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Night in Shanghai Nicole Mones 9780547516172 Books

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Night in Shanghai Nicole Mones 9780547516172 Books

The story of Shanghai on the eve of the second world war is one of those stories that was just waiting to be told, and in Nancy Mones, it found the perfect person to tell it. At first, the story seems to be about a black classically trained musician who takes a job with a jazz group in Shanghai despite the fact he can't improvise and doesn't know the repertoire. Over time the story's focus expands as events overtake the characters and shape them as they struggle to survive forces that threatened to crush them. Only at the end do we learn that much of Night in Shanghai is based on real people and real events. To her credit, Mones seemlessly weaves those complex events into the lives of her characters while displaying not only a mastery of history, of cross-cultural relationships, but also an ability to describe the complexities of the jazz scene and the structure of performance. Events do threaten to overwhelm Mones' characters, but they survive without leaning too heavily on suspended disbelief as in real life reason often can't explain how things turn out. Night in Shanghai is not to be missed.


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Night in Shanghai Nicole Mones 9780547516172 Books Reviews

The story winds around thru the beginning of WW2 in Shanghai with the Japanese occupying the city and ends when they bomb Pearl Harbor which means the Americans must get out of China. It follows the life of one Black American band director and his loves over the 5 or 6 years he is in China. He found the Chinese more tolerant of Blacks than Americans. It paints a most interesting view of life during this period of time!
This is a book that grows more fascinating as you read it. It's not great literature, but it is a good story. In addition to the story of Black jazz musicians in Shanghai in the 30's, there is amazing history about the Jews who escaped Europe to Shanghai, as well as politics of the Communist Party and the Nationalists right before and during the Japanese occupation. All of these events are seen through the unfolding of a personal story that brings them to life.
If you have ever wondered what happened when Japan's invading forces reached Shanghai -- then known for its wide open community -- this is a good book to begin your journey. While it is a novel, many of its characters happen to be real (as I discovered in the afterward). It is real-world events surrounding an ill-fated romance of a young woman endentured to a gang lord and a black jazz player. It is through their experiences that you see the broader scale of all that was happening in China leading up to Japan's attack at Pearl Harbor.

The characters development is slow and quietly builds. While I wouldn't say that they are fully three-dimensional, they are not flat. Much of their background is left for the reader to fill in. While I would not rush out to read other books by this author, I had no problems reading this to the end and no regrets once I did so.
For Thomas, an American pianist, Shanghai is a wonderland, a place where he is accepted for what he is. For Song, it is a prison where she is using her language skills as a slave to the leader of a Shanghai gang. For all of Shanghai, it is a time of wonder and decadence, a time when many cultures exist side-by-side, but all that changes when the Japanese attack and take over the city. And then it changes again as Japan prepares to attack Pearl Harbor.
I enjoyed this novel nice, well developed characters, plot that ebbs and flows in a natural pace. And I learned a lot about China and its political changes. Though, to be honest, some of the historical pieces felt inserted, rather than flowing naturally from the characters and their interactions. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book a pleasant read.
China presents both a lure and a peril for fiction authors. Many writers struggle in vain to achieve the elusive balance between romanticizing its extraordinary achievements, tracing its complex heritage, and bemoaning the tragic missteps and vast human costs of its recent history.

In her three previous novels, Nicole Mones has deftly avoided these pitfalls, creating evocative portraits of China by exploring specific aspects of Chinese society, history, and culture. Rich in character development and sensory details, her books are also laden with subplots, insights, and resonances that take them far beyond their ostensible subjects—from the rugged challenges of the search for Peking Man to the most exquisite nuances of Chinese porcelain and cuisine.

The people whose lives unfold in such unpredictable ways in these milieus—whether they are Chinese whose identities are profoundly influenced by tradition or adventurous Americans adrift in a strange land; whether their motivations are altruistic or avaricious, whether they’re seeking sheer survival or personal expression—are brought to vivid life.

Mones’s artistry and understanding of China are on abundant display in Night in Shanghai. Set squarely yet imaginatively amid real characters and little-known historical events in this vibrant, chaotic, and surprisingly generous city on the eve of World War II, the story contrasts the human desire for love, survival, and self-expression with war’s heedless, devastating destruction.

Thomas Green, the young African-American pianist at the center of Night in Shanghai, has a professional need, and a more profound personal one, to evolve from a skilled performer to a confident artist whose music serves as a language to convey what otherwise could never be expressed. His long struggle to open that door is sensitively depicted, and the memorable moment when he is at last able to do so lends the book its name.

Mones compassionately follows the interwoven stories of her characters’ lives to a poignant yet fitting conclusion. For me, the book ultimately evoked Dr. Zhivago in its portrayal of the upheavals and aftershocks of lives brought together, then wrested apart by forces far beyond their control—and yet, amid it all, the enduring optimism and resilience of the human spirit.
The story of Shanghai on the eve of the second world war is one of those stories that was just waiting to be told, and in Nancy Mones, it found the perfect person to tell it. At first, the story seems to be about a black classically trained musician who takes a job with a jazz group in Shanghai despite the fact he can't improvise and doesn't know the repertoire. Over time the story's focus expands as events overtake the characters and shape them as they struggle to survive forces that threatened to crush them. Only at the end do we learn that much of Night in Shanghai is based on real people and real events. To her credit, Mones seemlessly weaves those complex events into the lives of her characters while displaying not only a mastery of history, of cross-cultural relationships, but also an ability to describe the complexities of the jazz scene and the structure of performance. Events do threaten to overwhelm Mones' characters, but they survive without leaning too heavily on suspended disbelief as in real life reason often can't explain how things turn out. Night in Shanghai is not to be missed.