I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This novel is about a fabulously wealthy family and their privileged lifestyle. The storyline travels back into time. In the reversing of the family history, we learn of their struggles and the key events that formed the individuals into the people we meet in the exposition of the novel.

Shanghailanders is a great debut. The story details the lives of one particular family, spent over the course of several decades and a bit of different countries as well. The novel is unique in a couple ways - rather than tell the story progressively, we instead start in 2040 and work our way backwards to 2014. This makes each chapter feel a bit like a mystery needing to be solved, since we know we will only be receiving more backstory. However, the other unique element is each chapter focuses on a different character within or around the family. This makes it so the backstory we get is only ever a partial answer to the questions raised in the previous chapter. I found this concept intriguing, though honestly I'm not sure it added enough to be worthwhile. Shanghailanders was an interesting read to me based solely on the characters and quality of writing, not the unconventional storytelling structure.

Juli Min is a strong writer with great depth of character, she is skilled at capturing both diverse personalities and the human condition more broadly. For those reasons, I look forward to reading her future novels.

Thank you to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for the e-arc.

A compelling, tense family drama told in reverse. We start in 2040 - Eko her husband Leo are parents to three daughters. They are rich, successful, and their relationship has fallen apart. As we go back in time to 2014, we learn more about Eko, Leo, and each of their daughters and the secrets they all hold.

I enjoyed this and am excited to read whatever the author writes next - the writing is engaging and we get the perspectives of multiple characters. The story would have been just as intriguing if told in chronological order but I did love the premise of going backwards in time and learn more and more along the way that helps us make sense of the characters in 2040.

Thank you very much to Spiegel & Grau and NetGalley for the opportunity to read a copy.

Shanghailanders tells the story of a rich Asian family – a Chinese father, a Japanese-French mother and their three cosmopolitan daughters. The narrative moves back in time, starting from the future – 2040 – and moving backward to 2014. While I was immediately drawn into the story of the Yang family, I didn’t buy into the backward-arcing story. I enjoyed the narrative when it focused on the disparate needs of the daughters in the present and future, but lost interest when it focused on other, one-off characters that were part of the Yang family’s past. I feel the book would have been stronger if it had moved forward in time from the formation of the family, using flashbacks to highlight instrumental events in the past. The future doesn’t feel all that different from the present; except for the aging of the characters, there are few differences in the setting compared to today. I would have liked to see changes in the environment, given our current struggles with climate change.

In addition, a backward-moving story usually uncovers secrets that help explain circumstances in the current (or future) environment. There are usually “aha” moments when “causes” are uncovered. I found Shanghailanders’ backward-moving methodology, while adding to the story, was not crucial to the overall narrative. All-in-all, this was a well-written novel that could be improved with some re-design.

Thanks to NetGalley and Spiegel & Grau for providing me with this e-ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Brilliant novel, set between future and past. A rich family and the different points of view of several characters. Well written and engaging.

Shanghailanders by Juli Min was an intriguing read. What brought me to read this novel was the concept of knowing characters starting in the future and moving backwards in time. The way in which the characters developed really worked and it was nice to read something that stood out from the crowd.

Beautifully written, I just wish it had been longer. Some of the thematic work felt a bit surface level for that reason. Can't wait to read what's next!

Shanghailanders is centred around one super-rich family, their relationships and their emotional lives. It begins in 2035 and then moves back in time, the point of view shifting between family members and people close to them. The father, Leo, is Chinese and the mother, Eko, Japanese-French, and their three daughters grow up proficient in four languages. Their privilege means they live in an international bubble so it is only through Leo and some of the secondary characters that you gain much insight into Shanghai and China in this period.

The writing in Shanghailanders is very strong. The prose is atmospheric, the reflections of the characters thought-provoking. Their different identities are sensitively explored.

However, Shanghailanders employs not one but two high concepts – not just telling the story backwards, but beginning it in the future. If you’re going to make that demand on your readers there has to be a payoff. I didn’t think that was true in either case. It seems life in 2035 for the super-rich isn’t that different from life now (apart from faster trains). It’s a bit hot but climate change hasn’t dented their world, they still wear similar clothes, attend similar colleges, have similar social media sites.

And each time the story moved backwards in time, I just felt frustrated, because I wanted to know what happened next, not what had gone before. There is a surprise of sorts towards the end (the family’s beginning) but for me it wasn’t big enough to justify the expectation which the structure sets up.

This is a really compelling family novel, told in multiple POVs working its way backwards in time. We start in 2040, when Leo and Eko are the middle aged parents to three adult/young adult women, and work backwards to their wedding day in 2014. Family secrets are uncovered, but there's something quite unique about how the more intense secrets live in the past and therefore with this structure they come as the climax of the novel.

The writing is sharp and the characters are fully baked. There was one chapter that - for me - was a bit of an outlier as it featured a non-family member and didn't tie in much with the overall themes. The other non-relative chapter was much more coherent within the story.

Four stars - this is a great book and one I think many can relate to. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Very beautifully written! I was completely sucked in by this book and I couldn't put it down. Juli Man is an amazing writer and I cannot wait to see what they do next.

A brilliantly written novel. From the very start, the writing drew me in. I loved how Min was able to switch the narratives and the timezones of the story but still make it easy to follow. The way the story was told, recounting key moments backwards in time, was a refreshing change of pace, and really made the book and the moments stand out. I also really loved the main family, they were all flawed and incredibly interesting to read about. A moving story, with focus on family and culture, that was ambitious and poignant.

I love this beautiful novel. It's enormous and far reaching yet small and simple in message, a truly amazing debut.

In Shanghailanders, we are introduced to the Yang family and the time. 2040, The family is International and cosmopolitan from Japan, China and France.. The daughters in the future are situated in Boston and Paris. Through a variety of scenes and remembrances we begin to learn the intricacies of the family and the forces at play throughout their lives. Flashing backwards slowly to 2014 we learn about the Yang family - both from parents and daughters as well as grandparents and caretakers and staff.

It's truly an amazing work, all the more impressive as a debut! #Spiegel&Grau #grau #shanghailanders #julimin