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When Red is Black Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of When Red is Black




Soho, Jul 2004, 25.00, 320 pp.
ISBN: 1569473692

Party Secretary Li cannot find Chief Inspector Chen Cao, so he assigns the investigation of the murder of author Yin Lige to detective Yu Guangming. Though Yu needs to find an apartment in overcrowded Shanghai, he cannot “politically” refuse a case given to him by the Party Secretary. He quickly learns that Yin wrote a banned book about falling in love during the Cultural Revolution.
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Meanwhile the Shanghai New World Group CEO Yu provides Chen with an offer he cannot refuse. He will pay Chen an exorbitant fee to do him a favor by translating a major business proposal into English.

Yu pursues threads that lead nowhere while Chen earns money translating the business documents. Still Chen advises his junior partner on how to proceed. Soon Yu finds out that Yin shared a romance during the Cultural Revolution with Professor Yang Bing. Could someone have silenced the author because of something that occurred when Yin and Yang were together at a time when the Red Guard reeducated or killed the Black (anti worker)?

The third Chen tale is an exciting Chinese police procedural, but somewhat different than that of the two previous novels (see DEATH OF A RED HEROINE and A LOYAL CHARACTER DANCER) as Yu leads much of the investigation. The deep look at modern day Shanghai and brilliantly incorporating Chinese poetry into the love story of Yin and Yang enhance the story line. Though the ending seems soft, perhaps because the rest of WHEN RED IS BLACK is so powerful, Qiu Xialong provides a deep look at how historical events impact the present inside a terrific murder mystery.

Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner



Chapter Analysis of When Red is Black

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Plot & Themes

Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases 10%Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives 40%Feelings, relationships, character bio/development 40%How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) 10% Tone of story    -   suspenseful (sophisticated fear) How difficult to spot villain?    -   Very difficult--no foreshadowing/clues Time/era of story:    -   2000+ (Present) What % of story relates directly to the mystery, not the subplot?    -   70% Kind of investigator    -   police procedural, Foreign Kid or adult book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Any non-mystery subplot?    -   politics Crime Thriller    -   Yes Murder Mystery (killer unknown)    -   Yes

Main Character

Gender    -   Male Profession/status:    -   police/lawman Age:    -   20's-30's Ethnicity/Race    -   Chinese

Setting

Asia/Pacific    -   Yes Asian country:    -   China

Writing Style

Accounts of torture and death?    -   generic/vague references to death/punishment Amount of dialog    -   significantly more dialog than descript

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Qiu Xialong Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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