A Case of Two Cities, Xiaolong Qiu

[sub_divided]

I picked up this book from Borders because Tin mentioned that she'd read the series. But she didn't say anything about liking it, come to think of it. ^^ R teased that I am disappointed in her taste, which might be right, though I knew beforehand that as long as you hit Tin-sama's "weak points" - detective stories, communism, dead languages, books about books - you can write anything. This one is a detective story set in Communist China, with a T'ang poetry quoting detective and a subplot about squabbling intellectuals, so meets three out of four requirements.

The best thing about the book are the frequent descriptions of delicious Chinese food. Among the worst things are the thin characterization, weak writing, and poor treatment of women.

Characterization falters whenever the viewpoint shifts from Chen: especially when it shifts to Yu, his lieutenant, who gets an entire scene just so he can discuss how obligated he is to Chen (and restate some plot points from the previous chapter).

Meanwhile, the poor treatment of women, though not super obvious, is shown through the author's choice to make every unclaimed female character either a love interest, or a potential love interest, for Chen... or else the subject of a sexual scandal because, of course, any successful buttoned-down anchorwoman who is also running a successful private company, trading on the connections she's built up as an anchorwoman, is a candidate for blackmail once you discover compromising pictures of her with a senior Party member. You don't even have to feel guilty when she is murdered soon after your meeting, because she has made a "mistake" and deserves what happens to her. Of course, you don't judge her for her personal choices, but she was in over her head. *rolls eyes* (An Jiyang accuses Chen of focusing his attentions on her because she is a woman, while the high-ranking Party officials more central to his investigation are too difficult to pressure. She's right.)

The worst thing about this plot point is that Chen and An Jiyang are supposed to be old friends, and after approaching her in a friendly way, he finishes several courses of the delicious and expensive meal she treats him to (mmmmm) before bringing up the case. And then he goes straight into blackmail! That surely could have been handled better.

This was also disappointing because I'd been hoping that this book would have more insight into, for instance, the strange puritanism of revolutionary cultures (another character was once thrown in jail for "seducing women" i.e. being a popular young poet-stud who had lots of consensual sex in college). But no, the sexual prurience - and simultaneous extravagance, in these heady capitalist days - of the Communist Party is not really examined. It's just something the characters comment on a lot.

Bah. I don't really want to turn every book review into a feminist critique, I'd rather talk about other things, but the signs are present and bothersome. Maybe I will follow R's example and only read YA novels from now on.

What else can I say about this book. The only real insight I have gleaned from it, so far, is that in the 1990s in Shanghai a cultural shift was taking place, as more and more well-connected public officials took "second" jobs in the private sector to supplement their state-mandated incomes. And that while this happened, those people who had grown up in more Communist times screamed "corruption!" both in response to the actual conflict of interest, and in response to the betrayal of the equal society they'd been promised. Chen reflects that with so much money floating around, it's understandable that a police chief making as much as a janitor would want to find some way to cash in... but that's as far as he goes. At least Gorky Park had those pretend-intellectual exchanges between Cadres.

UPDATE:

Had lunch at a Chinese place, after being driven to distraction by descriptions of Chinese food. Lunch was cheap ($5 for huge portions!) but sadly, not very tasty. :( The roast duck was okay - a little salty. At the next table over, two women were eating delicious-looking steamed pork buns. I knew I should have ordered those instead of the dumplings.

Comments

[troisroyaumes]

Heh, I picked up Death of a Red Heroine, which is the first Inspector Chen book, for much the same reason, although I seem to be enjoying it more than you enjoyed A Case of Two Cities. Currently about halfway through. Interestingly, I thought Yu's characterization was pretty good in this book; maybe it's more dynamic since he spends the first half resenting Chen and then gradually coming to grudgingly respect him? In contrast, I don't find Chen all that interesting--too much wish-fulfillment. He's a poet! Scholarly and filial! Politically astute but has a conscience! Like a walking Confucian ideal. He doesn't actually irritate me but I find him thoroughly predictable. I like the side characters, like Commissar Zhang and Overseas Chinese Lu, a lot more.

Everything you said about the poor treatment of women applies to Death of a Red Heroine as well, with the possible exception of Yu's wife, Peiqin. --; Although there's no implication in the text (so far) that the murdered woman in Death of a Red Heroine (killed for similar reasons as An Jiyang) deserved to die.

I do think that Death of a Red Heroine has a lot to say about class and generation gaps within the Communist Party. Also, its descriptions of the different neighborhoods of Shanghai and the food are probably the strongest aspects of Qiu's writing. Mystery plot is not so great though, and I agree about the weak writing overall.

ETA: Meant to add...I was planning on picking up A Case of Two Cities next, but maybe it's not worth reading the rest of the series if the books don't noticeably improve? Hmm...well, I'll have to see how Death of a Red Heroine ends first.

[sub_divided]

I wanted that one, but the bookstore didn't have it. I guess it's a little bit unfair to complain about thin characterization in the fourth book in a detective series. ^^ The weak writing and slight sexism, however, I feel totally comfortable calling out.

It sounds like Red Heroine has a better sense of place, too. XD; Since the first book wasn't available, I went with the one set partially in St. Louie, figuring I could at least contrast the scenes set in Shanghai with the ones set in Xiaolong Qiu's hometown - see whether he was more comfortable with one than the other. There wasn't much difference, though.

Plotting remains weak. For instance, they end up in St. Louis because an elder member of the writer's delegation Chen is heading (long story) wanted to see "Master Ma's hometown" - i.e. the birthplace of Mark Twain (actually born in Hannibal, Missouri).

It's too bad that Xiaolong Qiu ran out of class and generational gap commentary by this book, because I would have liked to have read it - but now that I've read one, I'm not sure whether I'd like to read another. ^^ Anyway, the writing definitely doesn't get any better, and the ideas are scarcer, it seems to me based on your description.

[holyschist]

Here via someone's link--I'm kind of relieved that I'm not the only person who thinks the writing in these books is weak. I couldn't even finish the one I picked up. :(

[sub_divided]

It's super weak! He spells everything out: this is what happened, and then this is what happened, and previously this is what happened. He's so busy explaining, he doesn't have any time to write description... except maybe descriptions of food, XD.

[sub_divided]

Also, if you don't mind my asking... which link? ^^;

[holyschist]

Argh, I forget! It was in a big post of links, but it's kind of buried on my reading list now.

[team7]

Ahaha. I think mostly for me it was the food. And occasional blinding descriptions of Shanghai in late afternoon.

Tin!!!

[sub_divided]

I had no idea you were reading over here! Sorry to call you out onto the carpet, I didn't really mean to do that. ^^

Like I told Tari, it's a little bit unfair to start with the fourth novel in a detective series and then claim that the characterization is weak and the author has nothing to say. Maybe he did have something to say, and he said it in the first book.

So the descriptions of the city were good in the first book?