Shanghailanders subverts the well-known family saga narrative in an ingenious way to create a brilliantly executed story of a family spanning generations living in the whirlwind city of Shanghai, telling the story backwards, rewinding through time to weave the tale. First we meet Yumi, Yoko, and Kiko, in their adulthood, coping with the various hardships that adult life brings. Each section slips a few years into the past until we're reading Eko and Leo (their parents)'s story. The prose is compelling, and the story immersive; the depiction of Shanghai breathes life into the city, so much that at times I felt like I knew it. A beautiful novel, I would recommend this highly!

Goes backward in time. The side characters' narratives were surprisingly more compelling than the family, but all in all an interesting read.

Shanghailanders by Juli Min offers a unique family saga told in reverse, starting in 2040 and moving backward to 2014. The novel brings together the lives of the Yang family, exploring their secrets and struggles through different perspectives. I appreciated the beautiful writing and the intriguing format, but I found the reversed timeline made it harder to fully connect with the characters and understand the consequences of their actions. Still, a very engaging and interesting read!

I really enjoyed this book, but it is told going backward in time. I liked learning how the characters got to where they got to. The book takes place in multiple countries, which I also enjoyed. . I liked the multi culturalism of the characters and all the different languages. I don’t understand how the driver fit into the book.

Shanghailanders by Juli Min is a captivating family saga that takes readers on a journey through time, from 2040 back to 2014, following the lives of the wealthy Yang family. Leo Yang, a successful real estate investor, his elegant wife Eko, and their three daughters—Yumi, Yoko, and Kiko—each face personal challenges that unfold over the years. From Kiko’s risky pursuit of fame to Yumi’s crisis at Harvard, Min explores the complex dynamics of marriage, ambition, and family secrets. Set in a futuristic Shanghai facing environmental threats, the novel is told through multiple perspectives, including the Yangs’ loyal nanny and a daring driver. Min beautifully captures the way love, identity, and family ties persist, even as the world around them changes. Shanghailanders is a powerful and emotional look at the struggles and connections that define us.

Thank you @netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy of Shanghailanders by Juli Min. It’s the story of a family in Shanghai, going from 2040 to 2014. The family is very wealthy, and the daughters spend time at boarding school and college in the US. We learn a lot about the family and their interactions and controversies. This did not really draw me in all that much, even though I am a fan of family stories. #shanghailanders #julimin #bookstagram #lovetoread #netgalley

Shanghailanders is a story in reverse. Starting in 2040 and progressing backward toward 2014, the family saga begins (ends?) with a reflection of the past -- both partners in the marriage between Leo and Eko regretting their decision to stay with the other but finding the barriers to leaving too great to manage. As we move backward in time, we come to understand how and why things unfolded the way they did. We also come to know the daughters of the family -- Yumi, Yoko, and Kiko. Adding more color to the story are side characters whose stories we learn as they intersect with those of the family members.

I'll preface my thoughts by saying that the writing in this book was absolutely lovely. I applaud the unique approach to storytelling, as well -- reversed timeline, multi-POV. It felt fresh and interesting and always kept me wondering more about the characters. That said, I think the overall plot ARC fell a little flat due to the structure. There's a reason plots move forward in time! Starting with the conclusion, the takeaways fell less grand because we don't appreciate them, and ending the the inciting incident (in this case, Leo and Eko's courtship), the final pages of the story feel small and unresolved. I found myself more drawn to the small side stories of peripheral characters whose entire story resolved within their own vignette. For our main characters, I found myself always wanting to know what happened next (chronologically) while also knowing we'd never revisit that time period.

But it's character-driven, not plot-driven, you might say. Why can't it be both? I think we could have experienced a character-driven book where the events revealed in a reversed order lead to a similar arc of character growth that we see in other books. Or, even the same plot but with a final chapter in the future so we know what ultimately happened to everyone. More difficult to pull off, sure, but I think more satisfying to the reader.

An interesting timeline to write - backwards. It doesn't jump back forth, it just foes backwards.

A fun family drama with lots of potential. There were a few things missing that I can't put my finger on, possibly depth of a few characters, but this is a great novel and I look forward to more.

There was something really compelling about this book. It’s a story about a family with three girls in Shanghai, and goes backwards in time. There was were many different perspective shifts between the characters which could have been frustrating or confusing, but it was elegantly done. It made me reflect over the passage of time in my own life, and the mundane moments that make up our days.

Reading this novel told in reverse was both entertaining and enlightening. There's nothing I enjoy more than a family drama told from multiple perspectives, and Shanghailanders delivers exactly that. Knowing the characters' futures as you read each one's backstory added an intriguing new element. I look forward to reading future books by Juli Min.

This was a bit of a disjointed novel for me--I wanted to like it and the premise, but the reverse chronological order didn't do it for me. I think it's because I wasn't fully invested in these characters, so going all the way to the beginning wasn't as fulfilling.

Published back on May 7th, I've been picking away at this @spiegelandgrau title, wanting to give it my full attention since I grabbed it on @netgalley.

This multicultural family of a Chinese father and Japanese-French mother, is first introduced in 2040 as the parents are sending their older daughters back to boarding school and college in Boston. It has a tenuous atmosphere, and what follows is a collection of what feels like short stories that go back in time and some go to the periphery of the Yang family to understand them in the "present."

This was indeed, a fascinating format. I did feel like I was trying to make the connections until I just relaxed and let the story unfold as it would. I am sure I missed some of those connections, but I did feel the "aha" moments frequently as a particular trait was explained. Some stories felt very loosely connected, so it was helpful to enter each chapter fresh.

I think if you enjoy loosely connected short stories, this will be a fantastic book that will feel like an organic meeting of the Yang family. This is how we get to know people as the current person is slowly revealed over stories that, in trust, are given over time, reminding me that what we first see is never the whole story.

For me, this book was a bit harder to follow, but as I think back it is growing on me. 3.5 Stars.

I really enjoyed this book for what it was. The family is incredibly fascinating, and each of the members are crafted with a lot of depth and care. I also liked that it started in the future. The book had a speculative edge that went seamlessly into the overall story. But there were two things that kept taking me out of the story. The first was that I kept wanting to know what happened next; which is a compliment if anything, but because the story moved backwards it got frustrating. I wanted to know the consequences of their actions, the build up of their lies, but instead we kept going to where the lies began. It felt like I got so close to answers that kept slipping out from between my fingers. It's good that as a reader I'm so curious and desperate to know what happens next, but annoying that I can't see what happens next.

Shanghailanders was a really interesting and well-written read. I appreciated the character study and exploration of identity. I'd read more from this author.

Cleverly conceived and often quite engaging, Shanghailanders draws readers in with detailed descriptions of family relationships. It's an enjoyable, if not profound, read. You want to know more about the characters and the reverse chronological order accomplishes just that. It helps you to care about them and you do.

This is a meandering, languid book, but the vignettes are such that I didn't mind the pacing. Some reviewers complain that nothing happens, and while I wanted to learn more about each character I didn't really need more action--the internality of the characters is interesting enough. I also found the conceit of backward storytelling (from 2040 to 2014) intriguing.

3 stars. ☆

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

at the heart of the stories is the common theme of family: leo and eko and their three daughters. moving between shanghai, japan and paris; across generations; and viewing the family from both the interior and exterior, this deals with scenarios and moments that feel very human and which are treated with a kind of expansive and non-judgemental empathy.

overall an amazing book exploring complex emotions that i would recommend!

love, mitra ★

Shanghailanders is a family saga told in reverse chronological order, beginning in Shanghai in 2040. As the story progresses, we gradually learn about how each family member got to where they are at the book’s opening. The novel explores climate change and wealth inequality in a city where nothing stays the same.

Each member of the family gets their time in the spotlight, with their stories standing independently. I particularly appreciated the stories told from the perspectives of the family’s nanny and driver, who watch the family grow and change over the decades.

While the reverse chronological telling of the story is intriguing, the form can leave readers wanting more of the drama. This narrative form makes it challenging for us to see the consequences of the characters’ actions. For those interested in character development, understanding the full arc requires piecing it together from 3-4 chapters ago.

I highly recommend listening to this novel in audio. Narrator Mei Mei Mcleod gives a stellar performance reading the words of characters with different accents and snippets of several languages. Her reading carries the novel forward, making it hard to press pause!

i thought the traveling-backward-through-time take on a family drama might feel gimmicky, but it actually felt so fresh and interesting. sure, 2040 didn't feel much different from 2014, but so often with this genre you're finding out the why behind the dynamics after they happen, and this felt like a unique take on that. i wish this book were a bit longer and we spent more time with each character, but overall this was a great debut!

Was excited to read this book because it seemed totally up my alley, but unfortunately I found almost all the characters insufferable or uninteresting and I was really disappointed by how flat Shanghai (or Paris) felt as characters in the book. I was not into these rich ppl problems and the writing seemed skilled but never transcended. I enjoyed the chapters from the POV of the driver and the ah yi but neither of them focused on the central family.