This reading group guide for SHANGHAI includes an introduction and discussion questions. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

In this dazzling thriller, New York Times bestselling author Joseph Kanon gives us his richest setting yet: pre–World War II Shanghai, where glamour and squalor exist side by side and murder is just a cost of doing business. A love affair against all odds, a city dancing on the rim of a volcano—Shanghai is the story of a political haven that becomes a minefield of conflicting loyalties.

After the violence of Kristallnacht (1938), European Jews, now desperate to emigrate, found the consular doors of the world closed to them. Only one port required no entry visa: Shanghai, a self-governing Western trading enclave in what was technically Chinese territory, a political anomaly that became an escape hatch—if you were lucky enough to afford a ticket on one of the great Lloyd liners sailing to the East and safety.

Daniel Lohr was one of the lucky ones—lucky enough to have escaped the Gestapo when his colleagues in the resistance were caught, lucky to have an uncle waiting in Shanghai, lucky to find a casual shipboard flirtation turn unexpectedly passionate. But even lucky refugees have to confront the reality of Shanghai. With all their assets and passports confiscated by the Nazis, they arrive penniless and stateless in a tumultuous, nearly lawless city notorious for vice. When you can sink fast, how far are you willing to go to survive? What lines do you cross? As Daniel tries to navigate his way through his uncle’s world in Shanghai’s fabled nightlife, he finds himself increasingly ensnared in a maze where politics and crime are two sides of the same shiny coin. The trick, his uncle tells him, is to stay one step ahead. But how do you stay ahead of murder? How do you outrun your own past?

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1) “There is no family,” Irina says on page 85. “Not here.” How does the definition of family change throughout the book? Do you think Irina’s right?

2) The shadow of Daniel’s father looms large over the narrative. How do you think he would have navigated Shanghai? Would Daniel have made the same decisions had his father been present? What if his father had been alive?

3) Does Daniel feel that he owes his uncle for pulling him out of Nazi Germany and into Shanghai? Does he feel guilt or merely obligation?

4) What is it about Leah that compels Daniel? What obligation does he feel toward her? Why?

5) Dancing emerges as a motif throughout the book. What does it symbolize to you? How might it highlight historical, geopolitical, and interpersonal tensions?

6) “We don’t share the same politics,” Florence says about her husband on page 155. “I’m not supposed to have any.” Think about the book’s female characters: Leah, Clara, Florence, and Irina. What role do women play in the story, and in Shanghai? How are they perceived, and how do they turn that perception into an asset?

7) About the city of Shanghai, Loomis remarks, “You can do anything you want here. Except leave” (page 161). Compare and contrast the American Dream with the “Shanghai Dream” we see in the book. What are the similarities? What are the differences?

8) On page 165, Xi says, “People always tell the truth in the end. They think it will save them.” How do Daniel, Nathan, Yamada, and Leah approach truth-telling? Do they think it will save them? How does telling the truth, or not telling the truth, influence the ending of the novel?

9) In Shanghai, we see key power players address one another as gentlemen—even if they’re threatening each other’s lives. How does politeness help Daniel achieve his goals politically? What about Yamada and Xi? How does their decorum contrast with the way Loomis carries himself?

10) On page 172, Yamada tells Daniel: “You are a great believer in arrangements . . . Honoring them.” “When they work for everybody, yes,” Daniel replies. What value do the characters place on honor? How is their valuation of honor shaped by their cultures? How does it shape their decision-making?

11) On page 191, Markowski meditates on what it means to gun down his adversaries, saying, “I used to think, how do we kill them without becoming them?” How does this relate to Daniel’s past and present? Where do you think the line is?

12) How does Daniel change throughout the story? What prompts him to change? Who prompts him to change, whether it’s Nathan, Leah, his late father, or his adversaries? Do you think he changes for the better or for the worse?

13) On page 222: “Daniel looked at her for a moment, not saying anything, then nodded. Another stopped second, no noise in the street, then she broke away and got into the car, Daniel watching, the traffic on Avenue Joffre surrounding it like water. The things we tell ourselves.” The things we tell ourselves indeed. Many of these characters tell themselves things that deviate from reality—about their character, about their situation, about the people with whom they share the city of Shanghai. Can you think of specific instances of such storytelling? Is it helpful or hurtful to the characters’ ambitions?

14) Florence’s signature quote is, “You do what you can.” In what ways does Daniel do what he can? What about Leah? Nathan? Florence herself?

• Publisher: Scribner (June 25, 2024)
• Length: 304 pages
• ISBN13: 9781668006443