The Blue Lotus (The Adventures of Tintin) by Herge Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Blue Lotus (The Adventures of Tintin)
Book Review: The Blue Lotus is one of my most favoriteTintin adventures!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is about Tintin and Snowy going to Shanghai after a very mysterious letter from a Japanese man named Mitsuhirato. But danger strikes as Tintin finds out there is and old foe after him. What will happen? Find out when you read the sequel to Cigars of the Pharoah,The Blue Lotus!Book Review: Machiavelian plot line keeps you enthralled, Start to Finish
Summary: 5 Stars
Herge pulled out all the stops to provide a top quality Tintin story, providing an excellent example of fun for all the family with Tintin and friends. This story follows on from 'Cigars of the Pharoah', with the action rattling along at a fast pace. The original story being published in the magazine 'Le Petit Vingitieme' in Brussels in 1934-5, the story being set in 1931's Shanghai.
At that time Japanese troops were occupying parts of the Chinese mainland, and Shanghai was a trading base in china for western nations, administered by the British and the Americans. This story is based freely upon the events of the time, including the blowing up of the south Manchurian railway, which led to further incursions, by Japan into China and ultimately to Japans resignation from the League of Nations in 1933. The story starts with our intrepid hero's, Tintin and Snowy, resting in India, as guests of the Maharaja of Gaipajama. They are enjoying a well earned rest after their death defying encounter with a heinous gang of international drug smugglers, which they encountered in a previous instalment of Herge's, 'Cigars of the Pharaoh'.
In the book 'Cigars of the Pharaoh' they successfully smashed an evil drug ring, with the miscreant members all ending up behind Bars. However one exception to this success was that the ringleader, 'The Big Boss' he was unaccounted for as he escaped by disappearing over the edge of a cliff, to his death, was supposed.
The story in the 'Blue Lotus' continues with this excellent instalment thread 'much like the Sunday matinee movies we all enjoyed as kids' as questions still need answering regarding the last adventures conclusion, such as 'What of the terrible Rajaijah juice, the 'Poison of Madness'? Also ' Where was the opium destined for, hidden in the false cigars'? And ultimately who really was?/is? the mastermind behind the gangs heinous operations?
In this instalment Herge enthrals and enraptures the reader as we follow Tintin and friends as he tries to unravel the Machiavellian plot surrounding these questions. We are rapidly transported to another world where we follow his adventures as he is drawn deeper and ever deeper into the Political and seedy Secret Society underworld that this 1931's Shanghai that the story is set in. We read with baited breath as he battles with Japanese soldiers, baffles the police, and confuses Chinese gangsters while aiding the ancient Chinese secret society 'Sons of the Dragon', to ultimately discover the answers to his driving questions.
Readers will be glued to the pages until he finally finds the answer to his ultimate question, about who is responsible and behind all of this unrest..... the individual being Rast....no you'll have to read it to find out.. I don't want to spoil any of the book for you...heh heh heh.
A real must for all the ages, fun and educational aspects abound, as good thought provoking material presents itself throughout the book. One example being the sketch set in the Occidental Private Club, with Mr Gibbons et. al. As Gibbons and his upper crust official cronies sit their drinking and commenting on how they regard the Westerns' 'self supposed' supremacy as the best thing to happen to Shanghai. Expounding how cultured they believe themselves to be while exploiting and crushing under foot the itinerant population that exists in Shanghai, which in it's very nature was ancient and way ahead of the civilisation that was considered the norm in the west at the time.
The general material for the story is also very funny and plays excellently on many western suppositions. One example being the comic scene of the ineffectual Thompson Twins and their 'self belief' that by wearing traditional Chinese outfits they are completely disguised from the local population. All the while being the centre of attention of the itinerant chinese, being followed and laughed at by the local population.
I bought this book for a younger cousin but spent equally as much time enjoying it as my cousin did, but in a different way. For him it was the plot and the escapism of the story, for me it was the subtleties of the interpretations regarding the political climate at the time and the way humour is poked at many pre-supposed western assumptions and proclivities. These books and the re-issues provide excellent examples of Herge at his most wonderful and best. The stories are superb, a steal at any price. I can heartily recommend this one for all ages. Many a good talking point exists in the stories plot lines for young and old alike and especially for die hard Tintin fans.
GO OUT AND BUY IT NOW and no I am not privy to any licensing or promoting options with Herge's publishers. I simply love the stories for what they are fun escapism with a bit of realism added for good measure. Have fun and keep up the good work.
Book Review: Tintin and Snowy go to Tibet to rescue their friend Chang
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Blue Lotus" begins where "Cigars of the Pharaoh" left off, with Tintin and Snowy in India as the guests of the Maharaja of Gaipajama. The evil gang of international drug smugglers had been smashed and all of them are now behind bars except for the mysterious leader, who disappeared over a cliff. A visitor from Shanghai is hit with a dart dipped in Rajaijah juice, the poison of madness, which is enough to send our interipd hero to the Chinese city where his rickshaw runs into Gibsons, an occiental who is not looking where he is going and starts beating the rickshaw driver for daring to barge into a white man. Tintin intervenes, calling the man's conduct disgraceful and Gibbon vows revenge. The next thing we know Tintin is being shot at every time he turns around. Things become even more mysterious when another bystander is hit with a Rajaijah dart and Tintin embarks on a ship for Bombay only to wake up in the home of Wang Chen-yee, who begins to unravel the mystery for our hero. This Tintin adventure was first published in Belgium in 1934-35, although the story is actually set in 1931, which was when Japanese troops were first occupying parts of China. Shangai, the great northern seaport on the Yangtze river, had an International Settlement that served as a trading base for Western nations. Hergé incoprorates several actual events in this narrative, including the blowing-up of the South Manchurian railway, which served as an excuse for further Japanese incursions into China, and led to Japan walking out on the League of Nations.
Of course, it is the Japanese invaders who are after Tintin, who is pretty much on his own for most of this adventure until the Thom(p)sons show up with orders to arrest him (of course the duo don native dress, wanting to avoid causing a scene by walking around dressed in European clothes). The title of the story comes form an opium den that figures prominently in the resoltuion of the tale. "The Blue Lotus" finds Hergé fully committed to providing accurate cultural details in is stories, although this story has the added virtue of being the most "realistic" in terms of portraying current events in a world poised on the brink of war. His drawings of Asian figures can certainly be considered caricatures, but then this is pretty much true of the way he draws everybody in these stories, with the simplistic look of Tintin being the exception that proves the rule.
"The Blue Lotus" is also the adventure in which Tintin meets Chang Choug-chen, a young orphaned Chinese boy our hero saves from drowning. Chang is surprised a white devil would bother to save his life and Tintin haas to explain how not all white men are wicked. The character of Chang is based on Chang Chong-Chen,a young Chinese student who became Hergé's friend in 1934, as is the case with Chang and Tintin. When the Communists took over China the two friends lost touch. Decades later Tintin would race across half the earth to help rescue his friend in "Tintin in Tibet" in 1960. Even though he does not appear in the interim, Hergé makes it clear that Chang is a very special friend to Tintin. "The Blue Lotus" is a first rate Tintin adventure, made all the more special because once World War II began Hergé made a concerted effort to distance his stories from the horrors of the real world. After the war Hergé would deal with East-West tensions on a completely fictional level, making this early adventure of more than passing interest in Hergé's career.
Oh, and in 1981, Georges Remi (a.k.a. Hergé) and Chang Chong-Chen were reunited.
Book Review: Tintin and Snowy meet up with Chang Choug-chen
Summary: 5 Stars
"The Blue Lotus" begins where "Cigars of the Pharaoh" left off, with Tintin and Snowy in India as the guests of the Maharaja of Gaipajama. The evil gang of international drug smugglers had been smashed and all of them are now behind bars except for the mysterious leader, who disappeared over a cliff. A visitor from Shanghai is hit with a dart dipped in Rajaijah juice, the poison of madness, which is enough to send our intrepid hero to the Chinese city where his rickshaw runs into Gibson, an occidental who is not looking where he is going and starts beating the rickshaw driver for daring to barge into a white man. Tintin intervenes, calling the man's conduct disgraceful and Gibson vows revenge. The next thing we know Tintin is being shot at every time he turns around. Things become even more mysterious when another bystander is hit with a Rajaijah dart and Tintin embarks on a ship for Bombay only to wake up in the home of Wang Chen-yee, who begins to unravel the mystery for our hero. This Tintin adventure was first published in Belgium in 1934-35, although the story is actually set in 1931, which was when Japanese troops were first occupying parts of China. Shanghai, the great northern seaport on the Yangtze river, had an International Settlement that served as a trading base for Western nations. Hergé incoprorates several actual events in this narrative, including the blowing-up of the South Manchurian railway, which served as an excuse for further Japanese incursions into China, and led to Japan walking out on the League of Nations.
Of course, it is the Japanese invaders who are after Tintin, who is pretty much on his own for most of this adventure until the Thom(p)sons show up with orders to arrest him (of course the duo don native dress, wanting to avoid causing a scene by walking around dressed in European clothes). The title of the story comes form an opium den that figures prominently in the resoltuion of the tale. "The Blue Lotus" finds Hergé fully committed to providing accurate cultural details in is stories, although this story has the added virtue of being the most "realistic" in terms of portraying current events in a world poised on the brink of war. His drawings of Asian figures can certainly be considered caricatures, but then this is pretty much true of the way he draws everybody in these stories, with the simplistic look of Tintin being the exception that proves the rule.
"The Blue Lotus" is also the adventure in which Tintin meets Chang Choug-chen, a young orphaned Chinese boy our hero saves from drowning. Chang is surprised a white devil would bother to save his life and Tintin haas to explain how not all white men are wicked. The character of Chang is based on Chang Chong-Chen, a young Chinese student who became Hergé's friend in 1934, as is the case with Chang and Tintin. When the Communists took over China the two friends lost touch. Decades later Tintin would race across half the earth to help rescue his friend in "Tintin in Tibet" in 1960. Even though he does not appear in the interim, Hergé makes it clear that Chang is a very special friend to Tintin. "The Blue Lotus" is a first rate Tintin adventure, made all the more special because once World War II began Hergé made a concerted effort to distance his stories from the horrors of the real world. After the war Hergé would deal with East-West tensions on a completely fictional level, making this early adventure of more than passing interest in Hergé's career.
Oh, and in 1981, Georges Remi (a.k.a. Hergé) and Chang Chong-Chen were reunited.
Book Review: Lets be objective here
Summary: 3 Stars
Oh come on! This is an awful Tintin book, one that the Herge of later years himself would probably wish could have magically disappeared. Many of the later books are sublime, but this is dire.One of the few Tintin books that I have laughed more 'at' than 'with'.