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stephashryver's review against another edition
3.0
While 3 stars is a lower rating than I'd usually give, I think it's important to point out that I did like this book. There were just some things that for me personally meant I didn't get on with it as well as I'd hoped.
The writing style was very descriptive and did capture Shanghai life and culture very vividly. Saying that, it was fairly generic and a tad bland in parts. But maybe I'm being picky.
The premise was interesting and this book had a lot of potential, but for me, it fell short.
Throughout this book, I was continually waiting for something to happen. It was very slow moving and full of back story. To put it simply, this book lacks plot. That in itself doesn't mean that it's a bad book. However, I found that I simply didn't care enough about the characters to enjoy the rest of it. Phoebe and Gary in particular felt a bit like they'd been moulded to fit stereotypes.
Gary's chapters were pretty boring, and I feel like the author was continually hitting me over the head with the "being a popstar sucks" message and there wasn't really much else to his point of view at all. To me it just lacked depth and wasn't very interesting.
SPOILERS START
Phoebe's story interested me at first. Despite her original shallowness and naivety, I liked her character. It was cool to see her attempts at and varying degrees of success with climbing the Shanghai social ladder, and I sympathised with her journey. However, she felt a bit 2D, and she really lacked character development until the final 100 pages. It felt like all her character growth was kind of squashed into that final segment, and done so in a very bizarre way that didn't really make sense. I didn't make sense to me that after all her hard work, all her lying and scheming, and all her ambition, Phoebe would just up and leave Shanghai. She finally had what she wanted, and it seemed utterly strange to me that she would give up her job at the spa and her relationship with Walter just because she got drunk and embarrassed herself. Especially because Walter clearly still wanted to be with her afterwards. Maybe she realised that lying about her past and using men to get money and privilege wasn't a fulfilling existence, and while that is important character growth, it was way too sudden, and would've been much better if it had been built up throughout. Giving up on her relationship is one thing, but giving up her job at the spa still doesn't make sense after everything she has done to get to that position.
Side note: I really loved Yanyan, and I think she was one of the best characters in the book (or at least one of my my personal favourites).
Justin's character was also disappointing. I felt like there was lots of wasted potential there. I wanted to see him get out of his depressive slump and stop hiding from society, finally able to start living his life out of his family's shadow. I kept waiting for him to make something of himself, but the aforementioned depressive slump seemed to last... the whole book, which, to me, just isn't interesting to read. That, his crush on Yinghui, and his friendship with Yanyan (which was cute I'll admit) were the only really significant parts of his story.
I think Yinghui was the best character of the main five. Honestly, she bumped this review up an extra star all on her own. I loved her and her back story, and it was really interesting to slowly uncover more of her past and see how it was affecting her. She definitely felt more real than the other characters, and her story was better fleshed out and it felt like more happened. However, as with Justin, it wasn't really resolved properly. We find out through Justin that Walter (more on him later) stabbed her in the back and that she's suffering huge financial losses. But we don't get to see her deal with that. We don't get to see her grow and make peace with what's happened. We don't get her perspective at all. Which again, is such a waste of potential. All we're left with about both her and Justin is that they're back in touch, and they're probably going to get together (it's hinted) but we don't see either of them deal with their issues or grow as characters. So much wasted potential.
As for Walter, I wasn't really sure what to think about him. He's a character who's shrouded in mystery throughout the novel, which is interesting and keeps you on your toes. The problem is that the mystery is never explained. All we know is that he's essentially corrupt and not a good guy because he rips off Yinghui. However, we never get told WHY he does what he does. We never know who he really is. All we have is that story about the run down hotel and his dad and the birds' nests, which eventually links up to Justin's past, yet we are never shown how that links to either Justin or Walter's present.
The "How to be a Five Star Billionaire," self-help style of Walter's chapters was an interesting way of approaching the book (even if I've seen it before in Moshin Hamid's How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia). It could've been interesting, but again, it wasn't really wrapped up or continued throughout the novel very well, leaving it as just another element of the book which felt unfinished and discontinued.
END SPOILERS
So I think, the three main things for me that brought this book down to three stars were:
1) It felt unfinished and the ending was unrealistic and sloppy.
2) Nothing much happened. For my personal tastes, there was too much description, although I wouldn't say that's objectively a bad thing. Often, the back story was more interesting than the current story. The past and present weren't linked together so it felt disjointed and didn't make sense. We were given a lot of tidbits which never really came to anything or linked to each other, meaning they felt like random, insignificant details.
3) The characters were two dimensional and lacked development or depth. If there was development, it felt rushed and sloppy. The characters didn't touch me emotionally. I just didn't care about them enough to enjoy it as much as I'd have liked to.
What I will say for Five Star Billionaire is that the best thing (for me) was the depiction of Shanghai life and culture. It showed the city from a lot of different perspectives and it gave me a well rounded idea of what Shanghai is like. (If only the characters were similarly fleshed out. *sigh*)
The writing style was very descriptive and did capture Shanghai life and culture very vividly. Saying that, it was fairly generic and a tad bland in parts. But maybe I'm being picky.
The premise was interesting and this book had a lot of potential, but for me, it fell short.
Throughout this book, I was continually waiting for something to happen. It was very slow moving and full of back story. To put it simply, this book lacks plot. That in itself doesn't mean that it's a bad book. However, I found that I simply didn't care enough about the characters to enjoy the rest of it. Phoebe and Gary in particular felt a bit like they'd been moulded to fit stereotypes.
Gary's chapters were pretty boring, and I feel like the author was continually hitting me over the head with the "being a popstar sucks" message and there wasn't really much else to his point of view at all. To me it just lacked depth and wasn't very interesting.
SPOILERS START
Phoebe's story interested me at first. Despite her original shallowness and naivety, I liked her character. It was cool to see her attempts at and varying degrees of success with climbing the Shanghai social ladder, and I sympathised with her journey. However, she felt a bit 2D, and she really lacked character development until the final 100 pages. It felt like all her character growth was kind of squashed into that final segment, and done so in a very bizarre way that didn't really make sense. I didn't make sense to me that after all her hard work, all her lying and scheming, and all her ambition, Phoebe would just up and leave Shanghai. She finally had what she wanted, and it seemed utterly strange to me that she would give up her job at the spa and her relationship with Walter just because she got drunk and embarrassed herself. Especially because Walter clearly still wanted to be with her afterwards. Maybe she realised that lying about her past and using men to get money and privilege wasn't a fulfilling existence, and while that is important character growth, it was way too sudden, and would've been much better if it had been built up throughout. Giving up on her relationship is one thing, but giving up her job at the spa still doesn't make sense after everything she has done to get to that position.
Side note: I really loved Yanyan, and I think she was one of the best characters in the book (or at least one of my my personal favourites).
Justin's character was also disappointing. I felt like there was lots of wasted potential there. I wanted to see him get out of his depressive slump and stop hiding from society, finally able to start living his life out of his family's shadow. I kept waiting for him to make something of himself, but the aforementioned depressive slump seemed to last... the whole book, which, to me, just isn't interesting to read. That, his crush on Yinghui, and his friendship with Yanyan (which was cute I'll admit) were the only really significant parts of his story.
I think Yinghui was the best character of the main five. Honestly, she bumped this review up an extra star all on her own. I loved her and her back story, and it was really interesting to slowly uncover more of her past and see how it was affecting her. She definitely felt more real than the other characters, and her story was better fleshed out and it felt like more happened. However, as with Justin, it wasn't really resolved properly. We find out through Justin that Walter (more on him later) stabbed her in the back and that she's suffering huge financial losses. But we don't get to see her deal with that. We don't get to see her grow and make peace with what's happened. We don't get her perspective at all. Which again, is such a waste of potential. All we're left with about both her and Justin is that they're back in touch, and they're probably going to get together (it's hinted) but we don't see either of them deal with their issues or grow as characters. So much wasted potential.
As for Walter, I wasn't really sure what to think about him. He's a character who's shrouded in mystery throughout the novel, which is interesting and keeps you on your toes. The problem is that the mystery is never explained. All we know is that he's essentially corrupt and not a good guy because he rips off Yinghui. However, we never get told WHY he does what he does. We never know who he really is. All we have is that story about the run down hotel and his dad and the birds' nests, which eventually links up to Justin's past, yet we are never shown how that links to either Justin or Walter's present.
The "How to be a Five Star Billionaire," self-help style of Walter's chapters was an interesting way of approaching the book (even if I've seen it before in Moshin Hamid's How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia). It could've been interesting, but again, it wasn't really wrapped up or continued throughout the novel very well, leaving it as just another element of the book which felt unfinished and discontinued.
END SPOILERS
So I think, the three main things for me that brought this book down to three stars were:
1) It felt unfinished and the ending was unrealistic and sloppy.
2) Nothing much happened. For my personal tastes, there was too much description, although I wouldn't say that's objectively a bad thing. Often, the back story was more interesting than the current story. The past and present weren't linked together so it felt disjointed and didn't make sense. We were given a lot of tidbits which never really came to anything or linked to each other, meaning they felt like random, insignificant details.
3) The characters were two dimensional and lacked development or depth. If there was development, it felt rushed and sloppy. The characters didn't touch me emotionally. I just didn't care about them enough to enjoy it as much as I'd have liked to.
What I will say for Five Star Billionaire is that the best thing (for me) was the depiction of Shanghai life and culture. It showed the city from a lot of different perspectives and it gave me a well rounded idea of what Shanghai is like. (If only the characters were similarly fleshed out. *sigh*)
cate_zh's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
monkeyboystiff's review against another edition
3.0
Very enjoyable to read, the language and descriptions were very laconic and relaxing. The whole "experience " was pleasant. However the plot was lacking. There was no real conclusion, and nothing that particularly tied the main characters together. I didn't really feel sense of closure or progression with them. Also SPOILER I was most dissatisfied by Yingyui being conned. How was that even possible, that someone could just take money out of a joint account. Aren't there checks in place? Was a but unbelievable.
Would be tempted to try another Tash Aw book definitely.
Would be tempted to try another Tash Aw book definitely.
sspinach's review against another edition
3.0
Interesting, inside the minds of both sides of fucked up and how they all just fuck each other up. Kind of bored throughout though
katykelly's review against another edition
5.0
Long-listed for the Man Booker, the story sounded readable. A lot this year didn't. Not having tried this author before I was dubious when seeing the length but very quickly began to enjoy the multiple-plots of the five stories meeting in Shanghai.
Despite the foreign setting, nothing about the writing or context made me feel alienated or out of my depth. The stories of country girl heading to the big city, former billionaire son and pop stars losing their fortune/celebrity, hardworking businesswoman finding her way, and the Five Star Billionaire of the title and how they all connect, was all well-written, engrossing and fascinating.
I really wish this had made the Booker shortlist and the closer I got to the ending and saw Aw's clever knotting of the stories together made me rethink the whole of the book and how the characters all connected. Very clever.
Great book, worthy of winning awards. And very readable. Don't be put off by the setting or the award tag. Good payoff.
Despite the foreign setting, nothing about the writing or context made me feel alienated or out of my depth. The stories of country girl heading to the big city, former billionaire son and pop stars losing their fortune/celebrity, hardworking businesswoman finding her way, and the Five Star Billionaire of the title and how they all connect, was all well-written, engrossing and fascinating.
I really wish this had made the Booker shortlist and the closer I got to the ending and saw Aw's clever knotting of the stories together made me rethink the whole of the book and how the characters all connected. Very clever.
Great book, worthy of winning awards. And very readable. Don't be put off by the setting or the award tag. Good payoff.
shadowsmoon's review against another edition
1.0
I gave up on this book on p. 236 when I just couldn't stand not knowing where it was going anymore...and having no interest in the characters at all I'm left wondering what the heck was the point. It put me off reading for weeks :-/
newson66's review against another edition
3.0
Five emotionally stunted characters attempt to find a semblance of meaning in their hugely differing lives in a transient Shanghai.
I'm not entirely sure what stopped me throughly enjoying this book, it had the potential to go on to great things but somehow just didn't - rather like the emotionally neutered characters that fail to connect or engage with their lives.
I'm not entirely sure what stopped me throughly enjoying this book, it had the potential to go on to great things but somehow just didn't - rather like the emotionally neutered characters that fail to connect or engage with their lives.
coffeemybook's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
A solid 2 stars right till the revelation at the end, and the solemn ending
alisonjfields's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty great bordering on brilliant. Great language, mostly wonderful characters. Could have been a Five Star Book, but for one character whose story seemed tacked on to the rest for reasons I could not quite figure. That said, it offers plenty of insight and reads breathless as a guilty pleasure.
As a sidenote: it did not particularly inspire any new desire to visit Shanghai, though I am now very curious about Velvet Underground-listening hipsters in Kuala Lumpur.
As a sidenote: it did not particularly inspire any new desire to visit Shanghai, though I am now very curious about Velvet Underground-listening hipsters in Kuala Lumpur.
bboduffy's review against another edition
5.0
I asked my Singaporean coworker to recommend some books that captured the Malaysian contemporary lit genre and cultural experience. The character-centered plot of this Tash Aw novel seemed like a great starting place.
It was far darker than I'd anticipated, with a tonality evocative of [a:Haruki Murakami|3354|Haruki Murakami|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1470611596p2/3354.jpg]. It shared similarities with Western novels in this genre, introspection, loneliness, social performance - but the internal monologues of the characters differed in ways that are difficult to articulate. The description of work ethic - almost merciless - and the motivations for material gain stood out.
I've always imagined the U.S. to be the embodiment of capitalism with our economy of Disneyfication, but the pursuit of luxury goods and luxury experiences was a key driver throughout this text. It reminded me of [b:The White Tiger|1768603|The White Tiger|Aravind Adiga|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347754998s/1768603.jpg|1766737], another book she had recommended. In that book, the narrator was also highly fixated on these external indicators of wealth.
Guess I'll just have to read more novels from these regions to see if it is a sampling bias and/or what other themes emerge in the APAC contemporary lit space.
It was far darker than I'd anticipated, with a tonality evocative of [a:Haruki Murakami|3354|Haruki Murakami|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1470611596p2/3354.jpg]. It shared similarities with Western novels in this genre, introspection, loneliness, social performance - but the internal monologues of the characters differed in ways that are difficult to articulate. The description of work ethic - almost merciless - and the motivations for material gain stood out.
I've always imagined the U.S. to be the embodiment of capitalism with our economy of Disneyfication, but the pursuit of luxury goods and luxury experiences was a key driver throughout this text. It reminded me of [b:The White Tiger|1768603|The White Tiger|Aravind Adiga|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347754998s/1768603.jpg|1766737], another book she had recommended. In that book, the narrator was also highly fixated on these external indicators of wealth.
Guess I'll just have to read more novels from these regions to see if it is a sampling bias and/or what other themes emerge in the APAC contemporary lit space.