milica 's review for:

Shanghai Baby by Zhou Weihui, Bruce Humes

0.5

slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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I haaaated this. I first read this in high school, after my Chinese teacher (class, not ethnicity) lent it to me. I remember liking it which is why I sought it out now and BOUGHT it. Huge mistake. Horrible, awful book. The author obviously wants to shock and does a poor job of it. This would only be shocking if you are 17 years old, as I was when I first read it. She will randomly say really disgusting things for no reason. The main character is even more insufferable than the book is. And once again, we have a random Serbian character, with a non-Serbian name. YISHA? It took me forever to finish this book and I hated every second of it. I would have dnf-ed but I wanted to see why I liked it in the first place. The answer is - I was 17 and stupid.