The Last Rose of Shanghai: A Novel

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I read lots of World War II books but most of them are about the war in Europe and the reprehensible actions of the German leaders. This book is about life in Shangri during the Japanese invasion. It gave a unique look at how badly the Japanese soldiers treated people during the occupation of China. It's a dual time line book taking place in the 1940s and 1980. The timeline during the war is told by Aiyi and Ernest and the 1960s timeline is told by told by Aiyi Shao and Ernest.

The Last Rose of Shanghai - Historical Novel Society

so while this story is a powerful one and provides a different perspective of WWII, i do wish i had developed more of an emotional connection to it and the characters. While still a WWII story, the plot offers a perspective not usually seen in this genre: that of the Japanese-occupied Chinese and the refugee Shanghai Jews. It was enlightening to learn about this aspect of WWII. I’ve read a number of WWII books focused on Europe or Japan, but I wasn’t aware of the events in Shanghai. I’m really glad I came across this book, and the author has piqued my interest about this piece of history. She included a list of further reading at the end of the book to learn more about Shanghai during WWII, and I will definitely be adding some of them to my TBR list! Another major issue for me was what I saw as a series of historical inaccuracies. The characters can all conveniently talk to one another, often in fluent English, though they all are from different countries. They talk like modern-day people, too, despite the fact that they're supposed to be living 80 years ago and be from different cultures with different levels of formality and ways of speaking. On at least two occasions, a character is said to be eating a bagel with peanut butter. Peanut butter is hard to find in China today, so I can't imagine it was a common thing in 1940s Shanghai. There is a bit at one part near the end of the book where a character is living in a slum with no running water yet has a plastic stool, and plastics weren't really produced until the 1950s. When I took a friend's advice to write a story of Jews in Shanghai, I didn't know what I was getting into.My new novel: A WWII-novel of love and redemption between a Chinese nightclub owner and a Jewish refugee set in Shanghai, to be released on November 1st, 2021. I was totally captivated for the first 20%. I loved the writing, it was metaphorical but not too much that it detracts from the story. Does all this add up to a good story? In some ways, yes. Certainly, living in an occupied city is awful. Both Aiyi and Ernest experience their share of tragedy. But Randel avoids making the story an atrocity Olympics. The reader finds suffering, but the suffering alone doesn’t take over the story. It felt authentic to me, at least.

10 books about Old Shanghai | Books | The Guardian Top 10 books about Old Shanghai | Books | The Guardian

Chang recalls her own traumatic and adventurous wartime years in this novella that, because it is so personal and revelatory, took her more than 35 years to write. The long Japanese occupation of the city, the relationships that formed in those desperate times, and the terrible choices the Shanghainese were forced to make are at the heart of a book that became a fantastic movie directed by Ang Lee. Chang remains the pre-eminent bard of Shanghai. The Japanese invasion of Shanghai was not a part of history I was familiar with. They placed foreigners that had not fled Shanghai when the Japanese invaded in internment camps during the occupation. Conditions in those camps were awful. Starvation, disease and even death prevailed. In 1941, the Japanese, in collaboration with the Nazis, rounded up all the Jews in Shanghai and placed them in a ghetto in Tilanqiao. There were approximately 15,000 Jews left in Shanghai by then. They were also plagued by malnutrition and disease. The ghetto Jews lived in overcrowded multi family homes in one of the poorest sections of Shanghai. When the war ended, most Jews left Shanghai and settled in Australia, the United States or Canada. Most of the Jews living in Shanghai during World War II survived. Aiyi and Ernest escaped first to Texas but ultimately settled in Canada. and, had the characters been based on real people, i think i might have connected to them more. WDRs writing isnt terrible, but theres just something about it that makes the story feel like its kept at a distance, preventing the reader from getting close to them. As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever.

Three years later, and now that The Last Rose of Shanghai is officially released, I will say, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a story of race, of love, of war's horrors, of forgotten-history of WWII, of choices, of destiny, of cultures, of rebuilding your life in a strange land, of finding a home, of losing the home, of family, of self-discovery, of religion, of losing faith, of parenthood. Weina Dai Randel is the Wall Street Journal bestselling, award-winning author of four historical novels, Night Angels, The Last Rose of Shanghai, The Moon in the Palace, and The Empress of Bright Moon, historical novel series about Empress Wu (Wu Zetian), China's only female emperor. So here are 10 books – fiction and non-fiction – that reveal the unique cosmopolitan hybridity of Shanghai between the wars: Old Shanghai, the city that existed between the two world wars, is a conundrum. Not strictly a colony but rather an International Settlement, a port city forced open by imperialist aggression in 1842 after the first opium war. The part of the city that was sectioned off came under foreign control, its residents subject only to the laws of their home countries. The irony is that as a result of this, Shanghai was to become a refuge during the 1920s and 30s for more than three million Chinese fleeing civil war, warlordism, disease, drought and famine. In the late 30s, it also became a port of last resort for some 30,000 Jewish refugees fleeing fascism in Germany and Austria.

The Last Rose of Shanghai - Weina Dai Randel - Google Books The Last Rose of Shanghai - Weina Dai Randel - Google Books

What felt a little less authentic was the relationship of Aiyi and Ernest. One moment, they’re ready to spend together forever. But by the end of the next chapter, it’s “We’re too different, it’ll never work.” Aiyi isn't a likeable character. While she should have been inspirational by virtue of being a successful business owner in a patriarchal world, she is shown as selfish, judgemental, and short-sighted. She doesn't shy away from flaunting the rewards of her wealth, and looks down on those who are careless about their appearance. This adds a nice challenge to the story: how to be patient with a character who gets on your nerves. The book can be called a coming-of-age story, with Aiyi's character as the lynchpin. I had high hopes for The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel. High enough that I semi-broke one of my personal rules, which is to avoid World War 2 historical fiction. This is Randel’s main tool to keep the story moving—toggle the relationship between pure love and forbidden love. I suppose such a relationship, had it existed, would have been awkward at times. But it became a crutch for keeping the story tense. I guess I’d say that Randel went to the well too often with this plot device.The story comes to us from the first person perspective of Aiyi and the third person perspective of Ernest, with brief interludes from Aiyi in 1980. In fact, I’d say that it’s Aiyi and Ernest’s own story arcs that really make the novel shine, even more than the romance between them. The love story aspect began to feel a bit episodic after a while, when just as things seem headed for a happy resolution, something new happens that keeps them apart again. After a while, the obstacles themselves began to feel a bit convenient, like a TV writer stretching out the story over an entire season’s worth of episodes. The ending to this plot line, with the big reveal in the final few chapters, was satisfying, though I wish there had been more of an emotional payoff. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi's club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz--but their differences seem insurmountable, and Aiyi is engaged to another man. While the plot reveals a lot about Shanghai history and culture, it also contains a lot of stereotypes about China. The only person to see Shanghai in a positive light was Ernest. From Aiyi, all we get is cliches. Even if I could completely suspend my disbelief and ignore all these inaccuracies, I would still have one major problem with this book: I didn't like the characters or find them to be at all believable. They seem hyper-focused on making money, even in the midst of a world war and an enemy occupation. They are super wishy-washy about their feelings for each other. And the resolution of the story is predictable and frankly unrealistic. I think this book was really meant to be a romance novel, but even taking away the war and the historical setting, it's not a particularly convincing one.