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A review by secstraus
A Loyal Character Dancer by Qiu Xiaolong
2.0
This was a mess!
The good:
Detective Yu, Peiqin, and Old Hunter. All of the local Shanghai characters and locations. I love all the specificity of the food and the streets mentioned in the story.
The okay:
The general outlines of the story were fine. It wasn't a twisty-turny plot, by any means, but it seems like a plausible set up and then an acceptable element of fantasy gangland drama.
The dreadful:
U.S. Marshal Catharine Rohn was a disaster. At no point did her dialogue or interior monologue read as American. Occasionally she sounded like a robotic voice from nowhere providing prompts for Inspector Chen's monologues. Other times she sounded like a sock-puppet Westerner spouting stereotypical things in ways that didn't fit the conversation. When a building romantic tension started to be introduced, I was so disappointed. The romantic interests of Qiu's first book were light and multifaceted. This was just terrible. Probably because Catherine failed to solidify as a woman or Marshal.
The execution of dialogue and interpersonal relations was just generally poor. Often the interstitial writing between quotation marks would tell us what the author thought he had put in there (a stinging rebuff, a devastating argument, a romantic aside), but I would scroll back, wondering what I missed. I hadn't missed anything. The subtle nuances of character were never fully realized.
I hate that this story was essentially about a woman crushed in the jaws of history only to... return her to her abusive husband? Maybe not? Supposed American Marshal Rohn diffidently offers some kind of non-specific alternative. I feel like it's fair to guess that's what would have happened in real life, but because of the general clunkiness of the characterization it wasn't handled in a way that passed for "realistically grim depiction of life tragedy."
The good:
Detective Yu, Peiqin, and Old Hunter. All of the local Shanghai characters and locations. I love all the specificity of the food and the streets mentioned in the story.
The okay:
The general outlines of the story were fine. It wasn't a twisty-turny plot, by any means, but it seems like a plausible set up and then an acceptable element of fantasy gangland drama.
The dreadful:
U.S. Marshal Catharine Rohn was a disaster. At no point did her dialogue or interior monologue read as American. Occasionally she sounded like a robotic voice from nowhere providing prompts for Inspector Chen's monologues. Other times she sounded like a sock-puppet Westerner spouting stereotypical things in ways that didn't fit the conversation. When a building romantic tension started to be introduced, I was so disappointed. The romantic interests of Qiu's first book were light and multifaceted. This was just terrible. Probably because Catherine failed to solidify as a woman or Marshal.
The execution of dialogue and interpersonal relations was just generally poor. Often the interstitial writing between quotation marks would tell us what the author thought he had put in there (a stinging rebuff, a devastating argument, a romantic aside), but I would scroll back, wondering what I missed. I hadn't missed anything. The subtle nuances of character were never fully realized.
I hate that this story was essentially about a woman crushed in the jaws of history only to... return her to her abusive husband? Maybe not? Supposed American Marshal Rohn diffidently offers some kind of non-specific alternative. I feel like it's fair to guess that's what would have happened in real life, but because of the general clunkiness of the characterization it wasn't handled in a way that passed for "realistically grim depiction of life tragedy."