Shanghai Girl [Paperback]

Vivian Yang (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2001

"A new voice from Shanghai." -- The Hong Kong Standard

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hard to put down once you've picked it up ... Yang masterly transports the living onto the page in a way that's sure to make any writer jealous and any reader sit up and take notice."                                    -- Blogcritics.org

"Compelling story ... Fiercely feminine voice ... Strong language ... Great description ... Inherently fascinating locale ... Very likable narrator ... A pleasure to read." --The New Jersey State Council on the Arts

"Another 'Tale of Two Cities' (Shanghai and New York)." --The Sampan, Boston

"(Yang is a) Shanghai success ... Shanghai Girl is a fascinating consideration of how people of different cultures interact and a study of how people behave when they are living in the midst of a foreign society."  --EVE Magazine

"Shanghai Girl - a feat in itself." --HK Magazine

From the Author

"Yang brings with her an expanded array of journeys and experiences, reflective of not only a changing America, but also of a world in transition." -- The Museum of Chinese in America

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 306 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corp (June 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738847968
• ISBN-13: 978-0738847962
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,262,413 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Publishers Weekly's review describes Vivian Yang's novel Memoirs of a Eurasian as "an engaging exploration of a world unknown to most Westerners. Yang navigates Hong Kong and the insular Chinese world of Shanghai with equal ease, convincingly charting the protagonist's life from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. ... Readers will find this fascinating novel very enjoyable and readable." Of Shanghai Girl, Vivian's critically acclaimed debut novel, JADE Magazine writes: "From the streets of old Shanghai to a feast of monkey brains, Yang scripts scenarios that readers may otherwise never experience for themselves." Born and raised in Shanghai where she taught English and journalism in a university in her early twenties, Vivian writes passionately about her beloved city, drawing on first-hand experiences, knowledge, and insight that only a native can possess.

Vivian was a top winner of The 2007 WNYC Leonard Lopate Essay Contest,a Woolrich Writing Fund Scholar and a Writing Program Scholar at Columbia University where she studied creative writing, a Tuition Scholar of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, and a Literature Fellow of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Visit www.VivianYang.net, start a discussion on this "Vivian Yang Page" on Amazon, join the Shanghai Girl Page on Facebook, and follow Vivian on Twitter @ ShanghaiGirlUsa.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Shanghai to New York, October 28, 2001

By 

Marinilka Kimbro (Madrid, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shanghai Girl (Paperback)

This is the kind of book that you will start and finish in a few hours. Fast, dynamic, intense and exquisitely written.
Yang introduces a new theme that many have yearned for. She gives the reader a glimpse of the glorious Shanghai days before the Cultural Revolution, through the eyes of Sha Fei, the daughter of one of the long forgotten aristocratic families of the old Shanghai:
"Images of the house remain in my head like snapshots- the red tiles on tapered roof, the gray steel window frames shipped in from Lyons when the house was built, fourteen foot ceilings, French windows opening to a verandah, the fenced in garden with Chinese parasol trees and a rose bush."
I particularly enjoyed the first part of the book in which Yang explores old and new Shanghai in great detail.
Bund bound...
Great work.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shanghai Girl, August 23, 2001

By 

Virginia C. Heyler (Missoula, MT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shanghai Girl (Paperback)

I have just finished reading Vivian Yang's, Shanghai Girl, and am amazed that it is the first novel of a young woman for whom English is a second language! Her use of idioms and slang are remarkable. She also has an excellent grasp of life, customs and politics in America. It is a very good read which opens the eyes of its readers to the incredible struggle that immigrants to our country must face when they leave their homelands to seek "a better life". My hat is off to all those whose intelligence, determination and drive lead them to the realization of their dream -- and this includes Sha-fei AND Vivian Yang!

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just another soap opera, December 20, 2011

By 

Susan K. Erickson "Sue Kay" (Seattle WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shanghai Girl (Kindle Edition)

This booklet never really got off the ground for me. It's to short and could have been much better if their was more to it. I waisted my free Prime borrowed book for the month on it. Not worth it. Try Lisa See's books or Amy Tan, much better story and characters.