Book Review: Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui

BOOK REVIEW >>The Choice of Book This course requirement – the book review – moved me to approach my ‘into reading’ friends, a number of them. I sought their recommendation on what book to read provided that I am not fond of reading and that the only series that I have ever read, of course aside from text books, is the Harry Potter series. I was able to collect seven book titles but trimmed it down to three – Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach, and Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks. Fortunately, my pick, first on the list, has been approved. This is a book recommended by an officemate, who happens to be a batch mate and a good friend as well. She said this book is very insightful so I’ve decided to rank it first. I got the book a little later, but I already had Nights in Rodanthe with me. So to practice my reading skills, I read this book as well. Probably because I like Nicholas Sparks movies and the book was not too thick, I also liked this book. The plot, however, is essentially romance – not quite arguable, so I went on reading the approved book. >>The Book >>Shanghai Baby Ironically, this book has been popular all over the world as it was banned in China. According to a review in 2001, forty thousand copies of this book were burned by Chinese government due to its scandalous content. It features the then explorative Chinese youth and their activities – night parties, drug abuse, prostitution, homosexuality, and love-making. Being a debut book of the author, Shanghai Baby results in a semiautobiographical novel. The copy that I have read is an English translation. Shanghai Baby has been translated into 34 different languages and has sold over six million copies in 45 countries. I have encountered several vocabulary words – i.e. nihilist, reeking, delirium, erudition, etc. – that made me look into the online dictionary for definitions. These words could have possibly been more descriptive in the original copy. >>The Author