The Song of Everlasting Sorrow: A Novel of Shanghai (Weatherhead Books on Asia)

This book is about Shanghai and the people who reside there. Anyi Wang not only describes the physical atmosphere so well you can vividly visualize it, but she evokes the emotion of the city. You can FEEL Shanghai - the activity, the secret lives, the energy. There were times I stopped reading so as to fully formulate the images she was painting in my mind's eye, not just the physical but the emotional as well, understanding the characters more deeply. Anyi is eloquent and provocative. Her characters are fully fleshed out, both the good and the bad. When you are finished with the book, even those characters who act reprehensibly at times are still human. You feel for them, for their circumstances. All her characters make mistakes but most all are redeemed, as they pay the price for their decisions. The story is winding, multi-faceted, covers a few decades and often spell-binding. Definitely a book for a leisurely read and one for those who like personal detail, to fully understand a character. Recommended for mature teens and adults. The reason I say mature teens is because it is not a fast-paced book. The teen would have to be a perceptive person with an active mind who enjoys a slow, deep read.

The best modern Chinese novel available in English, beautifully translated by Michael Berry. Yes, it is slow paced, but it is also utterly entrancing. As we follow Wang Qiyao's life in Shanghai, we are given a glimpse into life in the city from the 1940s to the 1980s, the atmosphere of which is so well evoked that it is almost tangible. The complex lives and personalities of the characters described in a way that is both razor-sharp and deeply sympathetic. While some of the more dramatic events in China's recent history form the background to the novel (The Civil War, The Cultural Revolution, economic reform), the best moments come when the author stops to describe the simple activities in every day life. The author's writing style is so wonderfully lyrical that descriptions of a pigeon flying overhead, of moss growing in the walls, of a woman carrying home steamed buns, or a laying out the fabric for a new dress, take on a whole new significance. Wang Anyi is a deeply respected author in China, and this is a truly beautiful novel. She deserves far more attention in the English-speaking world.

Personally I enjoyed Wang Anyi's style in this novel. It's quite dreamy. I feel like there are some reflections about what is youth in this novel - aside from other aspects of course. Nostalgia for the days when one was young, dreams of teenage girls who want to be the prettiest one, like the girls from the movies - who want to make it big. We can't forget the setting of Shanghai of course, which nourishes these fantasies. I could identify with this novel very much.

A Novel where the central character is a symbol for the history of both Shanghai and China during a its recent past. The novel is both fascinating and troubling as it reveals the almost unbelievable story of a young woman, Wang Qiyao. Born in the longtongs of Shanghai her fortunes rise and fall as China experiences cataclysmic changes. Her life is in many ways a reflection of those alterations in Chinese society as she grows and attempts to discover where she belongs. But more than anything, Wang Qiyao becomes the way in which the author personalizes the history of China. Wang Qiyao may be the central character of the novel, but what really makes the work so compelling is the way in which its author uses her to explore the role of women and society. Ms. Anya's power of description of seemingly small things add a dimension to this novel that is unique, note for instance her portrait of the longtongs of Shanghai, and her utterly beautiful description of a much beloved bird, the pigeon. The novel deserves a wide readership both for its extraordinary account of Chinese society during a period of revolutionary change crystallized during forty years of Wang Qiyao's life.

A wonderful novel. Elegantly written and richly textured. Although it is firmly set in Shanghai, it speaks across boundaries.