Five Star Billionaire

As the Daily Mail rightly said, it’s ‘unputdownable’! What a gifted story-teller!I stumbled upon this writer by accident when on a visit to a local bookstore that had taken over MPH. I saw this book ‘We, the Survivors’ by Tash Aw whom I’ve never heard of before. I thought I’d give him a try and, boy, am I glad I did.

Tash Aw is Malaysian, and writes beautiful English prose. This book is about several characters, who once lived in Malaysia, but are all now doing various things in Shanghai, China. In a lot of ways, it's a book about contemporary Shanghai.

Tash Aw's best novel to date, in my opinion. He concentrates on characters in Shanghai, many of whom come from different backgrounds and have left their homes to rebuild themselves. The characters come into contact with one another, yet there is no clear conclusion. It's more about the journey than the destination in life.

This book was perfection. I was so wrapped up in the second half of it that I forgot to eat dinner.