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Title: World of Suzie Wong by Richard Mason ISBN: 0-00-612107-1 Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 1969 Format: Paperback |
Average Customer Rating: 4.5 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A surprise
Comment: This was a far better book than I thought it would be. I recalled vaguely the rather anaemic film of the same name, and thought that if it was different from the film, a novel of this vintage, with a story line about a Hong Kong prostitute, would be a sickly romantic fantasy, pulling all its punches.
The novel is a romance, telling of the growing relationship between the British painter Robert Lomax and the prostitute Wong Mee-ling ("Suzie Wong"). However, it contains much of interest despite the fact that one could be hyper-critical and question the plausibility and originality of the plot. Small sections of the writing are very below par - I thought the court scene in particular was very poor.
On the positive side (which outweighs the negative, in my opinion) the world of Hong Kong prostitutes is depicted in a sympathetic but not a naive way: the sense of hopelessness, brutality, disease, violence, poverty, and exploitation are all covered. Men too are treated sympathetically, but by no means uncritically. All of the male characters are lonely and inadequate - one (the American, Rodney Tessler) is seriously unhinged, even dangerous - another is manipulative and pathetic (the married Briton, Ben Jeffcoat). Mason does not spare the British expatriates and colonial adminsitrators - their petty class-consciousness and overt racism are depicted graphically.
In spite of the flaws I mentioned above, I thought that Mason's writing was on the whole stylish and controlled - it held my attention throughout.
Rating: 4
Summary: Evoking a time and place despite cliched tale
Comment: Read this book not for its story but for its descriptions. The "hooker with a heart of gold" is arguably the oldest and most flailed to death device in Western literature. It's a trope all the more stale when told through the eyes of the chivalrous man who saves the sweet girl from her sordid fate.
However, "The World of Suzie Wong" is worth the read not for its obviously silly plot but rather for its amazing descriptions of Hong Kong, from the seedy Wan Chai to the sophisticated snobbery of the Peak, in the 1950s. With its detail of chaotic streets, lecherous sailors, and the noble [people] themselves, it's less a bird's eye view of the port city than a roach's perspective, but sometimes the roach gets a more accurate portrait than the bird.
Mason has a meticulous eye for detail, and that's what has made the book a classic. The minitae of outfit and carraige, the lighting and seats at a late night restaurant, the layout of a shop window, the drinks and predjudices at a cocktail party...these are the things that old Hong Kong alive to the reader.
Credit is also due to the author for mostly avoiding, and often forthrightly criticizing, the racism of the time. The book works ultimately because Suzie is a multi-demensional character, not a characature of the Chinese Doll. She's not even sympathetic much of the time, although we're made to understand what the narrator sees in her.
Ultimately, what matters of this book is not Suzie Wong herself, but the world she inhabited, and which we get to visit for a few brief hours.
Rating: 5
Summary: A Perfect Novel
Comment: I have never read, nor ever expect to read a novel as beautiful as this one. The World of Suzie Wong reads like pure song. Richard Mason takes an oftentimes tawdry subject matter and delivers a charming novel. If any novel could be classified as poetry, this novel would qualify. Upon completion the reader will feel as though he or she has just finished the most satisfying of meals, complete with dessert, cigar, and cognac. This is one that you will return to again and again; it will never let you down. I can not recommend it enough.
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Title: The Flower Drum Song by C. Y. Lee ISBN: 0142002186 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: M Butterfly by David Henry Hwang ISBN: 0452272599 Publisher: Plume Books Pub. Date: 01 February, 1994 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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