What do readers think of The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu? Write your own review.

The premise of the book held much promise and I eagerly awaited reading it. That said, I was disappointed. The most engaging parts were contemplating the questions of who are without language and whether a common language is important to the emotional connection with one another. However, the plot felt like a predictable soap opera,with characters I did not find believable. Indeed, the Dr.'s unprofessional behavior was so abhorrent and unlikely that it hindered my belief in the rest of the novel.

This was an interesting read however I found it to be a bit too long. The author could have shortened this story and still got her point across. I felt she went into too much detail and almost kept repeating the same things over and over only in different ways. I am glad I read the book, it just seemed a bit too long and I was thinking when is the end coming, let’s cut the on and on and get this finished up.

I can tell that Ruiyan Xu has a knack for words. Her prose creates a pleasurable read. While I can appreciate the message she is trying to create with the storyline (isolation created by language barriers, inter-personal relationships, communicating without the right words, etc.), the plot was predictable and often cheesey. It didn't read as believable when Li Jing loses his fluency in Chinese. It read as a bad sitcom. I look forward to more of Ruiyan Xu's books, but I hope that she doesn't try so hard the next time. I hope she lets the story develop and doesn't try so hard to shape it in a way that doesn't read smoothly.

I was drawn to this book by it's subject matter and location. In those aspects I was not disappointed. I was though disappointed in how slow the book started out and how when you thought it was finally going to take off it didn't.

The characters and their relationships were beautifully developed, but I never felt they grew.

The descriptions of Shanghai were enlightening and did make me want to read more.

Overall I think The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai is a good first book and I would read more by this author.

The book is haunting, sad and lovely. The descriptions of Shanghai are enlightening.

I really enjoyed the book at the beginning. It was interesting to learn about the differences in languages and about aphasia. However, I soon grew to dislike the ponderous descriptions of just about everything.

Xu brings up some interesting ideas and writes well about the claustrophobia of loneliness and the fear of a new city, a new life. The extent to which language makes the self is a fascinating topic. Yet sadly this novel doesn't work; whatever usually transforms a well-planned, sincerely conceived piece of writing into something worth finishing was missing. I only read to the end because I had agreed to write a review.

While the idea behind this novel is interesting, I found its presentation difficult to read.

The overabundant use of metaphors and similes interfered with, rather than enhanced, the flow of the story. It was also distracting, leaving the reader to wonder which was the more important - the story or the copious descriptive passages. I feel that those passages undermined the substance of the story.

It is not a book I would particularly recommend.

Reading this book is like watching a slowly sinking ship. There is an initial crisis and then the characters slowly sink into worse circumstances through their inability to deal with life changing events. I felt sorry for the characters but also frustrated with their decisions. Although the story takes place in Shanghai, there is little influence of the Chinese culture. This book could provide for interesting discussions on communication and what it means to love someone.

Other than some well-turned phrases and compelling images, I found this novel disappointing. The characters seemed unsympathetic, their actions and words weren't believable, and I didn't feel the deep sense of another culture and locale that can redeem similar otherwise faulty books for me. Throughout I kept hoping that something would click, that it would start to feel more coherent, satisfying or meaningful, but it never did. Because I did enjoy some of the language I would give this author's second novel a try, but I would be hard-pressed to recommend this one.