The Year of the Rat
By Lucille Bellucci
iUniverse.com, Inc. - 2000
ISBN: 0-595-14895-6 - Trade paperback
Fiction / Epic tragedy / Historical
Some explicit language

Reviewed by: David Leonhardt, MyShelf.com
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Shanghai of 1948/49, under the shadow of Mao Tse-tung's advancing armies, is the perfect setting for anguish and torment, something that Lucille Bellucci's characters have plenty of. Her principle character, who is auto biographical in at least some ways, is Maria Conti. She and her family and a small enclave of resident foreigners struggle under the burden of poverty, the uncertainty of their future and the torment of anguished characters around them.

This is a long novel, that almost hits the "epic" mark. Although it is well written, it nearly loses the reader when it switches a couple times from an intimate and intense involvement in the tormented characters, to a world events history lesson. In fact, The Year of the Rat runs 440 pages in part because it spans a couple years, from Mao's advances in the north, west and south to the final conquest of Shanghai and the aftermath.

The novel is also long because of the detailed accounts of the lifestyles and implements of daily life in Shanghai of the day, as well as of the history of the day. Either she has done some terrific research or has made up some very real-sounding history. I suspect it's the research. She describes in equal detail the torment of each character … not just Maria and her family and lovers and business partners, but of many bit players, as well. Here's an example of the mental state of Bellucci's characters:

"Poldo's head and shoulders, shaking with passion, leaned out the window; his hands manipulated something. Maria leaned beside him and saw what it was: a string. A string with a sheet of paper attached to its bottom. In the yard, Wong stood looking upward shouting curses. Poldo teased him with the string. Whenever he lowered it within reach,
Wong jumped and tried to snatch the paper. Poldo laughed when he did that. The sound of it was harsh, a bit mad, booming back in echo from the concrete-enclosed yard. In consternation, Maria looked at her mother. 'Insults,' her mother said. ' Your father had me write terrible things in very big characters for Wong to read.'"

If Chinese history and anguish are two of your favorite topics, and you read faster than this reviewer, you might want to pick up a copy of Year of the Rat.

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David Leonhardt, author of Climb your Stairway to Heaven: the 9 habits of maximum happiness.