Reviews

Shanghailanders by Juli Min

rachaelsreads's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Shanghailanders reads like a collection of interconnected short stories offering glimpses into the life of the Yang family. Capturing their family going backward in time was a very interesting premise, and I started the book enjoying it. Nevertheless, after each snapshot in time, I was always wishing for more. I wanted to know more about what happened. While the story is about the Yang family, I wasn't that interested in their rich problems and felt myself drawn more to the lives of the nanny or the driver, even the lady working for the train company. I guess those were the characters I wanted to hear more about. 

Thanks to Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

rcagz's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

tjb16d's review

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

jennybee's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

sydms's review

Not grabbed by dialogue, characters. Reverse chronology wasn’t captivating with no character dev. 

gennysreadingroom's review

This was just utterly boring. So flat. Couldn’t keep my attention.

inkstainedlife's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

etrain's review

reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

whiteeemily's review

slow-paced

3.0

Initially I enjoyed this but I got increasingly frustrated and bored as it went on. The writing was good but the format didn’t work for me because I kept wanting to know what happened next. The disjointed quality kept me from feeling invested in the story. 

phoenix2's review

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

' Shanghailanders ' is a novel that chronicles the life of a family who lives in Shanghai.

The book has an interesting concept, as it narrates the story from the future and backwards. And even though it was interesting at first, as I got to know the characters while the book progressed, I wanted to know what came next.

Also, there were some POV and stories that were boring.

But, the rest was quite interesting and the story character driven.