I always enjoy a good historical fiction novel and I always end up reading those about World War II. Weina Dai Randel’s The Last Rose of Shanghai has been on my TBR since late 2021, but I never picked it up, although I really wanted to do so. Clearly I was on a cleaning my Kindle spree in March, because I finally picked thisolder title up. Was this as interesting as the blurb promised it to be?

About the book

The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel
Published by Lake Union Publishing on December 1, 2021
Pages: 412
ISBN: 9781542032872
Genres: Adult, Historical fiction
Rating: 3/5

In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music…

1940. Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi’s club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz―but their differences seem insurmountable, and Aiyi is engaged to another man.

As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever.

From the electrifying jazz clubs to the impoverished streets of a city under siege, The Last Rose of Shanghai is a timeless, sweeping story of love and redemption.

My review

Before reading

This book initially piqued my interest as I saw it somewhere, although I for the life of me can’t remember where. However, the blurb sounds like something that would suit my reading preferences very well, so I naturally had to buy this book, only to kind of forget about it. It surfaced in my mind when I was considering what to read next, but I never followed up on it. It made it to multiple list posts here on the blog though, so it wasn’t totally forgotten. It took me five years to pick it up in the end, so I went into it with not many expectations. Alas, I bought this book on a whim and this often is a hit or miss situation for me.

Characters

We meet two characters here: the Chinese Aiyi and the jewish Ernest who seeks refuge in Shanghai from the Nazi regime in Germany. Their paths cross and this is the start of a strong bond. However, the odds are against them, because many people in Shanghai are wary of foreigners. Many get tolerated, but it’s hard to get by in this city. Mind you, the Japanese are conquering Asia already and Shanghai is slowly falling under Japanese occupation in this period of time. As we read from both character’s POV, we get to know the story from both sides. Their common ground is their mutual love and passion for jazz and whereas this is an important part of the first half of the story, the focus slowly but steadily shifts to their differences in culture, background and wealth as well as their struggles to survive in occupied Shanghai. Both Aiyi and Ernest are resilient and find a way to get by, but apart from that, they happen not to be too interesting. I miss some more depth to their character arcs to be able to empathize with them. Now they are just passers-by in another book, but don’t stick. This might be different for others though, but this is solely how I feel.

Writing

Dai Randel’s writing is smooth and accessible. I hardly read historical fiction books in English, so this made me a bit reluctant to pick this one up as well. What if my fluency in this language wasn’t sufficient enough to understand this story and get lost in it? This happened to be a worry for nothing, because I understood it perfectly fine. I was interested and curious from start to finish. The constant POV switching and short chapters is what kept me hooked onto this book and what made me able to finish it pretty quickly, together with the story itself of course.

Plot

Speaking of which, this plot was predictable, but interesting. Not in the first place because I never picked up a book set in Shanghai during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Most books about WWII focus on Europe and how the war affected this continent, so we tend to forget that there was happening a lot in Asia as well. This book painted a picture of what the Japanese occupation looked like and this was brutal. As stated before, there is a clear shift in focus. Whereas music always will be of importance to Aiyi and Ernest somehow, this was only a part of this story in the first half of the book. Focus has shifted for multiple reasons, which is very logical considering the time frame. Gradually, the events started to unfold in a predictable manner, which made me loose interest a bit, but I was still captivated enough to finish this novel within a day or two.

Final thoughts

Although expected, but The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel was indeed a book I enjoyed. I left it on the shelf for too long, but my worries were for nothing. Main characters Aiyi and Ernest are written well, which really showcases their different circumstances and backgrounds. However, these characters don’t truly stick, which is a bit unfortunate. The writing is what worried me the most as I hardly read historical fiction in English, but due to the smooth writing and not too difficult language, I was able to easily digest this novel. The setting of this historical fiction was interesting as well as I never read a book set in Asia during WWII. However, the story unfolds a bit predictably, which is both logical and a pity. Still, I would recommend this book to everyone who is looking for a story about some reselient characters, and to the ones who are interested in WWII novels set in Asia.