Aiyi isn't a likeable character. While she should have been inspirational by virtue of being a successful business owner in a patriarchal world, she is shown as selfish, judgemental, and short-sighted. She doesn't shy away from flaunting the rewards of her wealth, and looks down on those who are careless about their appearance. This adds a nice challenge to the story: how to be patient with a character who gets on your nerves. The book can be called a coming-of-age story, with Aiyi's character as the lynchpin.

In Japanese-occupied Shanghai, two people from different cultures are drawn together by fate and the freedom of music… Aiyi Shao is a young heiress and the owner of a formerly popular and glamorous Shanghai nightclub. Ernest Reismann is a penniless Jewish refugee driven out of Germany, an outsider searching for shelter in a city wary of strangers. He loses nearly all hope until he crosses paths with Aiyi. When she hires Ernest to play piano at her club, her defiance of custom causes a sensation. His instant fame makes Aiyi's club once again the hottest spot in Shanghai. Soon they realize they share more than a passion for jazz—but their differences seem insurmountable, and Aiyi is engaged to another man.

Who Will Enjoy This Book?

As the war escalates, Aiyi and Ernest find themselves torn apart, and their choices between love and survival grow more desperate. In the face of overwhelming odds, a chain of events is set in motion that will change both their lives forever. A very successful and transporting novel that beautifully captures the sounds, smells, and social mores of seventh-century China.” — Historical Novels Review (Editors’ Choice)

A classic study detailing Shanghai’s interwar cosmopolitanism, modernity and urban style. Ou-fan Lee looks at the work of six writers of the time, including Shi Zhecun, Mu Shiying and Eileen Chang, as well as commenting on Shanghai’s vibrant movie studios and publishing industry. He shows that Shanghai’s modernity, while intrinsically Chinese and profoundly anomalous, mixed easily with new ideas into the “treaty port” from the west to create the unique haipai avant garde culture of Shanghai. Well, I’ve already written I’m not a great fan of World War 2 fiction. But if you are, then chances are good you’ll like The Last Rose of Shanghai. Especially if you want something from outside of Europe. Jewish people certainly had a terrible time of things in the 1930s and 1940s. So, if you like stories where the Jewish people don’t all end up dead in a concentration camp, this book might look good to you. Another attraction is the setting in Shanghai. In part, books exist to take readers to unfamiliar places, and 1930s Shanghai will be unfamiliar to most readers. In a Nutshell: First half pretty good, second half is a cheesy, corny mash. Offers a decent look at Shanghai during WWII, but the romantic relationship overshadows the war story.Weina Dai Randel's poignant, sweeping love story paints a vibrant portrait of a little-known slice of World War II history. Not to be missed!" ―Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Huntress The Last Rose of Shanghai vividly depicts the clash of East and West as Jewish refugees flee Hitler’s Berlin for faraway Shanghai, where they struggle to survive amid the uneasy coexistence of Chinese magnates and Japanese invaders. Sophisticated heiress Aiyi knows she is taking a risk when she hires Jewish pianist Ernest to play jazz in her nightclub, but she has no idea she will be risking her heart, her family, and everything she holds dear as forbidden love blossoms and Japan’s hold on her beloved home city tightens. Weina Dai Randel’s poignant, sweeping love story paints a vibrant portrait of a little-known slice of World War II history. Not to be missed!” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Huntress In recreating the bloody events of the suppression of the Communist party in Shanghai in 1927, Malraux wrote the best novel about interwar Shanghai. His cast of characters – both Chinese and foreign – reflect the city’s cosmopolitan population and its Jekyll and Hyde politics of being both a centre of rightwing bootstraps capitalism and the birthplace of the Chinese Communist party.