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guybrarian133 's review for:
China
by Edward Rutherfurd
(Note: I received an advanced reader copy of this book courtesy of NetGalley)
Up until now, the only Edward Rutherfurd work that I had read so far had been New York several years ago. So I was quite excited to be able to read his very latest book for my second visit to his popular historical fiction novels.
Now whereas several of Rutherfurd’s historical fiction epics span over hundreds of years and several generations within a particular location, China covers a comparatively smaller period of time - just a little over sixty years. This results in a cast that remains fairly stable through the story. However, this narrower historical scope doesn’t make for a less interesting collection of intersecting plots, because the relatively shorter setting is a mightily turbulent stretch of China’s long history that starts with the First Opium War and ends shortly after the Boxer Rebellion.
Once I was finally fully engrossed, it only took me a few days to sweep through the book’s several hundred pages. However, although it was overall an enjoyable read, I also won’t hesitate to call it an uneven read as well. The cast of China is a mix of Han, Hakka, and Manchu men and women from China itself and an array of Europeans and Americans, with a primary focus on the merchant John Trader and the various men and women in his orbit. The latter’s various tales and plots take up a much larger share of the book than I expected, though to be fair this period of China’s history is marked in particular by the many ways in which the ailing last imperial dynasty was battered and squeezed by various outside nations. So I shouldn’t have been all that surprised by Rutherfurd’s choice to give his western characters so much attention. Unfortunately, I frankly found these characters to be not nearly as engaging as their Chinese counterparts, nor their various plotlines nearly as interesting. When the book’s focus turned to Trader or his compatriots, it felt less like I was reading and more like I was waiting until the narrative returned me to the plot of Guanji the Manchu bannerman, or “Lacquer Nail,” the eunuch. However, when the storyline finally did as so, it was never that long until I became immersed back into the setting as I absorbed the lives of these men and women.
So overall, Rutherfurd has written a solid new addition for his historical fiction epics. I am intrigued to see where he decides to go next, and definitely hope that he chooses to do another foray out of Europe and the US.
Up until now, the only Edward Rutherfurd work that I had read so far had been New York several years ago. So I was quite excited to be able to read his very latest book for my second visit to his popular historical fiction novels.
Now whereas several of Rutherfurd’s historical fiction epics span over hundreds of years and several generations within a particular location, China covers a comparatively smaller period of time - just a little over sixty years. This results in a cast that remains fairly stable through the story. However, this narrower historical scope doesn’t make for a less interesting collection of intersecting plots, because the relatively shorter setting is a mightily turbulent stretch of China’s long history that starts with the First Opium War and ends shortly after the Boxer Rebellion.
Once I was finally fully engrossed, it only took me a few days to sweep through the book’s several hundred pages. However, although it was overall an enjoyable read, I also won’t hesitate to call it an uneven read as well. The cast of China is a mix of Han, Hakka, and Manchu men and women from China itself and an array of Europeans and Americans, with a primary focus on the merchant John Trader and the various men and women in his orbit. The latter’s various tales and plots take up a much larger share of the book than I expected, though to be fair this period of China’s history is marked in particular by the many ways in which the ailing last imperial dynasty was battered and squeezed by various outside nations. So I shouldn’t have been all that surprised by Rutherfurd’s choice to give his western characters so much attention. Unfortunately, I frankly found these characters to be not nearly as engaging as their Chinese counterparts, nor their various plotlines nearly as interesting. When the book’s focus turned to Trader or his compatriots, it felt less like I was reading and more like I was waiting until the narrative returned me to the plot of Guanji the Manchu bannerman, or “Lacquer Nail,” the eunuch. However, when the storyline finally did as so, it was never that long until I became immersed back into the setting as I absorbed the lives of these men and women.
So overall, Rutherfurd has written a solid new addition for his historical fiction epics. I am intrigued to see where he decides to go next, and definitely hope that he chooses to do another foray out of Europe and the US.