Shanghai

A Novel

De: Joseph Kanon

Narrado por: Jonathan Davis

Duración: 10 h y 24 m

Resumen del Editor

In this dazzling thriller, New York Times bestselling author Joseph Kanon gives us his richest setting yet: pre-World War II Shanghai, where glamour and squalor exist side by side and murder is just a cost of doing business. A love affair against all odds, a city dancing on the rim of a volcano—Shanghai is the story of a political haven that becomes a minefield of conflicting loyalties.

After the violence of Kristallnacht (1938), European Jews, now desperate to emigrate, found the consular doors of the world closed to them. Only one port required no entry visa: Shanghai, a self-governing Western trading enclave in what was technically Chinese territory, a political anomaly that became an escape hatch—if you were lucky enough to afford a ticket on one of the great Lloyd liners sailing to the East and safety.

Daniel Lohr was one of the lucky ones—lucky enough to have escaped the Gestapo when his colleagues in the resistance were caught, lucky to have an uncle waiting in Shanghai, lucky to find a casual shipboard flirtation turn unexpectedly passionate. But even lucky refugees have to confront the reality of Shanghai. With all their assets, and passports confiscated by the Nazis, they arrive penniless and stateless in a tumultuous, nearly lawless city notorious for vice. When you can sink fast, how far are you willing to go to survive? What lines do you cross? As Daniel tries to navigate his way through his uncle’s world in Shanghai’s fabled nightlife, he finds himself increasingly ensnared in a maze where politics and crime are two sides of the same shiny coin. The trick, his uncle tells him, is to stay one step ahead. But how do you stay ahead of murder? How do you outrun your own past?

©2024 Joseph Kanon (P)2024 Simon & Schuster Audio

interesting subject

interesting to learn Shanghai was safe haven for some refugees but story didn't amount to much. love all Kanon's other books... too weak. Reader is excellent.

Unique setting

Difficult to follow at times. I didn’t care for the narrator. I would not recommend.

A very different story of Jewish refugees

A fascinating and very different view of Jewish refugees washed up on the shores of Shanghai as World War II is circling. The decadence of Shanghai like a microcosm of the world. Kanon creates a menacing and brooding atmosphere and characters that are sympathetic as they are flawed and broken. A moving book.

History in digestible form

Joseph Kannon does not neglect his characters as he unspools his espionage novels. Narrator excellent.

Joseph Kanon’s masterful phrase making.

I’m a longtime fan of Joseph Kanon, but his move to Asia didn’t lead to the compelling plotting and atmospherics of his earlier novels, especially those set in postwar Germany. Nevertheless, still an enjoyable read.

trite and boring

every character a cliche, every plot twist predictable. Given Kanon’s background and skill set this must just have been written as a quick buck potboiler. jews in shanghai could have been a fascinating subject, but not in this book.