Sep 14, 2024

Invisible Helix by Keigo Higashino, and Shanghai by Joseph Kanon, Historical Novel set in the late 1930s.

 


The Invisible Helix by Keigo Higashino, December 17, 2024; Minotaur Books/NetGalley

Genre: detective novel, Tokyo

The body of Ryota Uetsuji was found floating in Tokyo Bay, and a suspect is his girlfriend Sonoka, but Sonoka was away in Kyoto at the time of the death and has an alibi. 

The themes of adoption and finding one's family years later is prevalent. The themes found in Sonoka's story of adoption are also threaded into the story of a police consultant, the brilliant physicist Yukawa. Misguided and misinformed individuals also make mistaken assumptions in this compelling story of family connections. 

I enjoyed the storyline and the easy way of writing by Higashino that made this detective novel enjoyable and also suspenseful. Another excellent book by Higashino and the fifth in the Detective Galileo series.





Shanghai by Joseph Kanon, June 25, 2024; Scribner

Genre: historical fiction, thriller, China

I just started this historical novel of Shanghia before WWII in the late 1930s. Daniel Lohr has escaped Germany on a boat heading for China, where refugees from the Nazis in Europe can find safety if they find their own way there.

Daniel meets another Jewish refugee, Leah and her mother Clara, on the ship heading east. He also meets a member of the Japanese military police, Colonel Yamada, who is keeping a close watch on the ship's passengers, all heading to Shanghai's international settlement, a section not under the control of the Japanese who invaded Shanghai and parts of China in 1937. 

The history of refugees in Shanghai from all over Europe and even from Russia has been covered in historical fiction and memoirs, and nonfiction. Kanon's book is the latest and I am reading it with interest in that period in China.

Update: my review of Shanghai.

Some other books I've read on Shanghai in the 1930s include:



Bernardine's Shanghai Salon: The Story of the Doyenne of Old China by Susan Blumberg-Kasoff

The Jewish salon host in 1930s Shanghai who brought together Chinese and expats around the arts as civil war erupted and World War II loomed on the horizon. (publisher)


The Far Side of the Sky by Daniel Kalla

 In November 1938 after a night of terror for Jews across Germany, Dr. Franz Adler, a surgeon in Vienna, flees to Shanghai, China with his young daughter Hannah and his brother's widow, Esther. 

The Far Side of the Sky focuses on a short but extraordinary period of Chinese, Japanese, and Jewish history when cultures converged and heroic sacrifices were part of a quest for survival. (publisher)



White Shanghai by Elvira Baryakina. The title refers to the White Russians, those fleeing the "Reds," the Russian revolution. 

Among the refugees is Klim Rogov, a journalist whose life and marriage have been destroyed by the Russian revolution - all he has left are his quick wits and a keen worldliness that will serve him well in the lawless jungle of Shanghai.  (publisher)



China to Me by Emily Hahn, a memoir.

 The American journalist/traveler Emily Hahn wrote about her own experiences living in Shanghai, Chungking, and Hong Kong from 1935 to 1943. Her book about revolution and war in China and how it affected the local people and foreigners alike is titled China to Me: A Partial Autobiography, first printed in 1944. It's fascinating reading.

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. October 30, 2001, Knopf Doubleday Publishing


My 2017 review: 

"A book I have wanted to look at again. Set in the 1930s, it's about a young English detective with a faulty memory who returns to wartime Shanghai in 1937 to find his parents who had disappeared there years ago when he was about nine years old. As he is an unreliable narrator, readers have to figure out the puzzle of his past and become detectives themselves to decide what is fact and what is fiction.

 Christopher meets a Japanese soldier in Shanghai who may or may not be his playmate from years ago, before the war. How Christopher reacts or doesn't react to him and how he ignores his surroundings in Shanghai during the Japanese invasion is part of his strange, delusional persona. This book intrigued me so much, I want to try again to get the hard facts of Christopher's journey, which may not be possible, given his inaccurate memory.

Ishiguro, born in Nagasaki, Japan and now a British citizen living in London, is also author of The Remains of the Day, a Booker Prize-winning novel made into the award winning film with Anthony Hopkins."


I'll just add now that on reading it again the past two days, I found the narrator Christopher to be a kind of English/European version of the Ugly American, representing the tunnel vision that ignored the reality of what was going on in Shanghai before and during WWII.


These are some of the books I read or featured on my blog about Shanghai pre and during WWII. I would suggest looking at some of them before reading Kanon's book, Shanghai 
, as Kanon seems to assume his readers of the novel will already know the history. 


What books are you reading this week? 



36 comments:

  1. I like the sound of When We Were Orphans. You have some great books and reviews every week :-)

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    1. I'm reading When We Were Orphans for the third time over many years, and get more out of the book each time.

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  2. Sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. You have done some extensive reading about this period of history. It's a story I know little about. I would be most interested in reading When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro. Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors, but I haven't read this book.

    Thank you for sharing this with us.

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    1. I got hooked on the history of Shanghai during the late 1930 after reading American journalist Emily Hahn's memoir, China to Me. Fascinating. She became so involved in that city that she even began trying opium!

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  4. I am really intrigued by The Invisible Helix. I don’t think I’ve ever read a detective story set in that part of the world, and that needs to change. Although I may start with the first book in the series.

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    1. I've read several of his books in this series, which are reviewed over the years on my blog. They are stand alone detective novels and can be read in any order.

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  5. I'm interested in knowing more about Shanghai so I am glad for your list. I would like to read When We Were Orphans sometime as Ishiguro is one of my favorite authors. Let us know if the Kanon novel turns out to be good. Enjoy.

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    1. I'm enjoying Kanon's book so far and hope to finish it within a week or so. Ishiguro's books I can read and reread, they are so good.

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  6. So many interesting books revolving around Shanghai and it's history! And they all sound good. I haven't read many books set in Shanghai, but I want to check some of these out. Though that will have to wait until next year, my reading list for this year is already way too long. ;D

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    1. Hope you get to read some next year. I would start with American journalist Emily Hahn's memoir, China to Me. Her book made me really interested in this period of Chinese history.

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  7. Looks like you read quite a bit! Have a great weekend!

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    1. I've always read since I could read, lol. And I don't know how many books that would be.

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  8. These all sound good. Some emotional sounding stories too.

    Have a great week 😊

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    1. The history is fascinating and quite something to read. Thank heavens those days are in the past.

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  9. I am glad you enjoyed Invisible Helix. I read The Devotion of Suspect X years ago and really enjoyed it. I should read more by Higashino. Shanghai sounds interesting and I hope you are enjoying it. Such an interesting time in history! I hope you have a great week!

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  10. I've read a lot of Ishiguro's work, but I can't remember if I've read that one -- I'm going to have dig through my reviews and try to find out. 🤔 Good post!

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  11. Oooh! All of these books look interesting! Great haul!

    Here’s my Sunday Post and The Sunday Watch

    Rabbit Ears Book Blog: WORLD’S WEIRDEST BOOK BLOG!

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  12. I'm going to check and see if The Invisible Helix is available on audio, that way I'll actually get around to reading it in a timely manner.

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  13. These all look interesting, Shanghai caught my eye. Happy reading!

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  14. So many new-to-me books. I'm glad you are finding books you enjoy. Come see my week here. Happy reading!

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  15. These sound really interesting. I'll have to check them out.

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  16. What a great list of books! The Far Side of the Sky and When We Were Orphans caught my eye. Hope you enjoy your week.

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  17. Several of these look really interesting, but I have a soft spot for Japanese crime fiction, so Invisible Helix really caught my eye...going on the TBR list for sure.

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  18. What a great selection of books! We have a older family friend whose parents were White Russians who escaped to Shanghai and his wife's Jewish family arrived during WWII. Every story he shares feels like it could be the basis for a novel.

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  19. I kept thinking I would read The Devotion of Suspect X and never did. Then, of course, I got more and more behind as each new book came out! Coincidentally, Anthony Horowitz's new book, Close to Death, has his Anthony Horowitz character saying how much he admires Japanese crime fiction. I think he mentions Keigo Higashino specifically, but I can't flip back and see for sure, because it's an audiobook!

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  20. You’ve read some good books. Love it.
    www.rsrue.blogspot.com

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  21. What a fabulous collection of literature! I followed the link to Invisible Helix, and when I clicked want to read, discovered there is a give away for it. I'm crossing my fingers!

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  22. I love reading around the world. Thanks for sharing these.

    Jill
    https://www.allthebooksihaventread.com/

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  23. As always, a fun collection of works! I'd be most interested in the Kanon title, I think, but must check about Higashino.

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  24. Good group of books!
    Mary @Bookfan

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