Weina Dai Randel
Autor von The Last Rose of Shanghai
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Wissenswertes
- Gebräuchlichste Namensform
- Randel, Weina Dai
- Rechtmäßiger Name
- Randel, Weina Dai
- Geschlecht
- female
- Nationalität
- USA
- Land (für Karte)
- USA
- Geburtsort
- China
- Wohnorte
- Shanghai, China
Dallas, Texas, USA - Ausbildung
- Texas Woman's University
- Berufe
- magazine editor
adjunct professor
writer - Organisationen
- Historical Novel Society
Mitglieder
Rezensionen
Auszeichnungen
Dir gefällt vielleicht auch
Statistikseite
- Werke
- 5
- Mitglieder
- 685
- Beliebtheit
- #36,934
- Bewertung
- 3.8
- Rezensionen
- 34
- ISBNs
- 29
- Sprachen
- 3
This is an historical fiction set in Shanghai in 1940, by Chinese author Weina Dai Randel, who moved to the US in her early twenties.
Aiyi Shao, the daughter of a wealthy Chinese family, owns and runs a nightclub in Shanghai. Under Japanese occupation, things become increasingly difficult and dangerous. When Aiyi hires jazz pianist Ernest Reismann, a Jewish refugee from Germany, she goes against family and tradition. Reismann’s jazz piano however, brings great popularity to her club and Aiyi finds herself attracted to both his persona and music.
The story does become somewhat dramatic in the second half with some improbable events. Aiyi is a strong woman, but her selfish focus on money and business does make you want to shake her at times. There is a second framing story set in 1980 when Aiyi tells her story to a documentarian, with some more improbable events. I can’t help but think that it would make a great movie though.
I enjoyed the insights given into Shanghai during the Japanese occupation, and the fear and uncertainty of these times. I learnt that Shanghai was initially a refuge for Jews during WW2 with around 20,000 settling there from 1938 to 1941. Later in the war, after increasing pressure from the Nazis, the Japanese rounded up the 15,000 Jews left in Shanghai, and placed them in a ghetto in Tilanqiao. This was a pleasant enough read and I’m happy to have read it. 3.5 stars… (mehr)