I picked up "Midnight in Peking" a few weeks ago when I was preparing to fly back home from visiting my parents. I was in Barnes and Noble panicking because I needed books (in case the plane crashed and I survived by floating on my seat cushion I would need something to read). I also barely had any room left in my backpack so I was looking for paperbacks that would easily fit in the minuscule amount of space. So as I wandered around the two floors packed with books my requirements were pretty loose. "Midnight in Peking" was sitting on a nice display table, the cover looked interesting (I know I know I shouldn't pick a book by the cover-but everyone does it they just won't admit it) and it fit in my backpack. I was sold!
"Midnight in Peking" tells the story of Pamela Werner, a British subject, and her unsolved murder in 1937 Peking. I had an early morning flight so I planned on sleeping the whole time, but once I started reading I couldn't put the book down. When we landed in Chicago my seatmate had to remind me to get off the plane since I was lost in Peking. I spent my four hour layover at O'Hare curled up in a hard gate side seat reading the book and avoiding the wonders of the Chicago airport (like Nuts On Clark, the Field Museum store and the fancy chocolate shop). I barely had the attention span to gobble down a sandwich from Brioche Doree (by the way it comes highly recommended if you're in the mood for a delicious yet overpriced sandwich).
I got home and I had many pressing obligations, like a work meeting and unpacking my luggage but I blew them off to keep reading (well not the work meeting, just the unpacking part). To make it short and sweet "Midnight in Peking" was one of the best books I've read in my life. It's history told in a novel format and it's compelling. French takes the reader back to Peking in 1937 and thoroughly explores the politics that made Peking such a interesting and deadly city. He manages to weave the politics into the narrative of the story so it doesn't overwhelm the reader with too much complex political discourse. Pamela Werner was a young woman coming into adulthood and exploring her adopted city. She was there with her father, a staunch academic with a mysterious past and Pamela herself was forming her own secrets. She turns up murdered and French walks us though the slipshod investigation and then presents his own theory (which is the result of his discovery of papers belonging to Pamela's father).
Through the investigation into Pamela's murder French explores the Badlands of Peking, a tangled web of cheap restaurants, brothels and drug dens that butted up to the Legation Quarter, home to the foreigners of Peking. Many of the colorful characters that inhabited the Badlands pop up throughout the mystery surrounding Pamela's death. French decided to expand on these characters by releasing the companion book "The Badlands"
"The Badlands" covers characters that were touched on briefly in "Midnight in Peking" like Shura (the hermaphrodite pimp), Peggy and Marie (White Russian prostitutes) and a variety of others who were affected by the Badlands and their eventual downfall under Japanese occupation. French is able to go into more detail that he was able to in "Midnight in Peking" yet it is not nearly enough detail. The book is only 83 short pages and it could have been much much longer. Many of the stories just seem to end without a clear conclusion and the stories really seem like short autobiographies. It's really just an overview of their lives and French doesn't explore them in depth. These characters have such fascinating stories that more detail would have only served to make the book more interesting.
I'll readily admit that I'll read even the most dry historical tome quite happily, but I'm reluctant to pick up a historical novelization because I hate the inaccuracy of facts that tends to occur when people try to make history more interesting and make it come alive (which is why I've never made it past the opening credits of Titanic). "Midnight in Peking" and "The Badlands" read like novels but stay true to the facts at least for the most part. French does throw in his own conjecture fairly often (which seems to happen in "The Badlands" more; probably because they are shady characters and their history gets lost to time). I like the fact that "The Badlands" includes a map, something that would have been more helpful when I was reading "Midnight in Peking" (it's difficult to put places on a map of a town you've never seen while reading about them). However, "Midnight in Peking" gets the highest praise because my mom read it (who openly admits she hates anything to do with history-I mailed it to her and guilted her into reading it) and she absolutely adored it.
Overall "Midnight in Peking" gets a 5/5
"The Badlands" gets a 4/5 solely because the length is so short and the stories aren't explored in depth. It seems to be designed to leave you wanting more (probably to sell more copies of "Midnight in Peking") and that irked me. It was like sitting down to eat dinner and only getting dessert; while dessert is awesome you still need some protein to offset the sugar. (FYI I'm sitting on the couch watching Psych and eating cake for dinner; all the sugar is leading me to rant about ridiculous things).
The book itself has a website with a very cool interactive map and a cast of characters among other nifty things. http://us.midnightinpeking.com/
I got home and I had many pressing obligations, like a work meeting and unpacking my luggage but I blew them off to keep reading (well not the work meeting, just the unpacking part). To make it short and sweet "Midnight in Peking" was one of the best books I've read in my life. It's history told in a novel format and it's compelling. French takes the reader back to Peking in 1937 and thoroughly explores the politics that made Peking such a interesting and deadly city. He manages to weave the politics into the narrative of the story so it doesn't overwhelm the reader with too much complex political discourse. Pamela Werner was a young woman coming into adulthood and exploring her adopted city. She was there with her father, a staunch academic with a mysterious past and Pamela herself was forming her own secrets. She turns up murdered and French walks us though the slipshod investigation and then presents his own theory (which is the result of his discovery of papers belonging to Pamela's father).
Through the investigation into Pamela's murder French explores the Badlands of Peking, a tangled web of cheap restaurants, brothels and drug dens that butted up to the Legation Quarter, home to the foreigners of Peking. Many of the colorful characters that inhabited the Badlands pop up throughout the mystery surrounding Pamela's death. French decided to expand on these characters by releasing the companion book "The Badlands"
"The Badlands" covers characters that were touched on briefly in "Midnight in Peking" like Shura (the hermaphrodite pimp), Peggy and Marie (White Russian prostitutes) and a variety of others who were affected by the Badlands and their eventual downfall under Japanese occupation. French is able to go into more detail that he was able to in "Midnight in Peking" yet it is not nearly enough detail. The book is only 83 short pages and it could have been much much longer. Many of the stories just seem to end without a clear conclusion and the stories really seem like short autobiographies. It's really just an overview of their lives and French doesn't explore them in depth. These characters have such fascinating stories that more detail would have only served to make the book more interesting.
I'll readily admit that I'll read even the most dry historical tome quite happily, but I'm reluctant to pick up a historical novelization because I hate the inaccuracy of facts that tends to occur when people try to make history more interesting and make it come alive (which is why I've never made it past the opening credits of Titanic). "Midnight in Peking" and "The Badlands" read like novels but stay true to the facts at least for the most part. French does throw in his own conjecture fairly often (which seems to happen in "The Badlands" more; probably because they are shady characters and their history gets lost to time). I like the fact that "The Badlands" includes a map, something that would have been more helpful when I was reading "Midnight in Peking" (it's difficult to put places on a map of a town you've never seen while reading about them). However, "Midnight in Peking" gets the highest praise because my mom read it (who openly admits she hates anything to do with history-I mailed it to her and guilted her into reading it) and she absolutely adored it.
Overall "Midnight in Peking" gets a 5/5
"The Badlands" gets a 4/5 solely because the length is so short and the stories aren't explored in depth. It seems to be designed to leave you wanting more (probably to sell more copies of "Midnight in Peking") and that irked me. It was like sitting down to eat dinner and only getting dessert; while dessert is awesome you still need some protein to offset the sugar. (FYI I'm sitting on the couch watching Psych and eating cake for dinner; all the sugar is leading me to rant about ridiculous things).
The book itself has a website with a very cool interactive map and a cast of characters among other nifty things. http://us.midnightinpeking.com/
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Up Next: "The Empty Glass" by J.I. Baker
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