The World of Suzie Wong

The plot of this novel can be summarized easily: a painter who is a British subject falls in love with and eventually marries a prostitute, originally from China, who plies her trade in Hong Kong. In the hands of many authors, this would result in a book with two-dimensional characters and a plot that would be little more than the summary that I just gave. The World of Suzie Wong is much more than that. Both Robert Lomax, the narrator, and Suzie are full-blooded characters, with all the contradictions that come with being a human being. The course of love definitely does not run smooth, and the end result is definitely not inevitable. I don't know whether Richard Mason wrote any other books. I'm certainly not aware of any. This one, however, is enough to secure his lasting reputation.

I remember seeing the William Holden film of this book many years ago, and liking it. So, when I saw this book at the YMCA book store in Kowloon, I picked it up to pass the time between meetings.The book is very different than the movie. It is much more nuanced and descriptive of Hong Kong (and even British) society of the Fifties. Lomax is British in this book, not an architect or middle class, but rather an ex-pat who had worked in Malaya, and now wanted to paint. His romance with Suzie grows organically, and by the end of the novel, more truthful than the movie. That they end up living in Japan after time in racist England is so unexpected, but perfect... strangers in a strange land, to each other and to all around them, yet loving and supporting each other through life.Highly recommended - for the story, the ambience, social commentary and historical detail.

I have never read, nor ever expect to read a novel as beautiful as this one. The World of Suzie Wong reads like pure song. Richard Mason takes an oftentimes tawdry subject matter and delivers a charming novel. If any novel could be classified as poetry, this novel would qualify. Upon completion the reader will feel as though he or she has just finished the most satisfying of meals, complete with dessert, cigar, and cognac. This is one that you will return to again and again; it will never let you down. I can not recommend it enough.

It's 44 years since Richard Mason's classic story made its entrance. Mason is still alive, living in Rome. Would he recognize Hong Kong? I doubt it. Today little remains of Mason's British Colony, the old Hong Kong, inhabited back in 1957 by Suzie, the pretty Wan Chai bar girl. Back in the 1950's Hong Kong was a small sleepy town. Traffic, if you believe Mason, as I do, was minimal and there were no back alleys with neon signs or red taxis charging exorbitant fares. The barefoot rickshaw drivers in harness to their two wheeled carts ran their cargoes of humans around town the hard way. Now the one driver left spends his time posing for tourist pictures and charging five Hong Kong dollars a shot. In Wan Chai the trams that Suzie took still work their way through the jammed streets that have their share of smoke filled pick up bars. One even bears the name Suzie Wong in honor of the character. The bars remain here but the girls are not Chinese. The girls come in from Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and the Philippines. The old business of "No money, no talk" still holds, but the prices have gone up. The hostesses of modern times don't even know Suzie nor have they read the book. But they too would cheer her story, the way the hostesses of the 50's did, championing Suzie's cause to become "a respectable girl." The book was followed in 1958 by a succssful stage play that ran for two years on Broadway starring France Nuyen as Suzie and none other than Star Trek's William Shatner as Robert Lomax. In 1960 a popular film version was released starring Nancy Kwan and William Holden. In a way, the Suzie Wong story helped bring Hong Kong before the world's gaze and played a part in the popular recognition of the territory and in that way contributed to its development. If you want to have some fun, read the book and compare it to the film. You'll learn (again) that there is no substitute for literature, especially great literature created by a great writer.

Whatever your expectations based on watching the film by the same name, The World of Suzie Wong is actually a beautifully written book that provides an intimate portrait of post-WWII Hong Kong. For anyone who has lived in the former British colony, I guarantee you will be fascinated by Mason's astute observations of life in the territory. For those who have never set foot in Asia, Mason's themes about class and culture conflict are timeless, and the book surprisingly avoids easy cliches because it is so well executed. This is one of the most underrated books of the past 50 years, much deeper than the broadway play or Hollywood's film interpretation.