Shanghailanders
Longlisted for the Carnegie Medal 2025
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- 3,99 €
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- 3,99 €
Publisher Description
Longlisted for the 2025 ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN FICTION * TIME 100 Must-Read Books of 2024 * THE NEW YORK TIMES Editors' Choice * PEOPLE 10 Best Debut Fiction Books of 2024
'Thrilling' TIME
'Simmering with secrets and tensions' THE NEW YORK TIMES
'Quick-footed and captivating . . . a perfect holiday read' MONOCLE
Leo and Eko Yang and their three daughters seems to have it all - wealth, beauty and brains; a privileged life in the world of international Shanghai, Paris and Boston. But as the children become adults and their parents celebrate twenty-five years of marriage, the Yangs are at a crossroads. What bonds still keep them together? What are the foundations of a family?
Beginning in the year 2040 and moving backward through the present to 2014, Shanghailanders takes readers into the intimacies and desires of each of the Yangs, as well as the people in their orbit - a nanny from the provinces, a private driver with a penchant for danger, and a grandmother whose memories of the past echo the present.
As we watch this changing family in their changing world, universal constants remain: love is complex and family will always be stubbornly connected by blood, secrets and longing. Along the way, Min shows how a family makes and remakes itself over the years, what unites us and slowly drives us apart.
'Min has established herself as a sharp chronicler of contemporary China - and of the ever-complicated matters of the heart' Kirsten Chen, author of COUNTERFEIT
'Remarkable . . . Having knowledge of these characters' futures before we know about their past makes stumbling on their bygone days all the more touching' THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
'Sophisticated and affecting' THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
'Elegant and crystalline' GUARDIAN
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Min's assured debut, told in reverse chronology, follows a wealthy Shanghai family from 2040 to 2014. Real estate investor Leo Yang stays behind in Shanghai as his wife, Eko, travels with their two oldest daughters, Yumi and Yoko, to the U.S. When Yoko confesses her pregnancy to Eko, the two secretly reroute to Paris for an abortion, which is now illegal in America. One year earlier, their youngest daughter, Kiko, works as an escort, and in 2034, Leo, who has episodes of "manic paranoia" fueled by apocalyptic fears, forces the family to practice survival skills on a farm outside town. Other episodes depict a 2028 princess party for Kiko, and Leo's tentative start at building his fortune in 2014, the year he and Eko marry. Though the main characters are somewhat underdeveloped, Min casts a sharper eye on the family's employees, especially their nanny, who must come to terms with the fact that the bond she feels with the children is not mutual. Though the disparate threads don't quite cohere, they credibly reflect the messiness of family. Min is a writer worth keeping tabs on.
