Review – The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel (3/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 429 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Release Date: December 1, 2021
ASIN: B08YYY8ZNX
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: eBook from Kindle First Reads
Rating: 3/5 stars
“In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music…
1940. 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.
As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever.
From the electrifying jazz clubs to the impoverished streets of a city under siege, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a timeless, sweeping story of love and redemption.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got a copy of this book through Amazon First Reads.
Thoughts: I enjoyed the unique setting for this book but thought the writing was a bit awkward and the story was just so-so. This book takes place during WWII in Shanghai. It follows a young heiress named Aiyi who owns her own nightclub and a Jewish refugee named Ernest who ends up playing the piano at her club. They end up falling in love but get caught up in all the politics and war of the time.
Both Ernest and Aiyi aren’t all that likable. Ernest is strangely selfish and doesn’t really take his sister’s needs into account. Aiyi wants to be successful and is selfish as well. To be fair, to survive in this time it seems like you had to be selfish. I did like that Aiyi was a business owner and tried to stand up for herself as a woman, but she also let a lot of the men in her life force her into bad situations. I didn’t really like either of them and felt like their romance was quick and forced. I don’t think it helped that the dialogue throughout felt stilted and awkward to me.
The story starts in the present and then goes back to the past and then ends in the present. It ends up tying together decently but I found parts, especially in the second half, to be a bit boring and hard to stay engaged in. This feels odd for me to say with all the death and torture going in the background, but we spent a lot of the book just kind of waiting and I struggled to stay interested.
I did greatly enjoy the unique historical setting and learning about the events in Shanghai in WWII. I knew that the Japanese had invaded Shanghai but wasn’t aware of all the other international pressures in Shanghai at the time. I also had not realized that Shanghai was such a huge refuge for Jews fleeing Europe. I really enjoyed getting a look into the effects of WWII on a region of the world that you don’t often get to read about during that time frame.
My Summary (3/5): Overall this was okay; I really liked learning about Shanghai and the events that took place there during WWII. I didn’t enjoy the awkward writing and dialogue, the unlikable characters, and the winding somewhat pointless plot. While I am happy to have learned more about Shanghai in this historical time, I don’t plan on picking up anymore books by this author.
