My favorite part of the book--that's the author on the front cover
The Concubine of Shanghai by Hong Ying tells an age old “beach read” story–truly deprived girl makes good but the cost is high. It even has a fairly common Asian twist, the girl is sold to a brothel owner and starts as a prostitute. Cassia works as a servant in the Duchess Pavilion, the best whorehouse in Shanghai, and the leader of the Hong Brotherhood (presumably the powerful Triad, it’s never fully explained) falls for her unbound feet and breasts and her feisty attitude. Their torrid romance is cut short when he is brutally murdered. With Cassia’s support gone, she eventually re-makes herself as the leader of an acting troupe. The new Triad leader notices her and as his mistress she rises once again to prosperity. To the extent we all like stories that sweep us away, Hong Ying provides moments of that, but it feels like Judith Krantz Chinese style.
While the book quotes the New York Times describing Hong Ying as “a raw and powerful writer,” I think the reviewer was reading another book or the translation was bad. As Claire discussed in last week’s Translated Tuesday post, sometimes reading translated books can feel alienating and it’s hard to know if it’s the intent of the writer, or if the writing just isn’t as good as it could be, or if it’s the translation. Here, I suspect there is enough blame to go around. Awkward phrasing is clearly the responsibility of the translator, especially when the word “the” is missing or when there is a direct translation of the words but the meaning is lost. At one point in the book, the author pokes fun at a speech by the American ambassador saying “his pronunciation was good, but the words he used were too formal, causing Read the rest of this entry »
Claire
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