[.ca] Fragrant Harbour (ISBN 0771045980)

From Amazon.co.uk:
In his new novel Fragrant Harbour John Lanchester, as in his previous books, shows an impressionist's gift for adopting different voices for his narrator. The moral hedonist Tarquin Winot who tells his story in The Debt to Pleasure and the downsized suburbanite whose inner monologues provide the material for Mr Phillips could hardly be more contrasting characters, yet Lanchester makes both equally convincing. In Fragrant Harbour much of the story is told in the words of Tom Stewart, a young Englishman who sails to Hong Kong in the 1930s and ends up spending the rest of his long life there. The voice of Stewart--reserved, humane and understated--is as finely achieved as those in the earlier novels. Through his eyes we see Hong Kong's 20th-century history. The class-ridden and racially divided society of the 1930s is given the brutal awakening of the Japanese occupation. After the war, the old Hong Kong disappears and the city is transformed by economic boom and entrepreneurial energy. The approaching return of the city to mainland China brings its own problems, anxieties and upheavals. Against this backdrop, Stewart's life, and particularly his relationship with Maria, a Chinese nun he first meets as he is travelling out from England in 1935, unfolds. Lanchester intertwines personal histories and the city's history with great skill, showing how the past lives on, even in a city as resolutely modern as Hong Kong. The narrator of the book's last section, a young businessman called Matthew Ho, may be the embodiment of the new Hong Kong but, as he knows himself, his life has been decisively marked by the old. --Nick Rennison

poor writing:
A couple of interesting points about HK, but very cliched. An educated amah surprise surprise! Characters poorly developed. Dismal dialogue. Structure is good but the underlying story nothing special. There are 4 parts: - Part 1 is rubbish - you will end it hating the character and the author too. - Part 2 is much better - Part 3 - just a plot linking ploy - Part 4 - a decent ending. Could have been so much better.

Waste of Paper:
What a waste of time. Hong Kong is a wonderful place with an infinate number of stories that could have been told about it. Too bad a bad writer with no imagination chose to do it. Some of the great events of our century pass by in this book with all the feeling of a trade journal.

Stunning:
Seeing that the only previous reviewer gave it one star and I absolutely loved the book, I just had to write a review to set the record straight: This book has everything: It's very suspenseful and moving, beautifully written and I loved the structure: Four parts, each with a different narrator and different length. All interconnected, but to various degrees. When the first part finished and I realised that the next part was starting with a new character in a different period, I felt regret as I didn't want to leave the previous part. But after only a few lines I was roped in to the new story. Hong Kong and its fascinating history provides a great backdrop, but the novel is mainly about those four people, how and why they came to Hong Kong and what happens to them. I was amazed how different this book is compared to the previous novels by Lanchester ('The Debt To Pleasure' & 'Mr Phillips'). In my opinion he's getting better and better. Looking forward to his fourth. PS: I also enjoyed James Clavell's novel 'Tai-Pan' very much. If you're interested in a novel about how Hong Kong started, read that.

Noteable?:
The New York Times selected this as a notable book, but one wonders why. Cardboard characters and flat dialogue here. Starts out promising, but quickly becomes a tedious read. The author had an excess of riches to work with..afterall, Hong Kong is teeming with a richness in color & history, but he fails to bring it to life. Save your money and skip this dud.