Reviews for Chinatown Beat

The average rating for Chinatown Beat based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-11-01 00:00:00 Nicholas Casale I wasn't going to write a review for this book because I don't have much to say that isn't an echo of previous reviewers' comments - like many before me, I found the book entertaining and gritty-realistic enough, but somewhat flat in characterization and in the execution of its prose. The main reason I'm adding my two cents is because it seems no other Chinese American with some familiarity with Cantonese slang has done so up to this point, either here or on Amazon (or if they have, they didn't "cop" (ha!) to their background). I did appreciate the fact that Chang inserts Cantonese words and profanities throughout the novel without worrying about alienating audiences, and that the book doesn't just come off seeming like a Lonely Planet guide to Chinatown and its inhabitants (which is how a lot of novels that provide an "insider's look" into a supposedly closed-off culture come across). In fact, I sometimes wondered if he weren't writing for Chinese Americans; along the same lines, though, I sometimes wondered if he were writing specifically for Chinese American men. Some of the things the protagonist gripes about (Chinese American women who think landing a white man is the ultimate symbol of success, the invisible status of Asian American men) are familiar grievances to anyone who follows Asian American issues, and some of those grievances often start going in a direction that I as a Chinese American woman find a bit misogynistic for comfort (the fact that Chang opens the book by paying tribute to Frank Chin, who actually griped about the multitude of female writers representing the Chinese American experience, is illuminating). But it's Chang's book, Chang's ideas - if he wants it to be a forum for all that, so be it. My main point is that whether or not I agree with the ideas, I can admire the fact that they're presented well, but Chang's presentation leaves much to be desired. The prose is so uneven that I could never really tell what he was really trying to say - there's little separation between the protagonist's voice and the omniscient voice of the novel. But the novel isn't written from a limited omniscient viewpoint - we follow all the characters and know all their thoughts, whether or not the protagonist knows them. So are all these gripes just Jack's issues, and are we supposed to be critical of him for these grievances (at the very least, they make him come off as incredibly whiny when he's supposed to be this tough, jaded detective), or is Chang making a bigger statement? EW describes Chang's works as "The Wire set in Chinatown," but I don't think his abilities are anywhere near the level of artistry or basic proficiency that the writers of The Wire demonstrated in the even the weakest episodes... I much prefer Chang Rae Lee's Native Speaker, which, while admittedly a bit on the artsy-fartsy side (I've recommended it to countless friends who haven't been able to finish it), explores the whole idea of Asian American male identity via the conventions of the private detective genre much more brilliantly than this novel ever comes close to doing.

Review # 2 was written on 2009-01-19 00:00:00 Jerry Dixon PROTAGONIST: Jack Yu, NYPD detective SETTING: New York City, 1990 SERIES: #1 of 2 RATING: 3.5 There's a truism that an author should write what he knows best, and I'm so glad that Henry Chang followed that advice in his debut novel, Chinatown Beat. Henry Chang grew up in New York's Chinatown, and his experiences have provided an authenticity to the setting that could only be delivered by someone who was intimate with the nuances of the area. In addition, Chang has done an extraordinary job in rendering the cultural setting, the best job that I've seen of that in a very long time. Detective Jack Yu is an American cop who was born and raised in Chinatown. Surprisingly, he is one of the very few members of the police department who are of Asian ethnicity. In fact, he is the only Asian in his precinct, which is responsible for maintaining law and order in Chinatown. Obviously, this leads to many problems, as the cops on the beat don't understand the language, culture and attitudes of the people they are supposed to be helping. Surprisingly, there is a high degree of racism as well, with the Chinese the lowest in the racial pecking order, beneath blacks and Hispanics. Jack has a delicate juggling act every day of his life, being part of a mostly white police force that doesn't really care about the Chinese it is entrusted to protect, and being a member of the Chinese community. In addition, Jack is coping with the death of his father and the realities of childhood friendships gone awry. Many of his former friends are either dead or deeply engaged in criminal activity. His current case involves a serial rapist who is preying on young girls in the neighborhood. In addition, the entire area is under tension as the result of the assassination of one of the local Triad leaders, Uncle Four. The former investigation pits Jack directly against some of his childhood friends; the latter leads him to a series of puzzles involving Uncle Four's beautiful mistress who has disappeared. These two cases provide a stark contrast between the world of street thugs and gangs and the Chinatown of the rich and powerful. Chinatown Beat provided an astonishingly different view of a community that is generally seen as a vibrant and thriving enclave where tourists revel in its eccentricities. Instead, we are exposed to all of its darkness, its perversities and violence. Chang shows us every alley, every gambling joint, while enveloping the reader in the sights, sounds and smells of a totally unique world. He doesn't immerse us in a Chinatown that is sunny and bright, but he does shine a light on a place that the average reader has never seen before. The overt racism was particularly unsettling to me. Chinatown Beat is noir at its best, a book that shakes you to the core as you look at a world where evil has so much more chance of prevailing than good.