think the daughter’s lives would’ve been very interesting to dive into. The workers too had unique chapters, a driver that participates in secret car races for example. I wanted more. I believe it would’ve been the strength point of the book.
I did appreciate having more of Eko, the mother, at least. I loved her POV too.
The charm fizzles out and towards the end I was skimming through, having gotten no revelation or closure through any of the characters. I think I might have missed a point the writer wanted to make here?
One thing that stayed on mind was how all the family’s POVs are in third person except the workers, which were in first/second POV. I saw a reader suggest in their review that this might have been the writer’s way of suggesting that, even if we can get close, most ordinary people like us will only ever end up on the outskirts of such power and grandeur. workers under higher authority. I’m not sure if this is what was actually intended, but i find it smart and interesting so points for that
That being said, Juli Min’s ideas and descriptions and characterization have captured my attention. I hope her next project is one that manages to keep it, because I feel like there’s a high chance I’ll absolutely love something she writes.
2.5 stars?
Shanghailanders is about a family living in Shanghai. Rich and powerful. Who are they? How did they become to be? We meet them in the future and trace them back to the past
It was very interesting in premise, a story that goes backwards instead of forward. but I still ended up succumbing to boredom instead. there was no incentive, nothing to keep the reader going on. nothing to find out, nothing to be revealed. eventually, the interest is lost. I understand plotless books, books that look at characters and not events, but even in these there’s an element that keeps us wanting to go on. sometimes the element is just a connection to the character even.
Shanghailanders is a character study, no doubt. a really good one actually. we are looking at what the lives of these characters are, but we are also introduced to what they hoped for their life to be, how they have reached and failed to reach these expectations.
i love the different characters, the peek into their lives and stories. i love the writing. It’s just that I didn’t have time to connect to any of them as I wished. We get only about one chapter of each daughter’s pov. One of each house worker. A little bit more of each parent. I enjoyed these short POVs really, I think the daughter’s lives would’ve been very interesting to dive into. The workers too had unique chapters, a driver that participates in secret car races for example. I wanted more. I believe it would’ve been the strength point of the book.
I did appreciate having more of Eko, the mother, at least. I loved her POV too.
The charm fizzles out and towards the end I was skimming through, having gotten no revelation or closure through any of the characters. I think I might have missed a point the writer wanted to make here?
One thing that stayed on mind was how all the family’s POVs are in third person except the workers, which were in first/second POV. I saw a reader suggest in their review that this might have been the writer’s way of suggesting that, even if we can get close, most ordinary people like us will only ever end up on the outskirts of such power and grandeur. workers under higher authority. I’m not sure if this is what was actually intended, but i find it smart and interesting so points for that
That being said, Juli Min’s ideas and descriptions and characterization have captured my attention. I hope her next project is one that manages to keep it, because I feel like there’s a high chance I’ll absolutely love something she writes.