In the midst of the Japanese occupation of China and Hong Kong two people meet, for very different reasons, Wong Chia Chi, a young student active in the resistance, and Mr. Yee, a powerful political figure who works for the Japanese occupational government.
Wong Chia Chi earlier in her life fell in love with the theater, so that now, at the cost of her own life, she acts out in reality her stage role in a treacherous spy ring of wartime Shanghai. Chia Chi spends her days mixing with high-societal ladies who spend most of their time discussing jewelery and mah-jong. Occasionally she meets Mr. Yee for romantic reasons. Her real aim, her task, though is to lure Mr. Yee to a place where he can be assassinated. At the last moment she changes her mind, warns him and saves his life only to loose hers in the end.
While the prose is easy without being overly poetic I never really cared for any of the characters, no emotions were kindled nor any resonance evoked. There were far too many characters in this short novella and even while writing this review, I’m struggling to remember their names.
The plot, as an idea, is a good one but the handywork leaves much to be wished for. There is no suspense, no drive, the whole thing is quite boring to read. Suspicion about the publication sets in, all the pretty word hype accompanying the publishing of this novella seem now, after having read the book, just that: empty words meant to promote the book after the movie by Ang Lee, which is based on the story, was met with approval and success.
I was not gripped.
I do understand, though how Ang Lee the film director, could make a good movie out of this foundation. There is much to find, fill out and explore in the concept, in the idea of the story. The novella did not exploit these possibilities and thus made only a meager construct. Luckily it was a very short novella.
#robertfaeth, #painterinBerlin, #painting, #art, #bookblog, #bookreviews, #literaturelover, #poem, #poetry
No comments:
Post a Comment