Opinions of a Wolf

Summary:
After Kristallnacht, Franz Adler, a secular Austrian Jew, is desperate to save the remaining members of his family–his daughter Hannah and sister-in-law Esther.  The only place they’re able to find letting in refugees is the relatively border-lax Shanghai.

Meanwhile, Mah Soon Yi, aka Sunny, the daughter of a Chinese doctor and American missionary, is trying to deal with the partial Japanese occupation of her home city of Shanghai while working as a nurse in one of the large hospitals and volunteering in the Jewish Refugee Hospital.

Review:
It’s difficult to review a book that the author obviously put a lot of research effort into, as well as passion for social justice, but that I just personally didn’t end up liking.  The story itself isn’t bad, if a bit far-fetched.  Clearly based in fact and solid research.  I believe the problem lies a bit in the writing.

When I read historic fiction, I like seeing history through the eyes of one person (possibly two).  It brings the huge picture you get otherwise down to a personable level.  The problem with this book is that it kind of fails to keep things at that personal level.  There’s far too much contact with actual big movers and shakers from the historic events.  How the heck is this Dr. Adler in so much contact with the Japanese and Nazi elite?  One scene like that can be quite powerful in a book, but not multiple ones.  It takes it from the realm of historic fiction to that of fantasy.

Additionally, I feel that a bit too often Kalla tells instead of shows.  Two characters will be talking about something the reader doesn’t yet know about, such as how the city of Shanghai is set up politically, and instead of putting it into the dialogue, the book just says “And then he told him about thus and such.”  That makes for dull reading.

So, really, to me, the plot itself is unique in choosing a population and area of WWII that is not written about that much.  The author clearly did his research and has a passion for the time period and issues faced by the people, but the story would be better served if it was made more about the everyman and dialogue and action were used more effectively.

Overall, this is a unique piece of historic fiction that will mainly appeal to fans of the genre looking for a new area of WWII to read about.

3 out of 5 stars

Source: Netgalley

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