The Last Rose of Shanghai: A Novel

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I loved, loved, loved this book. I have been completely immersed in wartime Shanghai. It has been an educational, emotional, rollercoaster of a read.

The Last Rose of Shanghai, by Weina Dai Randel Review | The Last Rose of Shanghai, by Weina Dai Randel

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. Weina's latest novel, Night Angels, features an introverted biracial American woman from Boston and a compassionate diplomat who saved thousands of Jews by issuing them visas to Shanghai. The novel is based on Dr. Ho Fengshan, hailed as the Chinese Schindler. The Last Rose of Shanghai is about the forbidden love between Aiyi Shao, a wealthy heiress, nightclub owner, and business mogul in Shanghai, and Ernest Reismann, a penniless Jewish refugee from Germany, whom Aiyi hires to play the piano at her club. The romance between them is sweet: I love how much they care for — and take care of — each other. And while the obstacles between them did get a bit much towards the end (a scene featuring a tank stretched the limits of even my suspension of disbelief), I do like how the core reasons they couldn’t be together were very true to their characters’ unique circumstances. One of the chapters contains a few paragraphs in excruciating detail about Japanese torture of prisoners; this is very gruesome to read. What bugs me is that this sequence has absolutely no bearing on the main plot. It's just that one character goes to that location, we get a few paragraphs of horrifying information, and the character is out. What was the point of that segment? Just to create some kind of impact of the brutality? It felt so out of place! Aiyi is a young Chinese woman from a prominent family who has arranged her upcoming marriage to Cheng, a controlling man with traditional values. She defies Chinese customs by owning her own jazz club, One Hundred Joys Nightclub. With Cheng’s opposition and a wartime economy, Aiyi struggles to keep her club from failing. Ernest, a pianist, and his young sister arrive in Shanghai from Berlin, destitute and hungry. With so much antagonism against the refugees, no one will hire a foreigner, let alone a Jew. After Ernest gives Aiyi an audition playing her favorite song, “The Last Rose of Shanghai,” she takes a chance in hiring him, hoping her patrons will overlook who he is and allow his piano to enthrall and entertain. Ernest, after suffering under Nazis in Germany, is subjected to brutality from the club’s patrons, a jealous Cheng, and cruel Japanese soldiers. Ernest and Aiyi find solace and happiness together, but that changes when they are separated after Germany persuades the Japanese to take action against the Jews.Often, stories of struggle are written from the point of view of middle class or impoverished characters. Aiyi being rich gives us an angle not often seen in historical fiction: that of a wealthy young heiress who does her best to be independent despite the constraints of her time and location, and at the same time, being proud of her financial status and beauty. During WW2, a Jewish refugee Earnest seeks a new life in Shanghai where he meets Aiyi, a nightclub owner who hires him as a pianist. But as WW2 progresses their lives are changed forever. There are quite a few metaphorical bits that seem to take inspiration from Chinese sayings. These were thought-provoking. But as the rest of the book was straightforward in its writing, these felt forced in. I'd have loved less focus on the romantic angle and more on the social angle. The romance was too instant to be believable.

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel ~ a Review The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel ~ a Review

This romance is one of the two main sources of tension throughout the story. Aiyi’s got a boyfriend/fiancé already, but it’s an arranged match, and she’s not exactly in love. But her family is traditional and looks down on foreigners. Ernest, being Jewish, comes from a much different culture and is an outsider in the city.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. A marvellously evocative representation of Shanghai written contemporaneously by one of Japan’s leading experimental modernists, a member of the New Sensationalist group of writers. It reads like a hardboiled noir with fog, rain and dark, dangerous streets. Riichi spent time in Shanghai and his novel reveals the city as a melting pot of cultures, nationalities and ideas. He shows us Shanghai’s Japanese community before the second world war, the positive interactions between Chinese and Japanese intellectuals and artists, as well as the large number of often-grim Japanese-run cotton mills and silk filatures. In the midst of shelves full of World War II stories about white people in Europe and North America, finally, here’s one set in China. Finally, here’s one that stars a Chinese woman instead of a white one with blond hair and blue eyes. Finally, here’s one that talks about the Japanese occupation of China, and the intra-Asian racism and cruelty during the war, alongside the horrors of the Nazi regime.

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

In a Nutshell: First half pretty good, second half is a cheesy, corny mash. Offers a decent look at Shanghai during WWII, but the romantic relationship overshadows the war story. 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. stars. (4 stars for the first quarter, 3.5 for the second quarter, 2 stars for the rest. Hence averaged to 2.8 stars.)Many details were glossed over. It felt like the events were being listed off and they weren’t descriptive enough for me. I was being told, not shown what was happening. For example: After Ernest was hired, time skipped forward by several months and the club was flourishing. It didn’t go through the details of Ernest assimilating to life in Shanghai or the developing romance, they just kind of happened. 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 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. 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. 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.