CF Wong is a feng shui master writing “Some Gleanings of Oriental Wisdom”, an inspirational guide to life based on the teaching of past sages, while trying to eke out a profitable living in modern day Shanghai. All he wants is a quiet life where he can make as much money as possible (his advice is tailored to his audience), and to enjoy the best things in life. This is not an easy goal when a construction crew demolishing his office interrupts his morning. Still, he reasons sanguinely, such is life in this bustling city.
This is, however, but the beginning of a series of events determined to bring Wong to the brink of penury. His strange British-Australian assistant Joyce has inexplicably given up eating meat and is working in her spare time for a vegetarian catering company. Which is how Joyce gets caught up when an ultra-vegan group hijacks the inaugural dinner of the exclusive This is Living dining club that Wong has been looking forward to for weeks. The This is Living chef prepares live food in front of diners, cooking to request, and the descriptions of the This is Living menu are so disturbing for the squeamish that the punishments meted out by the Children of Vega seem almost justifiable. But is this all that leader Vega has in mind?
This is the fourth book about the beautifully wrought Wong and the incorporation of feng shui into his chaotic life. As with previous works (the third book of which I discover I have somehow missed and naturally must now track down), Vittachi manages to convey a brilliant sense of place and persona. The jacket says he “mixes the caustic humour of Carl Hiaasen with the charm of Alexander McCall Smith to create a vivid, heady and delightful dance through Asian philosophy, whodunit and today’s China.” Haven’t read Hiaasen, and am justifiably wary of comparisons with more than one other author, but I could not have said this better myself. This is great writing - funny, complex, and startling different to any other author I’ve read. – Alex
No comments:
Post a Comment