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A review by thesawyerbean
Don't Cry, Tai Lake by Qiu Xiaolong
3.0
This book told of Chief Inspector Chen who, whilst on holiday in Wuxi, managed to find himself investigating the murder or Mr Lui, the CEO of a chemical company. With the environmental degradation of Tai Lake and the surrounding areas as a backdrop, Qiu Xiaolong provides an almost political slander on the disregard for the economic reform's effect on the environment and the biased judicial system which serves this view.
Alongside this was a romance between Chen and a suspect, Shanshan. It added another texture to the novel but it wasn't all that exciting at the same time.
I personally found Chen to be a very aggravating character. He would be the kind of person I would hate to exist around, simply for the fact he liked to throw his intellectual weight around by quoting poetry and proverbs like they're nothing and expressing just how advanced a poet and literate he is. How pretentious can one man be? I don't think the intermittent poetry really added anything to the story whatsoever, and I found myself skipping over it whenever it arose. That may just be because I kind of vehemently despise most poetry, but it honestly just seemed exceedingly pointless.
Other than that, a pretty decent book: not the best, not the worst. It hasn't exactly sparked a new found love of Crime novels, however, and I will probably continue to not read them very often.
Alongside this was a romance between Chen and a suspect, Shanshan. It added another texture to the novel but it wasn't all that exciting at the same time.
I personally found Chen to be a very aggravating character. He would be the kind of person I would hate to exist around, simply for the fact he liked to throw his intellectual weight around by quoting poetry and proverbs like they're nothing and expressing just how advanced a poet and literate he is. How pretentious can one man be? I don't think the intermittent poetry really added anything to the story whatsoever, and I found myself skipping over it whenever it arose. That may just be because I kind of vehemently despise most poetry, but it honestly just seemed exceedingly pointless.
Other than that, a pretty decent book: not the best, not the worst. It hasn't exactly sparked a new found love of Crime novels, however, and I will probably continue to not read them very often.