Im Reich der Schuhe

by Spencer Wise, Sophie Zeitz (Translator)

Aus dem Amerikanischen von Sophie Zeitz
Wie kann man den Fußstapfen des Vaters entkommen oder gar entwachsen, wenn dieser den Titel »Kaiser der Schuhe« innehat, eine Schuhfabrik sein Eigen nennt und auch sonst mit seinen Spleens recht einnehmend bis übergriffig ist? Der 26-jährige Bostoner Jude Alex Cohen – der bislang nur eine Aufgabe hatte: Sohn sein – versucht im chinesischen Shohan genau das. Auch mit Hilfe der Arbeiterin Ivy, die ihm ihr Leben und die jüngere Geschichte Chinas zeigt und Alex damit ganz neue Wege eröffnet.

Genres: Fiction, China, Contemporary, Jewish, Cultural, Asia, Literary Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2018

Reviews

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It’s a bright moon outside, and from the window of my house I can see the skeletal gray of the factory, the banners draped like sashes and the deep arterial red of Mandarin characters demanding change, and I’m wondering how the fuck this Jewish kid from Boston could somehow wind up a YouTube hero in the Chinese Revolution.”

That wonderfully written and thought provoking beginning paragraph certainly drew me in and I wanted to know. It’s 2015 in South China and Alex Cohen at 26 years old ends up at a crossroads in his life when his father, the owner of a shoe factory wants to pass the responsibility of running the business over to him - or does he? The senior Mr. Cohen wants to hand over the reigns, expecting that Alex will continue with the practices he engages in paying off corrupt locals, maintaining the horrible working conditions and exploitation of the workers. A horrible event happens at the factory and it truly becomes a time of reckoning for Alex with choices to make. At the same time, he encounters Ivy, an activist implanted as a factory worker with the desire to organize in hopes of improving things for the workers. She’s brave and cares for the people of her country, carrying a burden of loss for what happened at Tiannanmen Square years before. In some way she remained an enigma to me until the end.

We get glimpses of Alex’s relationship with his father and his Jewish upbringing. Alex’s reflections on growing up Jewish and sometimes relating those beliefs or rituals to the importance of Chinese traditions and what is happening to the Chinese workers was quite poignant. “I wanted to say to him.....We’ve been persecuted and poor, and now you’ve just turned around and done it to other people. Exploiting, abusing - how do you call yourself Jewish.” I won’t tell further of the story, but will just say that this was a worthwhile, moving story and it’s clear from these recent articles that the situations described here are real.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018...

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...

https://www.theepochtimes.com/working...


I received an advanced copy of this book from Hanover Square through NetGalley and Edelweiss.

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 exciting stars to The Emperor of Shoes! 👠 👞 👠 👟 👠

The Emperor of Shoes is an unexpectedly delicious read. Alex Cohen is a twenty-six-year-old Jewish expatriate living in southern China. He is needed there to run his family’s shoe factory.

Alex is reluctant in taking this role, and once he does, as he travels the floors of the business, he is shocked by the exploitation and corruption he witnesses therein.

Alex then meets Ivy, a seamstress in his factory, who is secretly a political organizer, threatening to pull the rug out from under his family’s business if she can get all the laborers on the same page.

I absolutely loved Emperor of Shoes. It’s a cross-cultural story with emotionally and politically charged issues, along with the threat of vast systems’ changes as society, technology, and social mores evolve. I enjoyed observing the dynamic between Alex and his father, and also the changes within Alex, as he figures out his own ethics; a coming of age for him, really.

Overall, Emperor of Shoes is an original story about change on different levels and how explosive it can be to relationships.

Thank you to Spencer Wise, Hanover Square Press, and Edelweiss for the ARC. Emperor of Shoes is now available!

My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com

[Fran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Guangdong, South China 2015. Fedor Cohen is the primary owner of The Tiger Shoe Factory. The factory consists of an administration building, two production plants and two dormitories. Fedor, a Jewish Bostonian, runs his business with precision and order, resisting change. Alex Cohen, Fedor's twenty-six year old son, is being groomed to take over the family business. A father-son conflict of ideas is on the horizon.

Upon scrutiny, Alex realizes that maintaining the bottom line and increasing productivity comes at a cost. In addition, he can compare and contrast the lifestyle he and Fedor experience living in the Intercontinental Hotel with the dormitory living of migrant workers. The workers wait in long lines to shower. Hot water is available only at 8 AM or 8 PM. Cohen, the elder, tells Alex that he has poured his life's blood into the factory for the sake of the family. A hefty dose of Jewish guilt!

Enlightenment comes slowly to Alex through his association with Ivy, a stitcher in the sample room. He learns that managers supervise their workers and assess any wasted movements during the work day. A worker could cost the shoe factory perhaps eight minutes of work in a week. Totally unacceptable! Alex has ideas. He has compassion. Should he, could he, risk expressing his ideas to his father whose profit margin is achieved through hard work, corruption and bribes? Ivy, in her own way, tries to shape Alex's path.

"The Emperor of Shoes" is a work of literary fiction which shines a spotlight on doing business and change, as a byproduct of technology and societal awareness in South China. "The Emperor of Shoes" by Spencer Wise is an excellent debut novel.

Thank you HARLEQUIN-Hanover Square Press and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "The Emperor of Shoes".

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last words......

Dad said, "On his deathbed, Rabbi Akiba told his son, 'Wear a decent pair of shoes.' Those were his last words."

And in keeping shoes worthy of Rabbi Akiba, Alex Cohen, via Boston to southern China, assists his father in a family-owned shoe factory in Guandong. Being Jewish and living in China doesn't necessarily make you a citizen of the world. According to Alex, being Jewish, alone, always makes you an outsider.

Alex embraces his newly acquired life with a bit of intrepidation. But Alex embraces Ivy far more. Ivy's given name is Hanjia Liu. She works as a stitcher in the sample room of the factory. Ivy's talents are multi-faceted as she is a former organizer at Tiananmen and secretly delivers pamphlets for organizing a workers' union. Ivy lives up to her newly dubbed name as she weaves cautiously in and out of the dark corners in order to bring the light of a pro-democratic Chinese party. It is Ivy who opens the dulled eyes of Alex to what is really going on in his father's factory.

With the winds of revolutionary ideas swirling around him, Alex realizes that something is amiss in his father's usual day-to-day operations. He is repeatedly stepping back and allowing Alex more say in the company without Alex being properly groomed for the responsibilities. Money seems to pass readily from hand to hand. It is these transactions that prompt Alex into pulling back the silken curtains.

Spencer Wise creates a beautifully crafted novel with fine-tuned main characters surrounded in the upheavals of social and technological change. The old ways no longer benefit neither the citizen nor the craftsmanship of the present day worker. Revolutionary ideals may even wedge their way between personal relationships including father and son. The answers we seek may not be the answers we welcome. Deftly written, The Emperor of Shoes is one to watch.

I received a copy of The Emperor of Shoes through Goodreads Giveaways. My thanks to Hanover Square Press and to Spencer Wise for the opportunity.

[Marialyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

My reviews an be found here: https://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpres...

Life always seems to be in a state of flux. As we grow, we develop relationships, some of them tenuous which have a pull and tug connection between our selves and our world in which we live.

Alex Cohen is a young Jewish man living in Southern China. He and his father own a shoe factory and have a relationship that can be considered at times contentious. Alex's dad is the boss. His word is law and though at times his words to Alex are funny, they often hurt. Alex is in a relationship with a Chinese revolutionary, a young girl who works in the factory. She and others are looking to change China. They want a more democratic form of leadership and as Alex assumes and becomes the head of the company, he sees how the workers are being exploited.

Alex loves his father and yet when he sees the climate the workers are forced to be in, and their plight, it sets him on a collision course against the father who has always been his rock. Alex runs up against the idealism of what he wants to see happening and the love of a father and the heritage he carries. He also finds himself in a dangerous situation with the powers that be.

Alex's father is ambitious, wanting success to be theirs, always striving for more, often disregarding how one does acquire that more. China is portrayed, twenty five years after Tiananmen Square, as being a place ripe for democracy yet controlled by a few who would use any means to keep their position. It is a place ripe for change and as Alex himself fells change coming, he witnesses not only a country, a people wanting to so embrace human rights and needs, but he himself grabbing onto change within the person he strives to be.

Beautifully written, this story unfolds among a world that is changing too fast for some. Can Alex find that freedom he longs for, freedom from his father, freedom from heritage, and freedom that will not shatter everything? Can he save the relationship he has had with his father and with the young Chinese revolutionary, Ivy? "Relationships are like glass. Sometimes it's better to leave them broken than try to hurt yourself putting it back together." Can China also find their way in recognizing the human in every person who lives and works within their massive country?

Thank you to Spencer Wise, Hanover Publishing, and Edelweiss for an advanced copy of this book. It was quite an interesting look into a world where freedom is not really free.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite his lack of experience, Alex Cohen's father Fedor makes him a partner in the shoe business Fedor has built in China. Alex, who is 26 in 2015, is falling in love with Ivy, a 36 year old stitcher in the shoe factory. Ivy, whose sister was killed in Tiananmen Square, is secretly part of a revolutionary group that wants to increase the rights of Chinese workers.

I'm afraid that this book was just ok for me. There were some interesting descriptions of life in China, but one of my problems with the book was that I didn't like Alex. He was too passive and easily manipulated by both his father and Ivy. He wanted to be out from under the thumb of his father, but never considered maybe getting a job someplace else rather than just being handed a business. While my favorite part of the book was the father/son conflict, I was rooting for Fedor, who had built a business only to see it threatened by Chinese politics, changing shoe trends, worker revolt and his own son. The author however is rooting for Alex. I was less interested in the story of the workers. Perhaps because it wasn't told from their point of view, and Ivy seemed more stereotype than real woman. I might read more by this author if I came across it, but I wouldn't actively seek it out.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[Jin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eine interessante Geschichte eines jüdischen jungen Erwachsenen, der gegen das System versucht zu rebellieren. Die Geschichte spielt in einer Schuhfabrik, wo der Sohn des "Schuhkaisers" versuche aus der Autorität seines jüdisch-amerikanischen Vaters und der von China zu entfliehen. Die Geschichte liest sich spannend und einfach, und die skurrilen Szenen der Chinesen zeichnen eine exotische, surreale Welt. Der Sohn steht für die Ideale der Welt, um die es sich zu kämpfen lohnt; die Jugend, die die Welt ändern will. Der Vater und China auf der anderen Seite stellen den übermächtigen Gegener dar, die fast unbezwingbar scheinen.

Ich fand insbesondere die Parallelen, die in dem Buch gezogen wurden, sehr interessant. Wieso wählte der Autor gerade eine Schuhfabrik? Sicherlich nicht nur wegen seinen eigenen Erfahrungen, da er selbst in einer chinesischen Schuhfabrik gearbeitet hat. Oder die Unterdrückung und Enteignung bestimmter Völker/-gruppen, die sich in der Geschichte immer zu wiederholen scheinen. Trotz der schweren Thematik schafft es das Buch etwas Leben und Leichtigkeit zu vermitteln. Und ich fand es auch interessant, dass ein jüdischer Amerikaner versucht sich in China zu behaupten, in einer Welt, wo er eigentlich nicht willkommen ist.
Der Roman fühlt sich wie ein Coming-of-Age-Roman an, auch wenn der Hauptcharaktere dafür etwas zu alt ist. Insgesamt hat mir die Geschichte gefallen, auch wenn das Ende für mein Geschmack etwas zu vorhersehbar war.

** Dieses Buch wurde mir über NetGalley als E-Book zur Verfügung gestellt **

[Mridula Gupta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dream big is something we all have been advised at least once in life. But a tine idea, a small change is also capable of bringing a change in our lives as well as others. The Emperor of Shoes is one such tale. Alex, the son, and inheritor of an established shoemaking company in China is yet to find his purpose. His life takes a toll when he joins the company and discovers the ways his father has been running the company, mainly the underlying bribery and exploitation.

Alex meets a girl whose revolutionary ideologies affect Alex the most. Alex is in love with her and while she has been trying to make the lives of the workers in the factory better, she wants his support. Among all the turmoil, Alex needs to pick a side- his father’s or the workers.

The Emperor of Shoes is mainly about exploitation and the injustice factory workers face in China, while the rich get richer. Alex is the poster boy of the plot, a confused person, without direction or guidance, just expected to take the company to great heights. His mental state has been beautifully described by the author and anyone who doesn’t know what they want from life can easily empathize with him. He wants to do good, but the path is full of risks that can be deadly, literally.

While I found the writing style a bit simple as compared to other literary fictions, the story doesn’t get boring. There are mentions of great revolutionary leaders and the ways people can bring change. The characters are very different from each other, the demarcation maintained throughout. Emotions play an important part in the story as we need to feel the pain in order to know it. There are lighter moments too which makes it easier to follow the plot. The ending has been kept realistic without any over the top drama/climax.

“The Emperor of Shoes is subtle yet thought-provoking take on revolutionary ideas, with a protagonist who is yet to find his ideal niche, and is as vulnerable as any other human.”

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his praise for The Emperor of Shoes, Robert Olen Butler describes the book as ‘character-rich’ and I can’t disagree.  That doesn’t mean, however, that the characters are necessarily easy to like.

I found myself constantly shifting my view of Alex’s father, Fedor, accorded the accolade the ‘Emperor of Shoes’ (as he proudly reminds people).  One minute I felt he was merely an ambitious father trying his best to preserve the family business for his son in the face of changing market forces; the next minute, I was feeling reluctant sympathy for a pathetic, hypochondriac desperate for his son’s attention; the next minute, I was repelled by a monstrous figure up to his eyes in corruption with little or no regard for the lives of his workers.

Similarly, I started out condemning Alex for his naivety about working conditions in the factory.  How could he not have known what was going on?  Was he stupid, deliberately turning a blind eye because he couldn’t face up to the truth, or fearful of challenging his father?  However, the author skilfully takes the reader inside the mind of Alex, sharing his struggles with the difficult moral choices he faces and slowly gaining this reader’s sympathy.

Inspired by Ivy, the Chinese woman and activist with whom he forms a relationship, Alex begins to imagine making a difference to the lives of the workers in his factory.  But he faces opposition from the local state institutions built on bribes (euphemistically referred to as ‘gifts’) and corruption, personified by the malign and creepy Gang, described as ‘a Brooklyn mob boss in Mao jacket and togs’ who can make people ‘disappear with a nod of the head.’   A business proposition from Alex’s old friend, Bernie, offers the possibility of a third way but will mean taking a strikingly different path from the way his father has run the business up until now.    Does Alex have what it takes to face down ‘The Emperor of Shoes’ and start a quiet revolution?  And, if he does, will it take a greater sacrifice than he can bear?

The Emperor of Shoes made me think – and I always like that in a book.  For example, it made me question if, with a clear conscience, I could ever buy shoes made in China again without assuring myself of the working conditions in the factory.   ‘The elevator opened onto a room the size of an airplane hanger, and the dank warm air from the heat setter boxes slipped over my face like a pillow.  A boy with a Mohawk scowled at me: a stump for a right arm, severed at the elbow by the steel embossing plate on the leather grain press.  A girl, eyes jaundiced, punch-drunk, the first flush of benzene poisoning from cement glue vapors, scratched at her arm.  Everywhere, people and machines.’    A far cry from the conditions in Alex’s upmarket hotel.

The book also explores in an interesting way questions of identity.   An American by birth, Alex is nevertheless keenly aware of his Jewish and Russian heritage.  At one point, he is asked by Zhang, leader of the activist movement: “Russian, Jewish, American.  How can you be all?  Or do you pick one?”

There is real energy in the writing, along with acute observation and dark humour – for example, when Alex returns to his luxurious, air-conditioned hotel suite after a day at the factory (while the workers return to their dormitories subject to a curfew).  ‘There was a silver tray on my desk with a bottle of wine, a long stem rose in a champagne flute, a box of Godiva chocolates.  Even the gifts were a kind of mockery: here, enjoy a long sensual evening by yourself. These came courtesy of the hotel, once a week, for Ambassador level guests.  You reached Ambassador when you’d spent a good three quarters of your life on the road sleeping in their hotels.  It got passed down too, an inheritance you didn’t earn.  Death by luxury.’    

The Emperor of Shoes is an impressive debut – compelling, thought-provoking and spirited.  I, for one, can’t wait to read what the author creates next.

I received a review copy courtesy of publishers, No Exit Press, and Random Things Tours in return for an honest and unbiased review. 

[Eva · Rating 4 out of 5]

How often do we buy something that says Made in China? When we do, do we stop and wonder about the conditions of the people who made this pair of jeans, this phone in our hand or the shoes on our feet?

At twenty-six years of age, Alex Cohen hasn’t really been questioning these things either, despite the fact his father owns a shoe factory in China. It isn’t until Alex meets Ivy, a seamstress at the factory, that his sympathies begin to shift.

This novel is mainly centred around the relationship between Alex and his father. Alex is fiercely loyal and while he feels changes need to be made somehow, he’s wary of going against everything his father stands for. All he really wants is to make him happy and proud. But Fedor Cohen isn’t a particularly likeable character most of the time. He doesn’t care one iota for his workers, the conditions they work and live in and would like nothing more than to see his son follow in his footsteps. Yet, despite their relationship being quite complicated, it’s also rather wonderful. There’s mutual respect and also a lovely dose of humour.

And then there’s Alex’s relationship with Ivy. Ivy was present at the historical and unforgettable student protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 and despite the devastating consequences, her desire for a democratic and better China hasn’t waned. Is she using Alex to push through changes, though?

I must admit I struggled with this novel a little bit at the start and wondered if literary fiction was perhaps a step too far for me. But at some point, things just clicked and I became quite engrossed. This is an incredibly thought-provoking novel that gives immense insight into the social issues that plague China and its population. The injustice and the corruption is really laid bare. But it’s not all doom and gloom as there are some quite funny moments too. Chinese proverbs do not translate well to English, for one, and there’s also an older factory worker who apparently learned the little knowledge of English she has through movies.

With wonderfully vivid descriptions of China and an eye-opening topic, this beautifully written and realistic novel about change in every shape or form is a powerful debut by Spencer Wise and I’m glad, that despite the initial struggle, I persevered.

[SueKich · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Only the wearer knows if the shoe fits.”
President Xi Jinping

One of the most marvellous things about reading is that one can be transported to another world. Here, the reader is virtually transported to two. The eponymous ‘Emperor of Shoes’ is an aging Jewish Bostonian and part-owner of a shoe factory in Guangdong, Southern China. His 26-year old son Alex, the narrator, is being groomed to follow in his formidable father’s footsteps. Unusually and without recourse to flashbacks, Spencer Wise interweaves the historical Jewish threads of his story with the current communist/capitalist dichotomy of modern China. This is handled with tremendous tenderness, subtlety and insight. But also with grit.

Alex has fallen hook, line and sinker for a Chinese woman who works in the factory. Ivy is different to most of the other workers, she’s fluent in English for one thing. She’s also committed to an underground revolutionary group fighting for fairer work practices in China. Alex - so used to pleasing his arch-capitalist father - now finds himself swayed by the influence of his socialist squeeze. With his conscience sorely tested, the Jewish guilt bubbles up nicely. But things are about to get really complicated for Alex when the corruption inherent in the Chinese system of doing business comes into play.

Turning a two-dimensional design of a shoe into a three-dimensional object to wrap around something as complex as the human foot is a complicated process requiring a great many stages of development. Likewise, turning a callow young man into a mature thinking adult requires several degrees of nuanced fine tuning on the part of the author. Spencer Wise achieves this growth of character with conviction, empathy and humour. A terrific debut and an interesting new voice. Warmly recommended.

My thanks to No Exit Press for the ARC via NetGalley.

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m afraid I didn’t get on very well with The Emperor of Shoes. I should have done, really – it’s well written and has a noble aim, but it completely failed to engage me.

Set in China in 2015, Alex is made to take over from his father as controller of the shoe factory he owns. The father is an uncaring, ruthless employer who exploits his workforce and treats them badly, while Alex has a conscience and has also fallen for a beautiful worker in the factory, who is also a fearless campaigner… I’m afraid it just felt like a very corny set-up. This is a serious work of fiction and very well written, but I really was constantly reminded of the Mill-Owner’s Son Falls For Factory Girl cliché. The romance didn’t convince me, I didn’t get much sense of place in China, the message seemed rather heavy-handedly presented and the Jewish Guilt stuff didn’t do a lot for me either.

I’m sorry to be critical of a well-written book with a fine purpose and one which many people have plainly found very good, but I’m afraid I had to struggle to keep going and I can’t recommend it.

[Susan Hampson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t really suppose that Alex Cohen had given much thought to how the family wealth had been acquired. I don’t suppose you would when you are the third generation in the family shoe business. I am not talking a little high street shop here, I am talking about the production side, the factories that make the shoes for major shoe retailers. So Alex had quite a task on his shoulders because he really wanted his father to be proud of him or at least he did until he saw the real cost of making the shoes.
This is one mighty powerful story where I had to keep turning back the pages to make sure I had got the time period right and that it was taking place in present day. Alex was to learn the family trade which was based in China. Oh my I could have wept as Alex took a tour of the start to finish shoe production line, from carcass to high-class shoe, that had made his family name and fortune in China. When Ivy caught his eye, a young Chinese girl making the shoes, his life took on a new direction.
Oh my this story really opened my eyes to world trade and how the system can be abused. This is a very powerful story with strong characters that are willing to lay down their lives to change conditions for the better. There are the odd wolves in amongst the people who are there for all the wrong reasons. Greed and exploitation comes in many disguises from people who have little regard for life to people much closer to home where they only see the bottom line.
Alex was a changed man by the end of the story. A much wiser man than the gullible one straight from college. An absolutely riveting read.
I wish to thank NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book which I have reviewed honestly.

[Kathryn in FL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty-six year old, Alex Cohen has just been made partner of the shoe company that his father runs out of small manufacturing city in China. They live in a nearby 5 star hotel, eating exotic foods at exotic prices, while their workers are living in dormitories on the plant's premises. They live with a 11 pm curfew. The extreme disparity in living conditions makes Alex feel guilty. Calisthenics are required each morning prior to clocking in for the days work. The work is very repetitive and depending on the department can be quite dangerous not to mention the odor of chemicals and the offal of the fresh leather is nauseating to Alex, his response makes it hard for him to imagine anyone dealing with the flesh and the toxic chemicals on a daily basis. However, it is apparent that Alex is spoiled and immature. Likewise, his focus on his work has been deeply distracted by an older woman named Ivy, a Chinese employee (whom he has never bothered to learn the proper pronunciation of her given name).

Alex's father, Fedor has the weight of the world on his shoulders. His sales are down from the big department stores that place their label on his shoes. He is 4th generation shoemaker and a proud descendant of Russian Jews; his father survived the Holocaust. Fedor and Alex are like oil and water. Fedor doesn't relate well to others, his character is very flat in the story and essentially the reader perceives him as a narrow-minded, obsessed with work, a business oriented man, who is emotionally stagnant. Alex on the other hand struggles to connect to his father but gets frustrated and goes off on his own direction. Herein, lies the story.

Ivy has Alex twisted around her finger. She tells him that her sister died protesting at Tiananmen Square Massacre. She convinces him that the workers must have more freedoms such as not having to ask permission to use the restroom, not being fined for receiving a text message while at work, their possession of their work papers (which allows them to find work elsewhere, which the company is holding) and benefits such as those that are offered in the U.S. Alex explains to Ivy that should the company provide all these requests to their employees, the company will no longer be competitive (because they will end up passing these costs to consumers) and such action will require them to move to another location, where they will remain competitively priced. However, soon Alex meets a more persuasive cohort of Ivy's and agrees to allow the factory's employees to stage a walkout that will be broadcast on youtube live. Meanwhile, Alex has been trying to persuade his father to launch a Brand Name shoe, which will mean no profit for at least two or three years (when the company is already in a precarious state). His father likes the idea but it is impossible given their current situation.

As the story coalescence's, Alex sees how naive he has been and the bridges he has burned. His actions have upset the applecart for the region, which has a number of manufacturing facilities, primarily shoe manufacturers. He has embarrassed the mayor of the community and has possibly harmed the mayor's opportunity for upward movement in the Communist party. Meanwhile, we know that the tenuous relationship with his father may be irreparable.

This story offers first hand insight into the challenges faced by American businesses in China and other countries abroad. We witness the graft that exists (not that it doesn't exist in the U.S.) but we realize that consumers have become enamored with cheap goods at the cost of a whole change in lifestyle in China. Alex states to Ivy that the changes taking place in the Chinese economy has happened in 25 years compared to those same changes having occurred in the U.S. of over 100 year period. As people relocated from small rural areas to the bigger manufacturing cities looking for good paying jobs with benefits, they have been leaving the older people behind leading some of the as the communities to collapse.

The story garnered 4 stars as it brings to light a pressing matter seldom talked about in the news forums other than business. American businesses are shipping jobs abroad especially to Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Will this trend continue to Asia? What about the new tariffs going into effect?

I deducted one point for the following reasons: I found Alex's character unrealistic, he was to old to be so naive, and to have been manipulated in the manner he was; most of the characterizations were flat; and it was unacceptable for a book to be missing key words. The biggest failing was the spelling of Alex's last name about 60% of the time it was Cohen and 40% of the time it appears as Cohain (the book was written by a University writing professor!) . I was not reading an Advanced Reading Copy, this was the first printing of the book.
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ADDITIONAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

It is unfortunate that our world is run by a very small group of people worldwide; who have tremendous control over the lives of billions of people. Since 2016, I have been following the case of a journalist, Andy Hall for covering workers strike in Thailand, they refused to work until their back wages were paid and their work papers were returned (the employer was holding their work papers so they couldn't work elsewhere). He had been thrown in prison in September 2016 for interviewing these individuals who formed the union of Natural Fruit workers. The court found Alex guilty of 4 charges and Alex was given a 2 year prison sentence and fine. The Supreme Court overturned the ruling (18 months later after great international pressure and much of his time served) and he still has four other charges in place and has not been released. If you would like to speak out go to FreedomUnited.Org

The following paragraphs are research dealing with these matters in recent months. I have included what I believe in an insightful experience when I worked for a manufacturing company that makes household products that originally sold at home parties...

The Unintended Consequences of workers demanding better treatment and pay has resulted in an exodus of companies moving manufacturing from China to other countries and I read this article about a company bringing their business back to the U.S. from China in April. https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/11...

Today's article in a Chinese publication discusses a move from China to Vietnam by a number of businesses (look and see where your clothes are made!
/https://www.scmp.com/business/compani...

This isn't just a phenomena in China, Japanese and Korean businesses are loosing their business competitiveness as well to other Asian countries to the south.

Many analysts expect India will be the winner in the next few years and several large cities already have the appearance of an international cities such as Mumbai. In fact, I read a non-fiction story about 10 years ago, where the city of Mumbai was moving approximately a million homeless people living in shanties made of cardboard away from areas where tourists and businesses frequent so that they would not see them while visiting the city. It has also become a leader in Medical Tourism. Many American's are having surgeries done there and paying the entire cost rather than pay the huge copays they would have if the surgery were done in the U.S. A South American friend told me that much of cosmetic surgery is done in Columbia and Peru (tummy tucks, face lifts, etc.).
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My EXPERIENCE IN THE MANUFACTURING WORLD:
As a person, who worked at a Fortune 50 company, I traveled to our manufacturing plants in the U.S. and experienced the hostility of employees first hand. They thought they were being taken advantage of (this was the 1989, when we started requiring an employee contribution to their healthcare -(which was the best in the region). The complaining and rage was shocking to me and others. These people had one of the best benefit plans in the country with few exceptions (General Motors was the best), which several years later began to require employee participation in cost. Ultimately, the one plant started talking of forming a union, there was no other business in that region for at least a 150 mile radius that employed more than 10 people, and yet these people had a pension (company paid) and a 401K plan. We even had dental coverage! The sad outcome was the company shut that plant down and those employees had no alternative job opportunities but many lived in poverty and if they were lucky they had some land to grow tobacco or cotton. We did that at other locations as well (before my time). It was frustrating because they were warned, management tried to reason with them to see the big picture as Alex tried with Ivy. I had to deal with my own frustration because I worked at corporate office as salaried at 60 hours a week but ironically most of them made more than I did of course I wasn't allowed disclose wage information), so it was frustrating for me -( I received no over time like many salaried workers (FL favors corporations)). This was in the 1990. The employees today are treated so differently now, it is like night and day. People didn't have to choose between getting a prescription filled of buying food for their family that week. None of us had any idea how good things really were! (

[Buchdoktor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Die Cohens, Nachkommen russischer Juden, produzieren seit Generationen Schuhe, in den letzten 20 Jahren im Süden Chinas. Der starrsinnige Fedor gründete dort unmittelbar nach Richard Nixons Pingpong-Diplomatie eine Fabrik für Lederschuhe und -stiefel. Damals war das nur gemeinsam mit einem einheimischen Joint-Venture-Partner möglich, der sich seine Unterstützung natürlich gut bezahlen ließ. Spencer Wise sollte das wissen. Mitte der 90er kommt Fedors 25-jähriger Sohn Alex nach Foshan, um ins Unternehmen „Tiger Step“ einzusteigen. Den in den USA erzogenen und von der Mutter verwöhnten „Mister junger Cohen“ hält Vater Fedor für viel zu verweichlicht für das Arbeitsleben. Alex verfügt offenbar weder über Kenntnis chinesischer Sitten noch über Kompetenzen zur Leitung einer Fabrik. In welchem Unternehmensbereich der Junior und Icherzähler des Romans zukünftig Verantwortung übernehmen wird, bleibt unausgesprochen. Verwunderlich; denn er hat beim Vater und Großvater von der Pieke auf gelernt und zeigt Talent für Modellentwicklung. Dass Vater und Sohn vor ihrem Generations- und Übernahmekonflikt kneifen, ist nicht zu übersehen.

Noch ehe er ins Unternehmen eingearbeitet ist, wird Alex durch die Pekingerin Yvy auf ein Problem einer jungen Fabrikarbeiterin bei "Tiger Step" aufmerksam. Für eine Arbeiterin wirkt die 10 Jahre ältere Yvy zu gebildet und ihr Hochchinesisch macht sie im Süden Chinas nicht glaubwürdiger. Offensichtlich testosterongesteuert tappt Alex Ivy nach, tritt in jedes sich bietende interkulturelle Fettnäpfchen und scheint sich immer weiter von der nötigen Auseinandersetzung mit seinem Vater zu entfernen. Schließlich stellt Gang, Cohens einheimischer Joint-Venture-Partner, den jungen Cohen vor vollendete Tatsachen. Bei „Tiger Step“ bereitet eine radikale Bewegung eine Protestaktion gegen die Arbeitsbedingungen vor – und Alex kennt die Hinterleute nur zu gut. Gang will von Alex die Namen der Aktivisten haben; denn es ist sein Profit, den er in der Phantasie schon den Perlfluss hinab schwimmen sieht, wenn die Vorgänge in der Schuhfabrik öffentlich bekannt werden. Viel zu spät erst kann Alex zeigen, dass er doch etwas mehr als Sex im Kopf hat.

Alex Cohens langwieriger Umweg über die Arbeitsbedingungen junger Fabrikarbeiterinnen in China, um sich endlich mit seinem Vater und seinem Jüdischsein auseinanderzusetzen, war für mich eine Qual zu lesen, weil Vater und Sohn jeder auf seine Art wie arrogante, lüsterne Trottel wirkten. Mag sein, dass jüdische Amerikaner darüber schmunzeln können. Unrealistische Exkurse in einem durchaus realistischen Plot, Wises unbedarft als Retter chinesischer Arbeiterinnen in einer fremden Kultur herumtappender Icherzähler, Logiklöcher, Perspektivfehler und uninspirierte Sexszenen fand ich in dieser Massierung einfach nur qualvoll zu lesen. Eine unbedarfte Figur wie Alex als Icherzähler war für Wise als Debütautor offensichtlich eine schlechte Wahl.

[Thebooktrail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three words for now:

Insightful, thought-provoking and evocative

FULL REVIEW:



BookTrail the locations in the novel

What a fascinatingly complex novel. I admit to not being able to write this review straight after the book which is often what I try to do. There were so many questions in my head after I’d finished it. Even now I think it’s going to stay with me and grow even more, such is the sharpness and insight in this novel.

It’s quite remarkable to get this much symbolism, imagery, awareness, social commenter and a true sense of the human spirit in a debut novel. It’s very powerful and I had to read it slow to take it all in.

Words hit you in this novel, a novel about the changing China, new and emerging business practises, the journey from the old ways to the new, from the, in some cases, illegal practices to the freedom of having a conscience.

Ivy and Alex are two of the strongest and most symbolic characters I’ve read about in a long while and I feel this could be even more powerful that any history book. Gritty and raw. But oh so powerful.

[Mairead Hearne (swirlandthread.com) · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘This world is opening. Has opened. It’s a different world, the one I’m going to be living in, and I don’t understand my place in it.’

The Emperor of Shoes is the debut novel by American writer Spencer Wise. Published on 26th July by No Exit Press, it has been described as ‘ambitious, tightly plotted, profoundly humane and full of Yiddish humour…a sublime debut’.

This is a novel I expect will fall into the genre of Literary Fiction, dealing with the impact of the social and technological revolution on a Jewish family shoe empire, as a father and son both face up to the very complex challenges presented to them in modern day China.

The Emperor of Shoes is a novel that I knew from the outset was going to be a very quirky and unusual read for me. Spencer Wise has incorporated his own personal family history into his story, coming from a lineage of shoemakers dating back to the early shtetls in Poland. The novel is set in modern day China and gives the reader an insight into the difficulties and hardship of the working environment that exists in the shoe factories there. Alex Cohen, the main protagonist, joins his father in Guangdong, where it is the intention that he assume control over the manufacturing of their shoes. His father, a very overbearing figure, has successfully run his shoe empire for many years, but according to the old ways. The workers are oft treated very inhumanely, with Alex’s father choosing to ignore the conditions of his workforce once the endline is achieved and his profits remain high.

Alex is very taken aback by the exploitation of the workforce and the harshness of the environment. The pay is low, the work is soul-destroying and the staff are like caged animals within an extremely tough climate. Alex witnesses the corruption and is shocked by his father’s acceptance of this method of doing business. His father adopts very old workplace traditions but Alex is looking to make changes. There is the inevitable clash of two very different generations with extremely different ideas on how the factory should operate.

Spencer Wise took his research one step further by installing himself in the dormitory of a shoe factory in China so that he could get a full understanding of life there. This gave him a very hands-on understanding of the environment that he would be writing about in his novel, and with his family history in the business, the reader is given a wholly authentic experience.

As Alex sees first-hand the harshness of the workplace, he also meets Ivy. Ivy is older than Alex, yet she embodies perfection for Alex and he becomes enthralled with her, looking to spend as much time in her company as is possible. But Ivy is the antithesis of everything Alex and his father represent. She witnessed the horrors of Tiananmen Square and is now a political activist, with extreme views on the working conditions of the Chinese labour force. She abhors all that Alex’s family business represents, as can be seen in this small extract from a conversation they have…

‘”Eucalyptus? Yes. From Australia. Our government plants them everywhere. Thet grow fast and tall, but they drink all the nutrition in the soil and kill off other plants. Very bad. In English I think you call it invader species. I don’t know. Someone makes a lot of money off them.” I felt she was talking about me. I know she was..’

Alex gets caught up between his loyalty to his father and his growing love for Ivy and all that she represents. The old versus the new. With so many changes in society, Alex’s father is overwhelmed and feels threatened as he fears for the future of his empire and his position in this new world.

The Emperor of Shoes is almost an epic novel in a way I find quite difficult to articulate. While it was a little difficult to feel a strong connection with any of the characters, I feel this was more to do with my own lack of knowledge of a people, a society and of course of shoe manufacturing. I was really disturbed in reading about some of the horrendous treatment that was inflicted on the workers but at the same time I was also fascinated reading about the Chinese culture with their superstitions and beliefs.

The Emperor of Shoes is a beautiful story, a novel about love, acceptance and change. It is a story about the clashing world of the old traditional methods and the new technological and social changes that are inevitable in all societies today. Ultimately it is the story of a father and son as they struggle to maintain a relationship in an ever changing environment where two venerable and ancient heritages, Chinese and Judaism, come face-to-face with the modern world.

Fascinating. Insightful. Challenging.

[Kathryn in FL · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twenty-six year old, Alex Cohen has just been made partner of the shoe company that his father runs out of small manufacturing city in China. They live in a nearby 5 star hotel, eating exotic foods at exotic prices, while their workers are living in dormitories on the plant's premises. They live with a 11 pm curfew. The extreme disparity in living conditions makes Alex feel guilty. Calisthenics are required each morning prior to clocking in for the days work. The work is very repetitive and depending on the department can be quite dangerous not to mention the odor of chemicals and the offal of the fresh leather is nauseating to Alex, his response makes it hard for him to imagine anyone dealing with the flesh and the toxic chemicals on a daily basis. However, it is apparent that Alex is spoiled and immature. Likewise, his focus on his work has been deeply distracted by an older woman named Ivy, a Chinese employee (whom he has never bothered to learn the proper pronunciation of her given name).

Alex's father, Fedor has the weight of the world on his shoulders. His sales are down from the big department stores that place their label on his shoes. He is 4th generation shoemaker and a proud descendant of Russian Jews; his father survived the Holocaust. Fedor and Alex are like oil and water. Fedor doesn't relate well to others, his character is very flat in the story and essentially the reader perceives him as a narrow-minded, obsessed with work, a business oriented man, who is emotionally stagnant. Alex on the other hand struggles to connect to his father but gets frustrated and goes off on his own direction. Herein, lies the story.

Ivy has Alex twisted around her finger. She tells him that her sister died protesting at Tiananmen Square Massacre. She convinces him that the workers must have more freedoms such as not having to ask permission to use the restroom, not being fined for receiving a text message while at work, their possession of their work papers (which allows them to find work elsewhere, which the company is holding) and benefits such as those that are offered in the U.S. Alex explains to Ivy that should the company provide all these requests to their employees, the company will no longer be competitive (because they will end up passing these costs to consumers) and such action will require them to move to another location, where they will remain competitively priced. However, soon Alex meets a more persuasive cohort of Ivy's and agrees to allow the factory's employees to stage a walkout that will be broadcast on youtube live. Meanwhile, Alex has been trying to persuade his father to launch a Brand Name shoe, which will mean no profit for at least two or three years (when the company is already in a precarious state). His father likes the idea but it is impossible given their current situation.

As the story coalescences, Alex sees how naive he has been and the bridges he has burned. His actions have upset the applecart for the region, which has a number of manufacturing facilities, primarily shoe manufacturers. He has embarrassed the mayor of the community and has possibly harmed the mayor's opportunity for upward movement in the Communist party. Meanwhile, we know that the tenuous relationship with his father may be irreparable.

This story offers first hand insight into the challenges faced by American businesses in China and other countries abroad. We witness the graft that exists (not that it doesn't exist in the U.S.) but we realize that consumers have become enamored with cheap goods at the cost of a whole change in lifestyle in China. Alex states to Ivy that the changes taking place in the Chinese economy has happened in 25 years compared to those same changes having occurred in the U.S. of over 100 year period. As people relocated from small rural areas to the bigger manufacturing cities looking for good paying jobs with benefits, they have been leaving the older people behind leading some of the as the communities to collapse.

The story garnered 4 stars as it brings to light a pressing matter seldom talked about in the news forums other than business. American businesses are shipping jobs abroad especially to Dubai and Saudi Arabia. Will this trend continue to Asia? What about the new tariffs going into effect?

I deducted one point for the following reasons: I found Alex's character unrealistic, he was to old to be so naive, and to have been manipulated in the manner he was; most of the characterizations were flat; and it was unacceptable for a book to be missing key words. The biggest failing was the spelling of Alex's last name about 60% of the time it was Cohen and 40% of the time it appears as Cohain (the book was written by a University writing professor!) . I was not reading an Advanced Reading Copy, this was the first printing of the book.
####

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ADDITIONAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT:

It is unfortunate that our world is run by a very small group of people worldwide; who have tremendous control over the lives of billions of people. Since 2016, I have been following the case of a journalist, Andy Hall for covering workers strike in Thailand, they refused to work until their back wages were paid and their work papers were returned (the employer was holding their work papers so they couldn't work elsewhere). He had been thrown in prison in September 2016 for interviewing these individuals who formed the union of Natural Fruit workers. The court found Alex guilty of 4 charges and Alex was given a 2 year prison sentence and fine. The Supreme Court overturned the ruling (18 months later after great international pressure and much of his time served) and he still has four other charges in place and has not been released. If you would like to speak out go to FreedomUnited.Org

The following paragraphs are research dealing with these matters in recent months. I have included what I believe in an insightful experience when I worked for a manufacturing company that makes household products that originally sold at home parties...

The Unintended Consequences of workers demanding better treatment and pay has resulted in an exodus of companies moving manufacturing from China to other countries and I read this article about a company bringing their business back to the U.S. from China in April. https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/11...

Today's article in a Chinese publication discusses a move from China to Vietnam by a number of businesses (look and see where your clothes are made!
/https://www.scmp.com/business/compani...

This isn't just a phenomena in China, Japanese and Korean businesses are loosing their business competitiveness as well to other Asian countries to the south.

Many analysts expect India will be the winner in the next few years and several large cities already have the appearance of an international cities such as Mumbai. In fact, I read a non-fiction story about 10 years ago, where the city of Mumbai was moving approximately a million homeless people living in shanties made of cardboard away from areas where tourists and businesses frequent so that they would not see them while visiting the city. It has also become a leader in Medical Tourism. Many American's are having surgeries done there and paying the entire cost rather than pay the huge copays they would have if the surgery were done in the U.S. A South American friend told me that much of cosmetic surgery is done in Columbia and Peru (tummy tucks, face lifts, etc.).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My EXPERIENCE IN THE MANUFACTURING WORLD:
As a person, who worked at a Fortune 50 company, I traveled to our manufacturing plants in the U.S. and experienced the hostility of employees first hand. They thought they were being taken advantage of (this was the 1989, when we started requiring an employee contribution to their healthcare -(which was the best in the region). The complaining and rage was shocking to me and others. These people had one of the best benefit plans in the country with few exceptions (General Motors was the best), which several years later began to require employee participation in cost. Ultimately, the one plant started talking of forming a union, there was no other business in that region for at least a 150 mile radius that employed more than 10 people, and yet these people had a pension (company paid) and a 401K plan. We even had dental coverage! The sad outcome was the company shut that plant down and those employees had no alternative job opportunities but many lived in poverty and if they were lucky they had some land to grow tobacco or cotton. We did that at other locations as well (before my time). It was frustrating because they were warned, management tried to reason with them to see the big picture as Alex tried with Ivy. I had to deal with my own frustration because I worked at corporate office as salaried at 60 hours a week but ironically most of them made more than I did of course I wasn't allowed disclose wage information), so it was frustrating for me -( I received no over time like many salaried workers (FL favors corporations)). This was in the 1990. The employees today are treated so differently now, it is like night and day. People didn't have to choose between getting a prescription filled of buying food for their family that week. None of us had any idea how good things really were!

[Linda Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alex Cohen lives in the shadow of his overbearing father as they manufacture shoes in China.

I am going to find it hard to define The Emperor of Shoes because it is partly a love story, partly a social commentary and partly a terrifyingly truthful examination of identity at all levels from the very personal to racial and national. Wherever a reader might want to place The Emperor of Shoes, it is a prodigious example of affecting and effective writing. I can’t believe this is a debut novel and although it initially took me a short while to attune myself to the writing, once I got into its rhythms I thought it was wonderful.

The Emperor of Shoes is a remarkable book. Spencer Wise conveys with razor sharp accuracy the ways in which corruption and exploitation lead to our Western products so that I have to admit to feeling very uncomfortable at times as I read. I loved the way the book is grounded in the author’s personal knowledge through the Jewish and shoemaking elements and the social and political history of China so that there is complete and convincing authenticity. The blatant corruption of officialdom and the bullying nature of Alex’s father are truly awful, but at the same time, Spencer Wise manages to convey humour and vulnerability so that what should be quite a bleak read is tempered by love and integrity.

The quality of the prose is so good. Every sense is catered for and the variety of sentence structure creates the perfect emotion in every scene. There are apposite expletives that work in giving a vibrancy and immediacy to the story. This is particularly the case with the direct speech which I could hear totally clearly and naturally in my head as I read.

I loved the plot of The Emperor of Shoes too. It reverberates with deception at all kinds of levels making for a tense and taut narrative. I always felt as if everything could implode at any moment so that I felt as alien and anxious reading the book as Alex seems to feel in China under the control of his father. It takes incredible skill for a writer to create such a response.

I’m not really doing justice to the Emperor of Shoes. I found it complex, multilayered, totally absorbing and, sometimes, uncomfortably fascinating. I would urge you to read the book and see for yourself.

[Sue (booknbeachbag) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had much higher expectations when I picked up Spencer Wise's first novel, The Emperor of Shoes. I stuck with it - even with a long wait to get the ebook back from the library after it expired. I wanted to know how things worked out. I wasn't particularly satisfied with the ending.

Wise's writing was engaging and edgy. But sometimes it just wasn't as informative as I needed it to be.

The Emperor of Shoes is sent in 2015 China. Alex, the protagonist, is 26 years old and heir apparent to his father's shoe factory in China. At first Alex is merely an observer of the factory and his father's business tactics. But after he becomes an owner - and after he starts a relationship with a factory worker (who is actually a college educated worker who has other goals in mind while working at the factory) - his eyes are opened to unethical and unsafe business practices. Not just in their shoe factory but in other factories run by expatriates. This is a novel about social justice and social change. How best to go about initiating social change.

Alex is a Boston-born Jew. His father is an ugly stereotype of a Jewish business owner. Really ugly. I'd like to think he's the exception rather than the rule. Frequently Alex tries to create an equivalency between the treatment of the Jews in Eastern Europe during the late 1800s into the early 1900s with the treatment of Chinese factory workers in recent days. He wonders if his family survived all the torture they experienced to mete out torture to others.

We see Alex change and grow over the course of the novel. But he's never terribly likable. And his father is never at all likable. We only get to know Ivy, the Chinese worker that Alex becomes involved in, in terms of the plight of the Chinese people. She was there at Tiananmen Square, and now she's using that to convince Alex of the importance of unionizing the factories. But she is so one-dimensional.

I wish I knew more specifics about the very real struggles that exist in China. I wonder if that would have enriched the reading experience for me.

While I didn't really enjoy the book, I'm sure it will weigh heavy on my mind as I decide whether or not to buy a new iPhone in the next few months.

You can read more of my reviews at http://whatchareadingnow.blogspot.com....

[Entrada Book Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story!

Alex Cohen is the son of a shoe factory owner in China. He is in love with an older female Chinese line worker and gets caught up in her desire to improve factory conditions.

More of an intimate peek into factory production and Americans in China than a love story or even a revolution.

The story centers on Alex and his experiences. His relationship with his father is so strange but also feels very real. The writing is excellent, painting a picture of normal people trying to effect change by creating a partnership between communists and capitalists.

[Elizabeth]

Looking for a comic but thought-provoking gift book? The Emperor of Shoes, an insightful and often hilarious novel set around a U. S.-owned shoe factory in China, begins by plunging its protagonist Alex Cohen literally into deep shit, the sewage of a polluted Chinese river. He is late—no time to change—on his way to a celebratory dinner with his father and local Chinese party officials to learn that his father has made him manager of the family shoe factory.

This is a problem for Alex, who is aware of American-owned factories’ complicity (with bribed Party officials) in polluting the Chinese environment and exploiting internal-immigrant workers from remote areas. The stake is raised for Alex personally when Ivy, the Tiananmen Square veteran with whom he is romantically involved, confesses to being a labor organizer embedded at the factory by an illegal reformist party.

Alex’s gestures towards labor reform are impeded by his loving but utterly domineering father, a memorable character –their comic and poignant relationship, for me, one of the enduring takeaways from this book. The plot that quickly develops is tense, deft, and revealing: about character, the factory setting, and the dirty international business of supplying Americans with inexpensive shoes.

The subtler delights of The Emperor of Shoes include incisive, beautiful writing.

[Rick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like all shoe stories, this has its arch villain,
its heel, and a good sole. But it needs more sock!

[Tripfiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novel set in SOUTHERN CHINA (a shoeshine revolution)



The Emperor of Shoes is a story of exploitation – of Chinese workers by the factory’s owners. Low wages and poor work conditions so that US department stores can be supplied with ‘affordable’ own label footwear.

The Emperor of Shoes examines the business through the eyes of Alex Cohen, the 26 year old Jewish son of the factory’s overbearing owner. Alex gradually, but increasingly, takes the side of the Chinese workers. This process is obviously aided by his falling in love with Ivy, a production line worker in the factory. Ivy has history – her sister was killed in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. She is quietly determined to secure a better life for her fellow workers. She introduces Alex to Zhang, the leader of the Democratic Revolutionary Party. And together the three of them plot a day of non-violent protest at the factory. But Zhang is perhaps not all he seems.

The grim realities of Chinese politics kicks in. The local communist party boss (with ambitions way above the role he currently enjoys) cannot let a protest movement start on his patch. He has to intervene.

The Emperor of Shoes is a Jewish family saga of the battle between the father and the son. There is Yiddish humour, and much love – and much love lost – between the two. Their views of how to transform the factory, the lot of its workers, and the product range they produce, are at different ends of the spectrum. The old and traditional against the modern and enlightened. The book also makes one think, not exactly a new theme this, of the utterly down-trodden lives that some workers in far off lands live to bring us the consumer goods we ‘need’ in our shops.

Spencer Wise clearly knows what he is writing about. He is heir to a shoe-manufacturing dynasty that started five generations ago in New England – and today the family business is about producing goods in China. In 2013 he went to work in the shoe factory in Southern China that his father had contracts with – it was a real apprenticeship. He knows how to make a shoe from scratch… How much of The Emperor of Shoes is based in fact is anyone’s guess. But it is really good and thought-provoking read.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Emperor of Shoes is a novel that I enjoyed immensely. There is the storyline itself, that of a son of a shoe manufacturer who feels uncomfortable when he realises how bad the conditions are in their factory. There are the problems across China, some of which led to the terrible events that happened in Tiananmen Square. There is the romance between Alex and Ivy where they have to learn and respect each others cultural differences and most of all there is the relationship between Alex and his father. It is this relationship that makes this book so special. Many of their conversations made me smile, especially with his father’s obsessions, but they were also touching because you could see how close they were. Even if they couldn’t.
This is not a quick book to read. There were many moments that had me sat in silence, gazing into space. The empty villages, where everybody of a certain age had left to find work. The cold hearted managers in the factory who showed no compassion to the workers and the horrific conditions in which they worked. The telling of what happened at Tiananmen Square that felt like a first hand account.
It’s a truly wonderful novel that opens your eyes to different cultures but also to the working conditions in certain parts of the world.

[Swati · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 'The Emperor of Shoes' set in Guangdong, China, Spencer Wise tells us the story of Alex Cohen, a 26-year-old heir to a thriving shoe business. Of course, the shoe business thrives on the backs of underpaid Chinese workers, which Alex begins to see slowly.

Wise turns the spool unhurriedly, the various threads interleaving beautifully. There is the father-son relationship, which is about the proverbial young son trying to match up to his father's expectations, and go from being constantly controlled and dismissed to being noticed. Laced with wry humour, there is a certain tenderness about Alex's relationship with his father although it looks abrasive, and a bit heartless at times, on the outside.

There is the romance with Ivy, which also brings up the angle of foreigners in China, an American Jew to be specific here, and their perspectives of the country.

"Forced outside, I imagined us all walking aimlessly down the street in a herd, scrutinizing signage we couldn't understand, ignoring the plosive tongue-clack of cabdrivers, a slow barnanimal procession down the highway..."

Well, Alex is not just another white man as he wants to prove to everyone and, above all, to himself. He begins to force himself to come out of his father's shadow, and out of the cocoon of his own mind. This is where things get interesting. And also a little dangerous.

This is also where Wise tells us about the inner machinations of Chinese business politics, and the all-important guanxi that can mean life or death. We already know enough about the lives of Chinese workers, thanks to media bombardment, and Wise talks appropriately to us as informed readers by bringing in aspects of the issue where needed.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I just wish the ending was a bit more toned down, and not so easily resolved or understood.

I will end this review with the "old lines of Rabbi Hillel, 'If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?'"

Thank you to NetGalley and NoExit Press for giving me this ARC for a review.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

First let me be honest, I didn’t finish this book. I made it a little further than halfway. But I cannot go any further. It’s just not for me. I love stories about people and their passions and struggles but I could not relate to any of the characters in this one. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

[Melissa Dee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! With a profound respect for two ancient heritages, and a clear fascination with modern China and Judaism, Spencer Wise has written an atmospheric and timely story of a “shoe dog” in China. Alex Cohen is a young man in an old world. He is an idealist in a deeply cynical world. I was hoping for him to find his way, even while I was wincing at his naivety.

[Jayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Received this as an ARC from Westwinds Bookshop, Duxbury, MA
Wanted to like this but......I found the writing style very disjointed and jumpy. Great subject matter, social and moral issues - just not executed in a manner that would appeal to this reader

[Mary Picken · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is 25 years since the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Hong Kong has been handed over and trade between China and America is flourishing. Among those making money from the transition to a more commercial economy is shoemaker Fedor Cohen and his 26 year old son, Alex. Fedor runs the Tiger Shoe Factory in Guangdong, South China. The shoes are unbranded knock off, cheaply produced and sold to mass market shops that retail them with their own brand on them.

The system works because the kickbacks to party officials and others are in place and because the factory is ruled with a rod of iron by Chinese overseers who will penalise workers for taking too many bathroom breaks, singing while they work or even having mobile phones. These workers live in dormitories on site and without papers saying they work at the factory, held by Fedor and his managers, they would be effectively stateless.

The relationship between Alex and Fedor is not an easy one. They live in the Intercontinental Hotel. Fedor, whose marriage collapsed some time ago, has a Chinese mistress who is concierge at the hotel and Alex is just being inducted into the management side of the business as he becomes part owner of the factory under his father’s tutelage. While Alex knows rather a lot about shoes, he has no real idea of how the factory runs and what he sees once he begins to take a real interest, is quite an eye opener for him.

What Alex discovers is that mass market shoemaking is a cut-throat business with very tight margins, especially when kickbacks are in play. When he tries to discuss this with his father, he is brusquely dismissed as young and naïve (which he is) and told that he will soon learn what it takes to survive in their business.

But Alex has dreams and these are more than fuelled when he meets and falls for the enigmatic Hanjia Liu, a seamstress in the factory, who is called Ivy by the overseers. Ivy opens his eyes to the exploitative conditions that the workers have to endure and Alex himself is appalled at the corruption. Alex is also aware that the Party officials are keeping a close eye on the factory, looking for troublemakers and they try to recruit him into naming those workers that he thinks may be fomenting unrest.

Ivy’s sister died in the violence at Tiananmen Square and that has conditioned her politics ever since; she is now a closet political activist. She introduces Alex to Zhang, a revolutionary leader and they try to persuade him to take the lead in improving conditions in the sweatshop that is the Tiger Shoe factory.

There’s a brilliant juxtaposition inherent in the book between the persecution suffered by the Jewish people and the exploitation of the Chinese workers by Fedor. Alex can see it and does not understand why his father can’t.

As Alex struggles to find his way in the factory and as a man, the paths open to him all feel fraught with danger. It seems that he cannot both achieve what he wants and keep everyone on side. As Tony Blair might say, he is struggling to find a third way.

Tension mounts and the stakes are high for the future of the factory and its workers. Alex is going to have to do something bold if his dreams are to prevail.

The Emperor of Shoes is an incredibly well written book, finely crafted and well nuanced book. It carries a lot of humour and is beautifully argued and grimly authentic. Characterisation is lightly worn, but that does not detract from what is a gripping and compelling story with deep factual roots.

Verdict: A terrific debut novel and a story that needs to be told.