Yzabel / September 30, 2013

Quin’s Shanghai Circus by Edward Whittemore

My rating: [rating=4]

Summary:

Quin, born in China and raised in the Bronx, is orphaned in the closing days of the Second World War when his parents go missing and are presumed dead in Shanghai. Years later, in a Bronx bar, Quin encounters a stranger who hints that he can uncover the secrets of his past by accompanying Big Gobi, an adult orphan too simpleminded to travel alone, on a journey to meet his guardian in Tokyo. Quin arrives in Japan determined to uncover the truth about his parents’ past, but his search soon raises more questions than answers. What are the connections between a Russian anarchist, a one-eyed baron who is head of the Japanese secret service known as the Kempeitai, and the atrocities committed during the rape of Nanking? And what does any of it have to do with Quin’s parents?

Part espionage novel and part surreal fantasy, Quin’s Shanghai Circus, the first novel by Edward Whittemore, is a remarkable and audacious literary feat. Alive with a fascinating cast of characters and equally enthralling turns of events, former CIA officer Whittemore offers readers a mesmerizing glimpse at a secret history of the twentieth century.

Review:

(I got an ebook copy from the publisher through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.)

This book was a pretty weird one, in that I couldn’t honestly tell at first whether I was liking it or not, nor where it was going. At the same time, those very impressions (or lackthereof) may be what contributed to my appreciating it in the end, as paradoxical as it sounds. Reading it, seeing the story unfold, was like working on a jigsaw puzzle whose final picture I didn’t know, yet wanted to see no matter what. I always found myself coming back to my tablet to get to the next chapter.

It’s probably not a novel for just everyone. Some of the themes it deals with expose all the crass of human nature, through conflict between Japan and China and severe misdeeds from some characters(rape, murder, mutilation…), and such scenes are often depicted in a graphic enough way to be considered as disgusting. I admit those weren’t my favourite parts.

On the other hand, what I found fascinating were the relationships fitting within each other. This is basically what the novel is about: relationships above everything else, how they got shaped through events, what led to certain people to work together or become friends or lovers… The characters often had features that made them unforgettable, even bigger than life—something that may not have been convincing in another story, but felt somehow oddly logical and normal here.

“Quin’s Shanghai Circus” is definitely a strange book, sometimes disturbing, sometimes shedding light, on the contrary, on what’s still good in humans. “Read at your own risk”, I’d say.