What do readers think of The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai by Ruiyan Xu? Write your own review.

I felt like I was reading a college English assignment, in which the student has been instructed in the mechanics of writing, but just hasn't mastered the nuances of making a story interesting to the reader.

Nothing about this book captivated me; the characters were shallow and inconsistent, and the underlying theme regarding the loss of language was unbelievable. If such a syndrome exists in which a person can be injured in such a way as to maintain the ability to understand but not speak his primary language, while regaining fluency in a language he hasn't used in 20 years, that fact needs to be illuminated in the book because it's just too incomprehensible to buy into otherwise.

If you can get past the effects of the injury, you still need to tolerate characters who behave in improbable ways and a meandering plot that doesn't satisfy, along with an amateur writing style.

I would not recommend this book.