Rating: 
Summary: exaggerated, just try to make herself standout. don't buy it
Review: I also read the chinese version of this book. is it a literature? definitely not in chinese. I just feel the author is getting the stories from Penthouse or playboy and bundled with a little thing about Shanghai.
The story itself is neither interesting or surprising. She tried to make the contrast of having a loved one who have problem in sex and another German who can satisfied her in sex. I'd say this is a BAD book and not worth to read at all.
Rating: 
Summary: good book on comtemorary, odd lifein china
Review: About a female who lives with a wonderful kind hearted man- however, he is impotent and the girl likes sex. She tries to live without it but ends up in an affair with a foreign man. her husband introduces her to many famous people. whom support her dream to be a writer. Her boyfriend gets caught up in the drug scen and struggles, which isa struggle for her as well. very avabnt-garde, modern, a pae turner.
Rating: 
Summary: International best-seller?
Review: I enjoy reading fiction and non-fiction works by Asian and Asian-American writers, who are clever and well informed. I was anticipated Ms. Hui's novel to be engaging. I was wrong! Why was this book an international best seller? This book relies on so much hype without having the substance to back it up. I couldn't wait to finish this drivel. Coco needed to get over herself. This woman thought she was all that! The sad fact is, she wasn't. What I found disappointing was the racist stereotype that the author juxtaposed between Coco's two lovers: the Asian man being docile, asexual and tragically beautiful in a effeminate kind of way, compared to the WHITE MAN, who is virile, sexy, and hot-looking. I am not an expert on Shanghai life, but I knew that this author was not a credible source for reference. This author is of my generation of people in their late 20's and early 30's, and I am tried of some of them, like Hui, who think they are taking chances, that they're so daring. Why? Because you can have an orgasm? Please! Readers do not waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting and compelling read
Review: While some of the other reviewers here have dismissed her style of writing as cliched, I found myself wanting to underline certain phrases despite my copy of the book having been checked out from the library. I was surprised that anyone felt differently than I when I came here to order copies for myself and several friends. She has a way of summing up heartbreak and the quest for love and truth and meaning that moved me as I think it would move anyone else who has struggled with loneliness and complicated love affairs. Interesting, too, is the portrayal of Shanghai culture and the politics of women in society. As a lifelong feminist I did not find the discussion on women and feminism to be offensive, but rather intriguing and thought provoking. Read the book and make up your own mind on whether this is trash or literature. What you bring to your reading in terms of personal history and preferred writing style may very well be the deciding factors in how you experience this book.
Rating:
Summary: disappointing, exploitive tripe
Review: It's no surprise that Wei Hui, author of Shanghai Baby, has spent much time promoting the book in Europe and America. Writing skill notwithstanding, she has enough marketing acumen to realise that the only venue where her book can be taken as anything but shallow hogwash for adolescent girls is someplace where her fictional Shanghai is actually something new. Looking past the novel modern Shanghai she touts at every turn, you have an essentially substanceless book about youthful confusion. Its relentless narcissism drains it of any the emotional impact that sort of a conflict could have lent. It's a matter of plying a facile story to those who aren't yet inured to the setting. Much like Amy Tan's pseudo-mystical, over-sentimental portrait of Chinese immigrant life, Shanghai Baby uses it's trappings as it's vehicle. In comparison, more incisive authors like Gish Jen ignore the obvious cultural identifiers and simply focus on the nature of the conflicts. It's a pity that the government banned the book, because that seems to have brought it much more attention than it deserves. Since its no longer legally publishable in her homeland, there's little wonder who her intended audience is when she crows about being "the first pronographic female writer to be banned in China".
Rating:
Summary: Amateurish at best
Review: I would like to think that the only reason this book was published in English was because it was censored in China. The narrator, Coco, is writing a novel she claims will redefine the Chinese literary landscape (already a bad plot line), and her love interest in the novel keeps introducing her to his friends as "Coco, a great writer". This is a pure ego-trip with no redeeming qualities - okay, congratulations for having actually written a novel, but it's almost criminal to expect anyone to pay to read it. She needs a lot more time and to attend a few writing workshops. I was stuck in a train station for a few hours with nothing to read, had heard some buzz about Shanghai Baby and made the terrible mistake of buying it. And reading it just seemed vaguely better than watching my co-passengers picking their noses. But barely. It's didactic, and clichés and trite descriptions abound. Wei Hui would obviously like to emulate Brett Easton Ellis or Jay McInerney, but doesn't seem to understand that talking about sex and drugs - even if it is in Shanghai and new China - is far from enough. And i won't even bother to comment on her desire to resemble Henry Miller... Anyway - i hate cutting up a person's creation, because there's effort and time behind any product, but since it is for sale, people should be warned that this product is pretty much only worth the paper it's printed on. Of course, there could be some value to it - literary or otherwise - that was lost in the translation. But somehow i doubt it.
Rating:
Summary: Try Henry Miller Instead
Review: Wei Hui makes it very clear from the get go that she is more interested in making her fortune than a great book. This Narcisistic woman genuinely can't see past her own ego, as she reminds the writer that the book you are reading is the one that will redefine the literary world. Unfortunately she does little to support this delusion. It would be nice to find such a book, but please believe me this is not the one. I bought the book because of my own studies of 20th century pop-chinese literature. And the only reason I finished it was because I paid twenty five dollars for it. I was fascinated with the romance of a book being censored by the Chinese government. Maybe for once they did it out of good taste rather than due to political fear. This really is not a good book; it is not even a decent read. Wei Hui mentions, again and again, Henry Miller, and judging by the way she writes and tries to synthesize passion in her diary-like book, this may simply be a poor rip off of that great writer. Read Miller, DO NOT read Wei Hui!! Alas the decision is up to you, choose wisely...
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I found it to be a pretty light read, and buzzed through it quickly. It's not deep and meaningful, but it is an interesting story about a life in Shanghai. I found it similar to books I used to have to read for English class, but much more enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of sex scenes with little content
Review: I read the Original Chinese version, I find it rather dissapointing. With all the hypes about this new raising author, I thought the story was pretty shallow. A lot of details on sex scenes and derogative lifestyles of the new Shanghainese generation. The main character's emotional struggle with her impotant soul mate and her attractive but married foreign boy friend didn't end well. Overall, I find there's just too much publicity given to the author and the book, but the book is dissapointing.
Rating: 
Summary: good trash novel!
Review: Okay, so it's not something that will win prizes or make you ponder the thought of life... (well maybe it will have you pondering the ideas of love) This is a great book to live vicariously through! This is a story of a genXer as she ponders the emotional love of her impotent Love and the physical desires of her german Lover. There's not much more to the story than that. Well, there's the annoying reoccurance of reference to her book that Coco's writing, as we are reading through the novel. And of course, her book is 1/2 way written as we get 1/2 way through the book. But if you approach this book as a fun, fast read, with a bit of wild sex, unrequited love, lots of passion, and some modern day references such as "calvin klein underwear", then you can enjoy this book! I did! It's still one of my favorites!
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