A review of ‘The Shanghai Circle’ by a member of the Online Book Club on the 26th of November 2023

4 out of 5 stars

As a lover of historical novels, I found this an epic read. Starting with the cinema worthy chapter one, to the silent strength of women depicted by Davina, Irina, Rita, Cheung’s wife, Alice and Viola. The silent patriarchal culture was also represented in how easy it was to have the opinons of women discarded though the author made sure it was to the detriment of the men and the tradition of men taking on prostitutes and concubines. Themes of loyalty, responsibility, diligence, kindness, love, charity, vengence, migration, betrayal and retribution cascades the entire novel. The family oriented Chinese culture hinged on continuity was not left out which was portrayed in Charles and Davina, Cheung and Joseph.

Aside from the historical details, the novel opens up the social, economic life of the Chinese people, it digs deep into the structure and fibre of the system which is hinged on age long traditional affiliations built on loyalty. It also teaches the need to respect these traditions unlike the tendency of recent generations to destroy structures. Joseph had to learn this the hard way.

Although the plots were meticulously tied together to produce a seamless flow, the kin mind of the author to details became boring at some point, as some chapters were over loaded with too much detail. The book could have been divided into sections, one commencing and ending with the death of the fathers i.e the death of Cheung and that of Charles) and another with the beginning of those of the children, despite this, this is an historical insightful read. Kudos!