My Review of Joseph Kanon's "Shanghai"

 Shanghai Dreams, Shanghai Nightmares

 

This is the third historical novel by Joseph Kanon I have reviewed. (See: Shulmaven: My Amazon Review of Joseph Kanon's "Defectors: A Novel" and Shulmaven: My Amazon Review of Joseph Kanon's "Leaving Berlin: A Novel" )  Here the scene shifts from Europe to Asia where journalist Daniel Lohr is escaping 1939 Berlin via first class passage from Trieste to Shanghai. We learn later that Lohr had ties to the Comintern which would become useful. On the ship he as an affair with Leah Auerbach, another Jewish escapee from Vienna. Auerbach is received in Shanghai by a Jewish welfare agency aiding refugees from Europe. Also, on the boat was a Col. Yamada, a member of the Japanese secret police. We will see much more of him as the novel progresses.

 

Lohr’s trip was financed by his Uncle Nathan, a mobster from Berlin and the United States. He bailed from the U.S. after crossing the Mafia. Uncle Nathan puts Daniel in charge of running his new casino, The Gold Rush. He soon realizes that Nathan has partnered with two rival Chinese gangs in this venture that would ultimately put him in a crossfire.

 

As with his other novels Kanon gives us a real feel for the smells and the depravity of Shanghai as the international concessions await the full occupation of the Japanese. We also get a sense of the intrigue between the Japanese, the gangs, Chiang Kai-Shek’s government, and the rising communist movement. As with his other novels, Kanon tells the story with style and grace.