Lynn Stone's book _Hong Kong_ is a very short book on the subject, probably best used by children 7-10 years old who have a school assignment which requires a basic resource.

This book is not a travel guide, and it is not written for an adult audience.

The book is only 24 pages in length, and half the pages are pictures. The photos are truly impressive (Courtesy of the Hong Kong Tourist Association). I didn't expect photos half this nice in such a small book.

The information here is bare bones. The reader will learn only the most basic facts about Hong Kong, nothing more. _Hong Kong_ looks like a standard report-source book for juveniles, but it's just too short to be of a great deal of help. I expect most of this information, and much more, will be in the entry for Hong Kong in any general encyclopedia.

If you do some more extensive searching, you can probably find this much information on Hong Kong in an encyclopedia, and there are other juvenile books on the subject with more detailed information.

ken32

this is one of the poorest-written novels I have ever read, and I read 100 a year. flatliner characters, speaking in cliches, contradictions within paragraphs that make no sense, constant asking of rhetorical questions by the author through the characters, preachiness without any depth, and laughable sex scenes. sweaty bodies popping apart like champagne corks? the only saving grace that made me finish this was the descriptions of Hong Kong itself, showing the author at least knew something about the place. he should have written a travelogue. this is neither a political, historical or erotic novel. i dont believe i paid money for this.

I did not have extremely high hopes when I bought this novel, but as an HK resident I can hardly resist a novel that is set in contemporary Hong Kong. But even my modest hopes were blighted.

Many things rang so false in this novel: Lucretia want to revive the arts in Hong Kong, but does she have anything to do with the Fringe Club (going strong for over 10 years) the Hong Kong Arts Centre, The Academy for Performing Arts?

She and her sweetie are now poor so they ride the unairconditioned bus to Repulse Bay... for almost the same amount of money they could have ridden an airconditioned double-decker, or a mini-bus (difference in price, about 25 cents US). They are not poverty stricken, and surveyors make good money.

Lucretia is working at the Chinese University way out in Sha Tin and living somewhere in mid-Levels. Nowhere in the book does she mention (or have it mentioned) what a horribly long commute that is - over an hour each way. (Minibus or walk to Central-> MTR to Kowloon Tong ->KCR to University -> walk to Campus). She gets a job when the Vice Chancellor of Chinese U calls her up and hires her? I'm sorry, but no one gets hired to teach in a university here without interview committees, etc.

The other thing that stuck in my craw is that there is no mention of the one thing that obsesses all my friends who are freelancing or just out of a job...her visa!

When she divorced her husband I presume her dependent's visa was no longer valid. How was she staying in Hong Kong? As a US Citizen she can stay for 3 weeks and then have to do the visa-run to Macao or ShenZhen and that is only OK for a few times. I have friends who when they lost a job spent tons of time and energy trying to get a work visa or find someone to write them a supporting letter as an employer. Elegant missed an opportunity to showing one of the true difficulties of life for unattached young foreigners in Hong Kong in the late 1990s.

As a native of Massachusetts I also found myself wondering how her schoolteacher father was able to afford their summers on Martha's Vineyard.

If you are looking for a good contemporary portrait of Hong Kong in the late 1990's, do not read this book. The love story aspect was also not very believable.

Stein did present a lot of facts about this former British colony, but his subjective and prejudiced viewpoint in writing something aimed at young reader is disappointing.He constantly emphasised greed and arrogance of the Chinese people but his attitude reflected in the book is very much of an arrogant and snobbish nature, a very much biased view. In fact, I am surprised to know that he actually has a degree in history! The approach he has taken is quite unprofessional and lacks an in-depth view into the historical side of Hong Kong,A good example of ethnocentrism in historical research.

It is both sad and unfortunate for someone who knows nothing about the Chinese or Hong Kong to think what the author says is true.

How can I rate a book I have not been able to review?

If you believe that Human Rights are going to get better in Hong Kong now that the "Colonial oppressors" are gone and the "Motherland" is back in control, then maybe this is the book for you. (though I would suggest a book that takes an honest look at China's recent history be chosen instead). If you are looking for a more serious and accurate one then you need to keep looking. If you can read Chinese, then it would be better to find a book just like Brahm's for much less money published within the PRC.

Some of the articles are well written but others are very repetitious and not rich in analysis. They are usually very short, and chould have been developed more. @More careful analysis needed. They also use a lot of "I's" in their writing. They emphasize a lot on their own experience, not what others think. Not really academically written. Some authors just repeat the same thing over and over again, which makes the whole book dull. One advantage is that it is easy to read.