Customer Reviews

Journey from Shanghai

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A richly written story that focuses on Rafaella Bardini and Stefano Chang, both with Chinese mothers and non-Chinese fathers, and Rafaella's mother Mai-yeen. Covering a handful of years, from their leaving Shanghai aboard ship, to their arrival in Italy, and the gradual changes that shape not only the three central figures but also a cast of wonderfully well-drawn secondary characters. Bellucci manages to evoke the essence of the places she describes--Shanghai, Catania, Rome, Hong Kong--and to flesh them out with perfectly placed bits of detail, flashes of street scenes; aromas of food, of incense; a splash of color here, a gust of wind there. This is good writing, marred only by less than good proofreading. But even so, an enormously compelling novel that positively begs for a sequel.
Highly recommended.