Overall Rating
3
out of 5
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At Last, The Mysteries of China
Date: July 2, 2009
This review is for the
Print
format.
"My first encounter with Diane Wei Liang was when her first mystery in the series of Mei Wang arrived on the shelves. I never got to read The Eye of Jade, the first in what promises to be a unique series, however the premise teased me and never quite left me alone. When Paper Butterfly arrived in my hands, I was thrilled that my chance had finally arrived to devour Liang’s work.
I’ll admit first that I don’t read much mystery, but certainly not for lack of interest. So, I was conflicted with my review of Paper Butterfly. It was fascinating to learn about another culture through a novel, especially with the limitations of that culture pressing up against Mei (private detectives are not allowed in China. She has to call it an ‘information consultancy’.) However, Mei Wang’s presence as the leading character dragged the story down with her disappointing lack of personality. The only places where a real dynamic emotion revealed itself were where she was exposed to her family, and her incapacitated assistant. She spends time in the middle of the book doting on the Tienanmen Square incident as well, and thus becomes attached to Kaili’s long lost lover over the generation they share. She handles the incident itself, however, as an objective and cold professional. Which, while realistic, isn’t very interesting and leads the reader to also keep distant from the case. It seems that her development was kept to a minimum in this novel, considering the things she mentions that took place in the previous one. Instead, all of her development was given to the case.
That said, I found the novel fascinating largely because it was a snippet in time,. It was what happened in Mei’s life over the time she was working on this case as a still-somewhat-green private detective. It felt like things that happened in the first book really took a toll on Mei, and that other things that will occur in subsequent books may draw further upon what took place in Paper Butterfly. I suspect Kaili’s lover will make a reappearance in the future, thus making this book more relevant to the whole of the series and Mei’s eventual development. Or so I hope.
All in all, I actually can’t decide how I feel about the novel. The story was interesting, but the main character was not. The writing was simple and streamlined, but also lacking for just that reason. I’m giving Paper Butterfly a 3/5. I will pick up the next volume in the series because I would like to see where she’s going, but I won’t go much further if she disappoints."
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