When Red is Black
February 14th 2008 14:20
When Red is Black
Qiu Xiao Long
Qiu Xiao Long
This is the third book in the Inspector Chen series by an Chinese expat author who now lives in America. I'm working my way slowly thru the series and havnt read the second one yet. One thing that strikes me about this series is the way they are very literary especially witht eh refeences to chinese poetry Chen makes and the way profits form a book cause problems in this book yet still his books are still who dunnits with plenty of plot twists and sudden turns and suspects with sound motives.
There are two viewpoints in this book : that of Chen who's not giving his full attention to the case due to a private translation commission and that of poor Yu who's lost his promsied flat and has to do the footwork with help from his wife who ironically is a fan of the dead author. Another theme in this compromise and culture clash socialist ideals versus capitalist ethics and corruption as illustrated by the housing problems in modern Shanghai. Curiously those who seem the most corrupt or fanatical and who should be the villians perform unethical acts for reasons of compassion ... and the victims are flawed too!
This is one of those complicated books you almost get fed up with in the middle but feel throughly satisfied with when you reach the end!
Enjoy!
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