Book set in Shenzhen, China. Reviewed on 2019/07: https://www.instagram.com/p/BzlBfstA8dI/
Despite a good premise and a few interesting twists at the end, this book felt insipid and pointless all throughout. I read from the publisher’s note that #lijiazhang wrote this novel based on #trueevents from her grandmother’s life. Once a writer decides to introduce #autobiographical elements to the story, it all becomes a double-edged sword. The will to remember and commemorate past personal events can definitely derail a story completely if the writer doesn’t take charge. Unfortunately #zhang writes a charmless and predictable story with a few #historicalfiction techniques which fail to uplift anything here. Overall the characters and the plot do feel connected and you’re able to follow through what’s going on. The problem is do you even want to? A little bit of mystery and sophisticated twists would have done wonders here. I believe the writer’s choices about some issues might feel controversial in some circles. However her writing style does not, in my opinion, offer any interesting incentives to read all almost 400-pages.#debutnovel #shenzhen #flowergirl#henryholtbooks #深圳市#toolongandboring #henryholt#immigrant #lucklife #lotus #luck#beijing #chineseliterature #guanxi
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