There are so many issues with Beijing Smog I don't even know where to start. Within five minutes of opening the book, I already hated Chuck Drayton. He's what I'd call the typical entitled American expat. If things don't go his way he flies off the handle, and he seems to have almost no understanding of China and Chinese culture. He complains that a mix up at the hotel and bad traffic forced him to take the metro, and that he's going to be late to his function. The thing is, he's only four stops away from the venue. If four metro stops (8-10 minutes on the Beijing metro) is going to make you late, then not even a cab will save you.



Besides, Chuck doesn't take his job seriously and he's always making mistakes. He hardly knows the first thing about software, let alone anything about cyber security. His knowledge amounts to what you can learn from spending a few hours on Google. Throughout the novel, Chuck's ineptitude and his contempt for others make him my least favorite character. He also puts other people in danger.



When I met Tony I thought he was a nice enough guy, but the way Williams describes his wealth is unrealistic. I can't remember how much his apartment costs, but unless he actually bought the place there is no rent in Shanghai that is as high as Tony's supposedly is. I'm extremely familiar with Shanghai and its rent prices. The number may seem like nothing compared to New York prices but it's astronomical compared to the average Shanghai price, even for an apartment in Shanghai's financial district.



Tony doesn't have too many character flaws. He frequently visits of massage parlors, but that's pretty much to be expected of his sort (that doesn't make it right). He and his wife have a mechanical relationship (also common). He's just a man doing what he can to make money. His greed is off-putting but he's still not as bad as Chuck.



Finally, we come to the Beijing Team. The boys are so maddeningly daft I had to take breaks after reading their sections. For the first part of the novel, Williams spends time talking about Zhang and his issues. Zhang, however, turns out to be an unnecessary character, as is his friend Liu. Wang is the only character that matters in the end, but we only really start to get to know him in the last third of the novel.



On that note, Beijing Smog is incredibly slow-paced. It's not obvious to the readers how the characters are connected until about halfway through the novel, and even the characters' stories don't really start overlapping until about the 75% mark. When the characters do meet each other, it's only Chuck that meets Wang, and their interaction only lasted a handful of pages. Tony never meets Wang, but Wang meets one of Tony's new enemies. Chuck and Tony meet early on, but there's so much filler that their interactions become boring.



In fact, there are entire chapters of filler and the dialogue is terrible. I found myself actively thinking "who talks like this?" I also found it hard to believe that after being confronted by the Party about his online activity TWICE, Wang still doesn't understand the ramifications of his online posts. His excuse is always, "it was just a joke!" or "I post so many things everyday, how can I remember that one post?" I also make a million posts a day, but I still generally remember what I posted. Are there posts I regret? Yes, but I haven't forgotten them. Wang starts seeing one of the main symbols from his posts popping up at the protests around the country and can not wrap his pea-brained head around why it is problematic from the government's point of view. By extension, he can't figure out why the authorities keep hounding him. HIS FRIEND EVEN WARNS HIM ABOUT THE CRACKDOWN ON THE USAGE OF CERTAIN WORDS AND SYMBOLS. HE IGNORES THE WARNING AND CONTINUES TO POST, DOESN'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE AUTHORITIES WON'T LEAVE HIM ALONE. How can someone be so thick-skulled?

Perhaps it's unfair to judge a novel based on the characters, but since the characters are the substance of the novel, what choice do I have?

Needless to say, I did not enjoy this one at all.

I found this book to be an interesting account of the potential problems of living in a communist country. The twists and turns kept you wondering how it would end as seen from the viewpoint of the main characters. Definitely worth reading.