Rate this book

Papierowy Motyl (2008)

by Diane Wei Liang(Favorite Author)

3.28 of 5 Votes: 4

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Philip Wilson

series

A Mei Wang Mystery

review 1: This book is like candy that's good for you. Does such a thing exist? Maybe candy fortified with vitamins? It's a lightweight detective story that takes place in China (Beijing, mostly) from the time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests to the early 2000's. I like the way the author weaves history and social commentary into the plot and the lives of the characters. I even like the internal dialog of the narrator, as her mind drifts to other things (memories of a lost love, resentment toward her mother, sibling rivalry, regret about times past, etc), even while she's tracking down the clues to the case. I feel this book was a nice blend of detective story, chick lit, and historical fiction. Looking at the bad reviews, I think some people may have expected too much from ... morethis book? If you're looking for a lightweight and engrossing read, one that feeds you some history without making you think too much, this is perfect. :)
review 2: As I often do, I was reading another mystery novel at the same time as this one. It served to highlight how good this one really was. First, the setting was very well presented and combined modern-day quasi-capitalistic Beijing, Beijing the during the days of the Tiananmen Square uprising, and a deeper background of Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. (Indeed, the author sent part of her own childhood in a labor camp because her parents had been sentenced there by Mao's followers.)The detective in this series is wonderfully clever, independent and thoughtful and the locale is perfectly realized. This will be a favorite series. less

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