from Dan Christmas 2016 - see inscription inside front cover ( )

This is a wonderful story of a young black musician Thomas Greene, who, in 1936, leaves the segregated USA to work in as a band leader in Shanghai. The jazz scene in Shanghai in vibrant and open and accepting to blacks. However, Thomas is unaware that war is brewing between Japan and China as well as in Europe. Soon after finding success and respect in his new home the realities of war make themselves known.

Mones has included many real historical people in her story, including musicians, politicians, key military figures and even victims of crime. She has done an extraordinary amount of research including the discovery of a long "lost" article about a Jewish Resettlement Plan that was to create a community of 100, 000 Jews on the China-Burmese border - it never came to fruition, but how fascinating!

The book also gives us insight into the Green Gang who had a strong presence in the city, the Shanghai nightlife and the Concession system of a city divided into Foreign communities- Concessions- where each country was allowed to enact their own "laws". Thomas learns which parts of the city are safe and open to him and which are dangerous - the American Concession still had racial laws! Later we see how the Japanese siege of the city impacted the lives of the differing citizens, and some of what we learn is surprising.

Communism was a new movement in China and there is a struggle between the Nationalists and the Communists as well the invading Japanese. Thomas is aware of this but we are given additional insight through the eyes of his connected friend Lin Ming and Thomas' forbidden lover. There is also another storyline involving the Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler, many of them musicians, and how Ho Feng-Shan, the Chinese Consul in Vienna saved thousands of them by writing fake visas.

Throughout the novel we are engrossed in the story of Thomas, his love of music, his struggle to stay in Shanghai, continue playing his music, keep his friends safe, keep himself safe, and finally to make difficult choices. Lovers of music will relish the descriptions of the music, the rich music scene in Shanghai and Thomas' musical growth. We also read about the food, the clothing, housing, gambling, opium, concubines, and how Thomas deals with servants, shopping and more. We learn how the Japanese "introduced" their new drug - heroin.

There are so many characters to care about in this novel, and we care about many of them. It is not a long book, but it is packed with a fascinating, moving story and an important history lesson - win-win.
( )

An interesting novel about Shanghai during the late 1930s, on the eve of World War II. Focused on a young Chinese woman who is secretly a Communist spy and a black American musician, this novel aims to bring the very diverse and multicultural Shanghai of the early 20th century to life. Interesting reading, but I had a lot of trouble getting into the story and I found the book surprisingly short for all the tangled story-lines it contained - perhaps more character development was needed? ( )

Fairly recently, I read Three Souls by Janie Change, which touched on this same time period, the 1930s through the early parts of World War II, in China. While I’ve read a lot set in that time period, the Chinese setting was almost entirely new. In addition to Three Souls, I’d read a book, The Far Side of the Sky, a couple of years ago, which is about Jewish refugees in Shanghai. Night in Shanghai takes an entirely new perspective on the war and 1930s China, and is an intensely dark and thought-provoking read.

Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions. ( )

I received a free copy of this book through Goodreads' First Reads in exchange for an honest review.

On the whole, I really enjoyed this novel. I will admit that it took me quite a while to get into. Throughout the beginning, none of the storylines really interested me and I was really lost throughout most of the narration. During this time, I felt the narration was jumpy; it would follow one character then jump to the next without much transition. Likewise, the timeline felt jumpy as the descriptions skipped from present to past and back. So to begin with I throughout it was really slow and just could not get into it.

However, about halfway through, I felt myself actually enjoying it and able to follow the characters. There are a lot of stories within the text, which can be confusing at times, but overall makes a very dynamic and interesting read. Mones provides a very in-depth look at life in Shanghai during the last 1930s and early 1940s. I loved all of the details regarding Chinese culture, language, and nightlife as well as the descriptions of American jazz in Shanghai.

I also really enjoyed the various notes of racial and ethnic discrimination (against African-Americans, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, etc.). Each character was so complex as they tried to navigate their ever-changing world. Song's character was marvelous on so many levels that she basically stole the story away from the other characters. If you need a reason to read this book, read it for Song's character and stay for everyone else's. Would definitely recommend this book; it was an excellent read once it got going. ( )