Paper Butterfly [Paperback]

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Picador USA
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0330447777
• ISBN-13: 978-0330447775
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.9 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,776,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Diane was born in Beijing in 1966 and spent part of her childhood with her parents in a labour camp in a remote region of China. A graduate of Peking University, Diane joined the Student Democracy Movement and took part in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, which culminated in the massacre of hundreds of demonstrators by the People's Liberation Army. Diane has a PhD in Business Administration from Carnegie Mellon University, in the US, and was an award-winning business professor in the US and the UK for over 10 years.

Her first book, Lake With No Name, a memoir of Tiananmen and love, was published in 2003 and is reissued in 2009.
Diane is the author of two novels featuring Beijing private detective Mei Wang: The Eye of Jade (2007) and Paper Butterfly (2008). Her novels have been translated into over 20 languages.

Diane now writes full-time and lives in London.

www.dianeweiliang.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Well written and intriguing, February 4, 2009

By 

L. J. Roberts (Oakland, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paper Butterfly - A Mei Wang Mystery (Hardcover)

First Sentence: On they went, singing, "Communism is the red lantern of our heart" their voices soaring above the bitter wind.

Mei Wang, an information consultant because it is illegal to be a private investigator in China, has been hired to locate a famous starlet, Kaili. Kaili disappeared from her dressing room after a performance. In going through Kaili's things, Mei finds a delicate, intricate paper butterfly, once made as a gift to the dead, on which is the initial "L." Lin was a young man imprisoned during Tiananmen Square. The past and present, including Mei's past, must come together to solve the mystery.

It is the setting that makes this book particularly interesting. Liang conveys life in contemporary China and the contrast between those who live in the country versus the city; those who are poor versus those with money in a different culture in a way that is integral to the story and informative at the same time.

However, no matter one's socio-economic position, food plays an important role. The meals, to a Westerner, weren't always appealing, but the descriptions imparted the significance of food as part of life and hospitality.

The politics of China, past and present, were key. Seeing China from the eyes of one raised there, makes me very grateful to live here.

I don't mean to make the book sound dry; it's not at all. It is a story of family, love, misunderstandings, and politics. The story is well-plotted but very spare in style. We get to know the characters without every really knowing them at all.

The story is well-written, thoroughly intriguing, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series.