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enemiestolovers 's review for:
The Walled City
by Ryan Graudin
I have mixed feelings about this novel. On one hand, it's excellent. Glorious, knife-edged prose. Characters that are so real you bleed along with them. Immersive worldbuilding. A very refreshing grittiness that you wouldn't expect in YA.
But I also had my issues.
1. Ryan Graudin has done excellent research. Hats off to her. But there were tiny bits that jarred me while reading because even if all the characters are Hong Kongers, this book was obviously written by a white Westerner. First, and most telling, is when Jin's true gender is revealed when a doctor refers to her as "she". But that's not possible, because many Asian languages (Mandarin and Cantonese included) don't have gendered pronouns in speech. It couldn't have been revealed that way. And that would be an easy fix, because later on they have to dress her wounds and give her new clothes.
Second, the awkward figures of speech. I like purple prose. I like overdramatic metaphors. But there's a thin line between being truly authentic and just being surface-level. I mean sure, it makes sense that an Asian POV character would describe objects to Asian food. But if I have to read another mutation of "white as noodles"...
Third, and quite nitpicky, there's a scene near the beginning where Jin describes Dai's eyes as "different" but not because they're not dark brown. Like we all have brown eyes here, sis. A girl who's lived in rural Hong Kong her entire life wouldn't expect anything different. Eye shape could vary, yes. Eyelids too. But eye color? Not really.
2. The incredibly slow pace.
Listen, I love slowburn novels. I like YA novels who are confident in their own pacing. But there were times when this novel was a slog to get through. It was much longer than it needed to be. There were way too many unnecessary chapters.
3. Instalove.
Oh god don't get me started on this. Like, I get it. Mei Yee falls in love with Dai because he's the only boy her age who hasn't been cruel to her. But the author tries to make it sound romantic when it really isn't. Mostly they have searing conversations from behind opposite windows, and then they internally monologue about how attractive the other is. And I understand their romance, I really do, but I wish the author didn't try so hard to push them as soulmates or whatever when really they're just two broken people who have the hots for each other in a dog eat dog world.
4. Mei Yee's initial character arc.
Okay, I get it. Mei Yee has the most painful arc of them all. She's so heavily traumatized, and the other girls' traumas are so well explored. Like the fact that while some of the girls in the brothel try to escape, the others don't because they're too afraid of punishment. That even when they're freed, they go back to the only life they knew. That's real and complex. But at the beginning, Mei Yee felt like your stereotypical hooker character in a noir flick. She's kidnapped and forced into this life. She tries to help our hero, Dai, but he falls in love with her and wants to save her. She basically exists to serve men. She has no agency, because she's torn between settling for survival and daring to dream but getting hurt for it.
To be fair, there's a very interesting note. Her father was abusive. But her mother still stayed with him. And Mei Yee says she's exactly like her mother. It's the cycle of abuse and trauma.
But 80% of her character arc was mooning over Dai, and mooning over another life, and not actually doing anything. She only became interesting once she actually chose to act... past the halfway point of this book.
So there, mixed feelings. In the end it was still a great novel, and I really appreciate Graudin's prose. I really appreciate this book's existence despite my grievances, and I still highly recommend it. But take these issues into consideration.
But I also had my issues.
1. Ryan Graudin has done excellent research. Hats off to her. But there were tiny bits that jarred me while reading because even if all the characters are Hong Kongers, this book was obviously written by a white Westerner. First, and most telling, is when Jin's true gender is revealed when a doctor refers to her as "she". But that's not possible, because many Asian languages (Mandarin and Cantonese included) don't have gendered pronouns in speech. It couldn't have been revealed that way. And that would be an easy fix, because later on they have to dress her wounds and give her new clothes.
Second, the awkward figures of speech. I like purple prose. I like overdramatic metaphors. But there's a thin line between being truly authentic and just being surface-level. I mean sure, it makes sense that an Asian POV character would describe objects to Asian food. But if I have to read another mutation of "white as noodles"...
Third, and quite nitpicky, there's a scene near the beginning where Jin describes Dai's eyes as "different" but not because they're not dark brown. Like we all have brown eyes here, sis. A girl who's lived in rural Hong Kong her entire life wouldn't expect anything different. Eye shape could vary, yes. Eyelids too. But eye color? Not really.
2. The incredibly slow pace.
Listen, I love slowburn novels. I like YA novels who are confident in their own pacing. But there were times when this novel was a slog to get through. It was much longer than it needed to be. There were way too many unnecessary chapters.
3. Instalove.
Oh god don't get me started on this. Like, I get it. Mei Yee falls in love with Dai because he's the only boy her age who hasn't been cruel to her. But the author tries to make it sound romantic when it really isn't. Mostly they have searing conversations from behind opposite windows, and then they internally monologue about how attractive the other is. And I understand their romance, I really do, but I wish the author didn't try so hard to push them as soulmates or whatever when really they're just two broken people who have the hots for each other in a dog eat dog world.
4. Mei Yee's initial character arc.
Okay, I get it. Mei Yee has the most painful arc of them all. She's so heavily traumatized, and the other girls' traumas are so well explored. Like the fact that while some of the girls in the brothel try to escape, the others don't because they're too afraid of punishment. That even when they're freed, they go back to the only life they knew. That's real and complex. But at the beginning, Mei Yee felt like your stereotypical hooker character in a noir flick. She's kidnapped and forced into this life. She tries to help our hero, Dai, but he falls in love with her and wants to save her. She basically exists to serve men. She has no agency, because she's torn between settling for survival and daring to dream but getting hurt for it.
To be fair, there's a very interesting note. Her father was abusive. But her mother still stayed with him. And Mei Yee says she's exactly like her mother. It's the cycle of abuse and trauma.
But 80% of her character arc was mooning over Dai, and mooning over another life, and not actually doing anything. She only became interesting once she actually chose to act... past the halfway point of this book.
So there, mixed feelings. In the end it was still a great novel, and I really appreciate Graudin's prose. I really appreciate this book's existence despite my grievances, and I still highly recommend it. But take these issues into consideration.