Author: Weina Dai Randel
Who Picked the Book: Christina
One-sentence summary: A Shanghai woman meets a Jewish man and falls in love with him, complicating their lives during a very violent and troubling time of WWII and the Japanese occupation.
B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 7
Our favorite thing about it: Another WWII book with another perspective!
Our least favorite thing about it: Didn't feel connected to the main character.
Main Topics of Discussion: War, Shanghai, Love, Relationships
Our favorite quote: “We were what the tangle of the past made us, which trapped us, forcing us to be ensnared in a future we could never be set free from.”
Notes: Overall we liked this book, but we all agreed that it was a little hard to read. It was sad and depressing the whole time and never got better. We did like the (yet again) new perspective on WWII from Shanghai with details of what it was like after the Japanese took over. All of that was interesting...and sad. One of the unfortunate things was that we didn't really care about Miriam, the main character. We didn't quite connect with her so it was hard to really care about what happened to her. We felt like the romance was rushed a little bit and some characters (as well as the romance) lacked development. The ending, which we also felt had a fast pace, was a bit predictable.
Memorable Meeting Moments: Christina treated us to a hibachi dinner (lacking any good Chinese restaurants nearby) and we also tried a new-to-us place, Better Than Sex desserts, which was an experience!
What We Ate: Almost all of us had the filet with fried rice for dinner, and we all got different desserts.
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