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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
The book dragged near the end. I found the information about Burmese history to be helpful more than I found the storyline to be interesting.
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
It was brilliant. Being a Malaysian, brought back memories of my history classes. Though, there were particularly one part which I think the author could’ve misspelled the word that was used as derogatory reference to the Indians back in Malaya. Whatever it is, I kinda enjoyed the book.
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
first quarter of the book was so promising. it felt like gabriel garcia marquez and i was captivated by the writing! after a while it all kind of fell apart with the sheer weight of the plot that was too heavy and moving much too fast, undoing the work of the character building before. i truly enjoyed the writing in the first half, but i would not give this a second read.
The novel starts out great: nicely developed setting, interesting characters. I could even forgive Gosh the almost fairytale-like luck some characters have...
After about half of the book, my opinion changed. I was no longer very caught up in the book and was wondering why Gosh rushed some subplots along while others dragged along rather expansively... That is why I was so disappointed, I guess.. What started as a complex, interesting novel, ended with many started subplots that weren't properly finished. (Especially, the one with Jaya felt as if Gosh was like: oh darn, I forgot to finish the story about Dinu.. Ah, I'll let Jaya go look for him so I won't go over my max. page-limit.)
These rushed plots (with no real characters like Jaya, aged Dinu etc: these weren't really developed!) made the second half of the book feel like pages were missing in between chapters.
Characters that Gosh had built nicely enough in the first half (like Dinu) got lost in the second half and just appeared to be there to tell the younger ones stories (e.g. Dinu, who's there to tell Jaya everything that happened).
Oh and that ending?! Jaya wrote the book? Oh come on! That didn't work out for me, either. It felt like an afterthought of Gosh, and didn't really fit the build-up of a book, especially because the narrator wasn't really present throughout the book.
Long story short: a very ambitious novel that has a lot of scope, but loses its depth and becomes more and more shallow.
I preferred "The Hungry Tide"
After about half of the book, my opinion changed. I was no longer very caught up in the book and was wondering why Gosh rushed some subplots along while others dragged along rather expansively... That is why I was so disappointed, I guess.. What started as a complex, interesting novel, ended with many started subplots that weren't properly finished. (Especially, the one with Jaya felt as if Gosh was like: oh darn, I forgot to finish the story about Dinu.. Ah, I'll let Jaya go look for him so I won't go over my max. page-limit.)
These rushed plots (with no real characters like Jaya, aged Dinu etc: these weren't really developed!) made the second half of the book feel like pages were missing in between chapters.
Characters that Gosh had built nicely enough in the first half (like Dinu) got lost in the second half and just appeared to be there to tell the younger ones stories (e.g. Dinu, who's there to tell Jaya everything that happened).
Oh and that ending?! Jaya wrote the book? Oh come on! That didn't work out for me, either. It felt like an afterthought of Gosh, and didn't really fit the build-up of a book, especially because the narrator wasn't really present throughout the book.
Long story short: a very ambitious novel that has a lot of scope, but loses its depth and becomes more and more shallow.
I preferred "The Hungry Tide"
A historical fiction set in India, Burma and Malaya between the first world war up until the end of WW2. It started with an Indian boy who escaped a plague in his village and end up in Burma. The story span into three generations.
The first half of the story is a bit torture for me to read. The writing is good, and very detailed. It's informative, but I'm not interested to know about the teak business. It is too much for me. But thankfully, the story gets better when the war came.
What I like about this story is the different point of view of the characters. Especially the contradictor POV between them. It makes me understand their reason for things that they do, and the thing that they stand for.
It is also good to read how the granddaughter visit the places that her grandma used to live, and trace her long-lost uncle.
The first half of the story is a bit torture for me to read. The writing is good, and very detailed. It's informative, but I'm not interested to know about the teak business. It is too much for me. But thankfully, the story gets better when the war came.
What I like about this story is the different point of view of the characters. Especially the contradictor POV between them. It makes me understand their reason for things that they do, and the thing that they stand for.
It is also good to read how the granddaughter visit the places that her grandma used to live, and trace her long-lost uncle.
adventurous
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
A story beginning with the British invasion of Burma all for the love of teak and queen