With Death of a Red Heroine, author Qiu Xiaolong stepped away from published poetry to write a detective novel - apparently a very popular type of book in modern China. The author has received acclaim for the novel, and I've read many good reviews of the book. Detective novels are not generally my style, and this one meets many common shortfalls - the book is longer than the story, the mystery is simple to solve, and most characters are poorly developed.
Still, if you enjoy a good crime novel, I would recommend this book on two counts.
First, although most of his characters are poorly developed, the two main characters are quite interesting. Chief Inspector Chen and his assistant Detective Yu are both realistic and well developed characters living realistic and different lives in modern China.
Second, and my reason for reading the book, is Xiaolong's masterful portrayal of modern Shanghai. The book is set in Shanghai in the early 90s, and although many things have changed over the past 15 years, many of Xiaolong's descriptions are dead on. To quote the website cited above:
"Set in Shanghai in the 1990s, Death of a Red Heroine is replete with the smells, the sights, and the sounds of this great Chinese city: a former brothel quarter has been converted to work-unit dormitories where none of the residents will take responsibility for cleaning the bathrooms; on the overcrowded buses, people's tempers are short; little neighborhood restaurants serve delicious fried buns; and as they practice tai chi along the city's elegant Bund, local residents ignore the crowds of tourists and financiers passing by."
For an accurate portrayal of the city we've moved to, viewed through very different eyes from my own, I recommend this book.
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