Shanghailanders
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- 11,99 €
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- 11,99 €
Descripción editorial
"I think love is when you think you need someone
for your survival. Survival, defined broadly."
"The way you think, sometimes . . ."
"The way I think, what?"
"It . . . surprises me. Yoko, we need each other. Family - family
is all we have."
'Smart, tender, and lyrical-SHANGHAILANDERS is a moving debut novel, and one that never stops surprising the reader . . . This is the kind of book I wish I'd read when I first was learning to write.' Jiaming Tang
While the years rewind from 2040 back to 2014, Shanghailanders brings readers into the shared and separate lives of the Yang family, parent by parent, daughter by daughter, and through the eyes of 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 they build their lives in this old, futuristic city, we see Leo, his wife Eko and their daughters Yumi, Yoko and Kiko trip over their own desires in their bids to connect with one another, in their attempts to be a family.
Though the world shifts and brings change for each of the Yangs, universal constants remain: love is complex and family will always be stubbornly connected by blood, secrets, and longing.
Dazzlingly constructed and achingly resonant, Shanghailanders is an unforgettable exploration of everything that follows 'happily ever after'-and the ways a family makes and remakes itself across the years.
'A wonderful and wildly smart and compelling book. If Shanghai is the future, this terrific novel knows it all.' Joan Silber
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.
