The Emperor of Shoes by Spencer Wise

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.