Customer Reviews

A Loyal Character Dancer

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first in the series: Death of a Red Heroine, but it still gave me a great deal of pleasure and enjoyment. The biggest attraction for me with this series is the sense of place and atmosphere. The recurring (mostly male) characters are also interesting and well drawn. One weakness I find is with the female characters, especially the romantic interests, who seem to lack character. This was even more evident in this second book where the American detective seemed simply to serve as a clothes-hanger and an object for Inspector Chen's care and concern.
But I would still highly recommend this series. They are novel, interesting and not simply detective genre churn-outs, and there is a lot more to them than a mystery - in fact the non-mystery parts are the most entertaining. I have the next one in the series bought and lined up already.

First Sentence: Chief Inspector Chen Cao, of the Shangahi Police Bureau, found himself once again walking through the morning mist toward Bund Park.

Chief Inspection Chen Cao has been assigned to escort U.S. Marshall Catherine Rohn. His mission is to make her happy, keep her safe and out of trouble. Her mission is to bring to the United States, Wen, the wife of an important criminal witness. When they go to get Wen, she has disappeared. Chen has to find her, Catherine wants to be an active part of the investigation, and someone wants them to stop.

Xiaolong's book is filled with literary references, poetry, mouth-watering descriptions of food and fascinating information on China's history. I've learned more about the Cultural Revolution and Chinese history reading Xiaolong's books than I ever did in school but he conveys the information in a way that never slows the story or makes the book seem dry.

An author who not only entertains but makes me think is a treat. Several times, I found myself stopping to contemplate a point made by the author''The line between truth and fiction was always being constructed and deconstructed by those in power.' His voice is unique and compelling''There were quite a number of young people on the first floor, smoking, talking, stirring desires or memories into their coffee cups.' Writing such as that is impossible for me to resist.

Through the characters we elicit a look at some of the factors impacting people's lives; how the Cultural Revaluation has a lasting impact, the importance of connections and favors, and that politics has a personal impact, particularly in this case where what is politically necessary much supersede what is personally desirous.

It has been awhile since I read the first book in this series and I'd forgotten just how much I like the characters. Chen Cao did not become a policeman by choice. His love of poetry and literature shape him. He is supported by the wonderful, fully-dimensional Yu, Peiqin and Old Hunter, Chan's partner, his wife and father.

I also appreciated the connection of his friend Overseas Chinese Lu as a transition from the last book. US Marshall Catharine Rohn, Chen's counterpart for the case, is also something of a love interest. That didn't quite play true to me but I did sense the tension the author portrayed. The most fascinating character is Party Secretary Li, Chen's superior. I hope we get to know more about his as the series proceeds.

The plot itself was interesting; with economic development comes increased organized crime. Amidst the scenic descriptions'and there is a very strong sense of place'food and literary references, there is also attacks on the character's lives, a great battle scene and very well done twists in the plot.

The pace does bog down a bit and I wasn't crazy about all the exposition at the end. I'd rather you show me than tell me.

I highly recommend this book but do suggest starting with the first in the series. For me, Xiaolong remains firmly on my auto-buy list and I look forward to the next in the series.

A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER (Pol Proc-CI Chen Cao-Shanghai, China-Cont/1990s) - VG
Xiaolong, Quiu ' 2nd in series
Soho Press, 2002, US Hardcover ' ISBN: 1569473013

Ambitious Chief Inspector Chen of the Shanghai Police is annoyed at being asked to baby-sit a visiting American detective. As much as he wants to help the US stop the smuggling of Chinese illegals into the US, the favors being done for one of the illegals in return for his testimony against a notorious snakehead leave a sour taste in Chen's mouth. It doesn't help that the wife of the illegal, whom the American inspector is supposed to escort back to the US, has inconveniently disappeared.

All this sets the stage for why a Shanghai chief inspector (even one with a degree in English and American literature) is investigating the probably gang-related disappearance of a Chinese lower-middle class woman with a blonde American tagging along (even a member of the US Marshals Service with a degree in sinology.) The situation gives Chen the opportunity to show the American (and us) the best of Chinese cuisine, music, literature and traditions, while exposing her to the everyday lives of the kind of people who populate a criminal investigator's world. Chinese cities are crowded and life in rural China is still harsh for most people. Qiu doesn't evade that reality, while he acknowledges the growing existence of an affluent, sophisticated middle class in cosmopolitan areas like Shanghai.

Be warned that the author uses his characters to discuss some hot political issues, such as the Chinese one-child per family policy and US immigration law. He takes care to allow both sides of every issue to be aired, but these are still topics that distress some readers. Qiu is not a 'safe' writer. He probes and provokes and touches some tender spots.

The spotlight, however, remains on Chief Inspector Chen Cao, a most extraordinary man. He's intelligent, educated, thoughtful and realistic. Working within a bureaucratic organization, dealing on a daily basis with the criminal, vulnerable and damaged, he uses his love of poetry and respect for Chinese tradition to maintain his bonhomie and integrity in a conflicted society in confusing times. In many ways, he represents the best of modern China.

Shanghai Police Inspector Chen Cao is a man on the rise. Which doesn't always mean he gets to work the cases he wants. Intrigued by the possible Triad murder of a silk-pajama-clad man in a popular park, Chen is told to sideline the case in order to shepherd US Marshall Catherine Rohn around Shanghai.

Rohn is there to pick up Wen Liping, wife of a reluctant witness in an important immigrant smuggling case, who is to join her husband in the witness protection program. But Wen has disappeared - kidnapped by the Triad smugglers, or in flight from them.

Wen, a worn-out peasant with an abusive husband, was once a Shanghai native, a promising and beautiful "educated youth" sent to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Chen's assistant, Yu, (whose life also was altered irreparably by the Cultural Revolution) has gone to her village to investigate, and Chen allows the insistent American marshal to assist on his interviews with Shanghai contacts.

Punctuated with Chen's poetry quotations and Confucian proverbs, and lots of Chinese meals, Qui's (winner of the Anthony Award for his first Chen mystery, "Death of a Red Heroine") writing is evocative, though his dialogue can be clunky and too expository and the pace of the mystery is uneven, its path overlong.

But his picture of China in transition, a generation burdened by the Cultural Revolution (and what a difference in lives a year or two in age has meant), the opportunists homing in on changing economic policies, the power of the Triads, the meaning of communism to the people who live it - all of this is succinctly, adroitly drawn. The title, for instance, refers to Wen and her exuberant performance of the only dance allowed during the Cultural Revolution - a dance holding the Chinese character for Loyalty to Chairman Mao.

In the course of their hunt for Wen, and Chen's continuing interest in the park-murder case, the mismatched pair travels around China, allowing Qiu to showcase the cultural gulf and human commonality between them. An intriguing, absorbing series.

I found this book quite disappointing (have not yet read the previous one in the series). Main reasons are that (i) the dialogue is stilted (no one ever seems to use contractions like "I've" or "it's" when they speak), (ii) the characters other than Inspector Chen have no personality of their own, and (iii) as someone else noted, there's zero suspense.

From a history/travelogue point of view, it's also quite confusing. There isn't any clear clue for the reader as to the year it takes place. Cell phones, which figure prominently in the novel, seem to have become more visible in China around 1997, and the international airport mentioned in the book became a domestic one around 1999-2000, so this might be the historical window. But the word "Comrade", which is used quite often in the book, has been out of favor in China for more than a decade, even according to the official Chinese news agency. And there are at least a dozen hotels you can stay in that are more luxurious (or just more comfortable) than the Peace Hotel. Qiu left China in 1988, so this may explain some of the confusing refernces. I took this book with me as reading on a business trip to Shanghai. Believe me, aside from the perennial corruption and sex trade, this book reflects *very little* of what's going on in Shanghai today or even what was going on in 2002 (when book was published).

Frankly, I don't understand the Publisher's Weekly criticism or the unfavorable comparisons to Qiu's first book "Red Heroin", which I also loved.

This is clearly a better book. Can anyone really tell me that the story of Chen as head of the traffic bureau in the first book was convincing?

If you are interested in another society, in this case contemporary China, you should read both books.

Writers of foreign origin like Qiu really put some popular American writers to shame. The sense of detail and nuance really make Qiu's novels. I tried to read them fast and I couldn't, I always thought I would miss something. How many writers can you say that about.

I also noted the Amazon mention of other writers purchased and I see that those reading Qiu have good taste.

I would suggest that those interested in China also read He Jiahong, another writer in the detective genre. Unfortunately, I don't know if he has been translated into English yet.

This is a thinly plotted mystery that partially redeems itself with a nuanced evocation of modern day Shanghai. It should be sub-titled 'An Anthology of Chinese Verse' because scarcely a page goes by without some couplet appearing. But these interesting trappings cannot sustain a mystery that fails to be very, well, mysterious. Most of the novel centers on a race between the police and several gangs to locate a woman. The resolution to this race occurs in one sentence and will leave you asking - Did I miss something? It's a microcosm for the novel as whole... great setting, rich characters, nice writing... but no mystery.

I loved Qui Xiaolong's first mystery, Death of a Red Heroine, so much that I picked up A Loyal Character Dancer as soon as I could. Death of a Red Heroine really excited me and I couldn't put it down: I love Inspector Chen and his struggles with being a policeman when his true love is literature and especially poetry; I love the quotations from the Chinese poets and from T. S. Eliot and others; I love the descriptions of Shanghai and life in China; I love the parallels between the dead Model Worker and Chen's own life; and I love the twist at the end that makes Chen wonder again about his life as a policeman.

Chen is back in A Loyal Character Dancer, but this time the meanderings are fewer (and it's the meanderings rather than the mystery itself that make Qui a good writer). Chen's romance with the American policewoman never quite comes alive for me the way his two romances in the first book did. The new focus of the mystery, Wen, also never captures my attention the way the dead Model Worker does. Qui's writing even seems less rich.

I get the impression that some editor or another warned Qui off a lengthy book that strays far from the main story line, but I fear A Loyal Character Dancer is therefore a weaker book. I still enjoyed it, but this time I could put it down.

The second book in the Inspector Chen series is equal in many ways to outstanding predecessor, Death of a Red Heroine. Once again, the reader is drawn into an excellent mix of detective procedural and portrait of China in economic and social transition during the early '90s. Shanghai-based Inspector Chen is assigned to baby-sit a U.S. Marshal who has been sent to collect the wife of the key witness in a federal case against the smuggling of illegal immigrants into America. However, when the pregnant woman disappears without a trace, Chen, Detective Yu, and Marshal Catherine Rohn have only a week to track her down before the trial starts-and without his wife, the witness won't cooperate. At the same time, Chen insists on investigating the bloody murder of an unidentified man in Chen's favorite park (echoes of, or homage to, Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park).

Since Chen and Yu's histories were established in the first book, there is much less of their personal lives in this volume, which is a bit of a shame. There is also somewhat less about politics and the Party's influence on private life in this book. Instead the hidden hand of the triad gangs menaces Chen and his investigation, with unclear motives and unclear allegiances. In addition, the history and impact of the Cultural Revolution (a subject at the heart of the recent novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress) becomes more directly relevant to the plot. Another main element is the proliferation of a "gray market" economy, where bribery and corruption are nibbling away at the Communist system. Distasteful as it is, Chen must involve himself with unsavory elements with no solid political backing in order to pursue his investigation, and indeed, possible leaks within his own department.

This sequel is quite good to be sure, however there is a running flaw which undermines it somewhat. The brilliance of the first book was in its complete immersion in time and place, by introducing an American outsider as a main character in this story, the author cheapens the experience somewhat. It instantly moves into the realm of "unlikely partners battling crime", which we have seen time and again in fiction and film. This is exacerbated by the rather stilted romantic tension between Chen and the American woman which always seemed rather forced to me. It's also unfortunate that near the end there is a plot contrivance whereby Chen makes an absolutely incredible blunder-it's such an unlikely mistake I had to stop and reread the passage three times to verify that I had understood it properly. Still, there are running mouthwatering descriptions of food, plenty couplets of classic Chinese poetry, and an exciting climax to finish things off. It's well worth reading, both as a crime novel and as a picture of China a decade ago.

Book two in the (People's Republic) Inspector Chen saga meets the high expectations aroused by Qui Xiaolong's first, Death of a Red Heroine. A Loyal Character Dancer is just a damn good mystery--a police procedural of the first water, dangling clues like fish-meal dumplings in front of our noses and leading us on a hunt for the wife of a man slated to testify in a crucial people-smuggling case in the U.S.

Reading A Loyal Character Dancer offers the exotic land of China in all its complexity, with neither the Revolution nor the Cultural Revolution ever forgotten. We discover a still-thoroughly traditional China entrenched in. but not extinguished by, the peculiarities wrought by Communism--a China where an herbalist works on a Karioke-bar Mr. Big Bucks and from which the influence of the criminal triads has never disappeared.

SoHo Press has made a big success--at least a literary one--by bucking the mainstream insistence that Americans won't read mysteries set in overseas locales unless the protagonist is thoroughly a U.S. type. That theory is just another irksome example of the dumbing down of literature to appeal to the `masses,' but thank goodness for SoHo and books like Death of a Red Heroine and A Loyal Character Dancer. Any mystery lover will understand what author Qui Xiaolong is striving for and achieves in A Loyal Character Dancer.

As the now St. Louis-based professor did in his Anthony-winning Death of a Red Heroine, Qui Xiaolong has concocted a superb and classic tale of crime investigation, one with memorable secondary characters and fascinating cultural intrigue. We must thank the author for taking us into a very up-to-date Communist China and presenting us with the full scope of so much that goes on there. The book is a stunning success, intricate and entertaining in the extreme. G. Miki Hayden, author of Pacific Empire--"ï¿people whose vibrant existence on the page is never in doubtï¿" NYTimes.