BKMT READING GUIDES
City of Dragons
by Kelli Stanley
Published: 2010-02-02
Hardcover : 352 pages
Hardcover : 352 pages
4 members reading this now
3 clubs reading this now
2 members have read this book
3 clubs reading this now
2 members have read this book
February, 1940. In San Francisco's Chinatown, fireworks explode as the city celebrates Chinese New Year with a Rice Bowl Party, a three day-and-night carnival designed to raise money and support for China war relief. Miranda Corbie is a 33-year-old private investigator who stumbles upon the fatally ...
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Introduction
February, 1940. In San Francisco's Chinatown, fireworks explode as the city celebrates Chinese New Year with a Rice Bowl Party, a three day-and-night carnival designed to raise money and support for China war relief. Miranda Corbie is a 33-year-old private investigator who stumbles upon the fatally shot body of Eddie Takahashi. The Chamber of Commerce wants it covered up. The cops acquiesce. All Miranda wants is justice--whatever it costs. From Chinatown tenements, to a tattered tailor's shop in Little Osaka, to a high-class bordello draped in Southern Gothic, she shakes down the city--her city--seeking the truth. An outstanding series debut.
Excerpt
OneMiranda didn’t hear the sound he made when his face hit the sidewalk.
Th e fi recrackers were too loud, punctuating the blaring Sousa band
up Stockton. Red string snapped and danced from a corner of a chop suey
house on Grant, puff s of gray smoke drift ing over the crowd. No cry for help,
no whimper.
Chinese New Year and the Rice Bowl Party, one big carnival, the City that
Knows How to Have a Good Time choking Grant and Sacramento. Bush Street
blocked, along with her way home to the apartment. Everybody not in an iron
lung was drift ing to Chinatown, some for the charity, most for the sideshow.
Help the Chinese fight Japan— put a dollar in the Rice Bowl, feed starving,
war- torn China. Buy me a drink, sister, it’s Chinese New Year. Don’t remember
who they’re fi ghting, sister, they all look alike to me.
Somewhere above her a window opened, and a scratchy recording of “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” fought its way out. Miranda knelt down
next to the boy.
“You OK, kid?”
She guessed eigh teen or nineteen, from the cheap but fl ashy clothes and
the way his body had fallen, trying to protect itself. No response. She dropped
her cigarette, and with eff ort turned him over, the feet around her fi nally
making some room.
I can’t give you anything but love, baby—
“Kid—kid, can you hear me?”
Nose was broken. So was his jaw. Missing teeth, both eyes black. What looked like burn marks on his cheek.
That’s the only thing I’ve plenty of, baby—
She loosened and unknotted the flimsy green tie around his neck. Eyelids fluttering, color gone, face empty of everything except memory. Unbuttoned the shiny brown jacket, saw the hole in his chest.
Dream a while, scheme a while—
“We need a doctor! Anybody a doctor? Anybody?”
The feet around her moved back a little, ripple of noise running through the crowd.
You’re sure to fi nd—
Couldn’t risk looking up. His eyes were open now, brown clutching hers.
Happiness, and I guess—
She took a deep breath and yelled, voice straining.
“Doctor! Get a goddamn doctor!”
All those things you’ve always pined for—
The cement was still damp with slop from the restaurants and tenements, and his fingers clawed it, looking for an answer.
She bent close. The crowd shivered again, surged forward. His eyes asked the question and hers lied back.
“Who did this? Can you understand me? Who—”
He turned his head toward the direction he’d been thrown from. Last effort.
Then the bubble. Then the gurgle. Then the cop.
“Move, you bastards. Move!”
His boots stood next to her, staring dumbly at the boy.
“He drunk?”
I can’t give you anything but love. The record made a clacking sound, and the needle hit the label over and over. Clack. Clack clack.
She stood up, tired.
“He’s dead.”
The record started up again.
I can’t give you anything but love, baby . . .
...
view entire excerpt...
Discussion Questions
1. CITY OF DRAGONS has received praise for its evocation of a time and place ... notably, from Robert B. Parker. How does San Francisco emerge as its own character in the novel? Do you think of the city any differently after reading it?2. George Pelecanos and Michael Koryta both commented that CITY OF DRAGONS is at once faithful to classic noir and harboiled literature and yet highly original. In what ways does it pay homage to the classics, like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, or modern masters like Paretsky? In what ways do you find it unique?
3. Miranda Corbie is complex character, and Stanley has promised to reveal more of her back story in subsequent prequels to CITY OF DRAGONS. What do you think is in store for Miranda? What do you think of her as the protagonist, or-as Stanley has called her-a femme fatale in the hero's role?
4. "Hidden" racism is one of the themes of CITY OF DRAGONS ... were you aware of Sino-Japanese war before reading CITY OF DRAGONS? Did reading it make you more interested in the events leading up to World War II?
5. Stanley has said that she wanted to write about women feeling like "prey" once they hit puberty. How do the women in CITY OF DRAGONS deal with their sexuality? How are the different levels of sexual threat conveyed in the book?
6. Stanley has also stated that she wanted to write about the past in a way that preserved both its beauty and its ugliness ... a way to counterbalance natural nostalgia, but recognize the differences, both good and bad, between our contemporary era and the America of seventy years ago. In what ways does she accomplish this? Did reading the book change the way you feel about the time period?
7. 1940 was an audio-based era ... radio, not television, was the mass communication tool. In what ways does the novel convey this sensibility? Were you able to feel this aspect of the period when you read it?
8. CITY OF DRAGONS was inspired by film noir, as well as classic literature. What film inspirations do you see reflected in it? And if you were casting a movie, using either '40s stars or contemporary actors, whom would you cast and why?
9. Miranda refers to herself as a "soldier", and there are a number of references to being at war in the novel. What do you think she is fighting for--or fighting against?
10. 1940 was the year of the Dragon in the Chinese horoscope. What are the other dragons of the title?
Notes From the Author to the Bookclub
Dear Reader, I've always been fascinated by the period between the wars, the glamorous, beautiful Deco age of the '20s and '30s, as well as the monumental cataclysm that was World War II. A period both beautiful--full of gorgeous design, the swinging sound of the big bands, neon lights and chromium--and terrible. Lynchings, segregation, sexism, poverty. The rise of fascism; the unspeakable tragedy of The Holocaust. Through the '30s, there were obvious precursors to the War ... like the civil war in Spain, and Japan's invasion of China. It was the latter event--and reading about the Rape of Nanking--that spurred CITY OF DRAGONS. I thought--what would it be like, to be a Japanese-American, forced by circumstance to live in Chinatown ... at a time when the Chinese were boycotting Japanese businesses and raising money for war relief? The hatred, the resentment ... all at a boiling point ... especially after Nanking. The story opens with a Chinatown festival called a Rice Bowl Party. Held in Chinatowns all over America in time for Chinese New Year, these three day events raised money for war relief against Japan. And on a February afternoon in 1940, Eddie Takshashi-a young Japanese hood-is found shot to death. The authorities hush up Eddie's murder--he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. But Miranda Corbie--thirty-three-year-old private investigator, Spanish Civil War nurse and ex-escort--won't give up. She saw Eddie die. Life has already cost Miranda much, but she's willing to risk what she has for the sake of justice. CITY OF DRAGONS is the first in a new series, and I'm very honored that it has garnered praise from Lee Child ("Beautifully imagined and beautifully written--this book does everything great fiction is supposed to") and authors including Linda Fairstein, Robert B. Parker, George Pelecanos, Otto Penzler, Tasha Alexander, Cornelia Read, Louise Ure, and Michael Koryta. I'm also lucky enough to live in San Francisco, another deep inspiration for the novel. There are other themes that interest me that wove their way into the book ... the sexual threat women feel when they hit puberty, and the kinds of behavior our mothers and grandmothers had to be wary of; the idea of stripping away the censorship rules of the period, and showing what a film noir might really have been like. Most of all, I want the people and the era-all the emotions, language, sounds, sights, feelings and tensions--to come alive for you. I hope that this Valentine's Day--which is also Chinese New Year--you'll leave more than your heart in 1940 San Francisco. Please visit my website, www.kellistanley.com, for reviews, an interactive map, videos showcasing the locations, audio podcasts, and more. I hope you find a lot to think about and to talk about with CITY OF DRAGONS. As always--thanks for reading!Book Club Recommendations
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