Reviews

The Borrowed by Chan Ho-Kei

hihid's review

5.0

Suka banget sama pembawaan ceritanya. Paling suka di bagian cerita pertama, bener bener mind blowing!

adrzrn's review

5.0

Brilliant. One of my best reads this year.

aweekinthelife's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

an action-y detective/police story told through 6 short stories going back in time. a very Hong Kong setting (and I appreciated the history and introduction to some of the setting through The Lost Century by Larissa Lai earlier this year). 

another one of those books where the author’s note/afterward made me appreciate the book more.

avizeanna's review

adventurous challenging informative inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I am stunned. Mr. Chan Ho Kei delivered the story astonishingly. I was so impressed by Second Sister that I decided to read this one.

All I can say to describe this book is "never let them know your next move". 

I will be here waiting for his future work(s)!

bosh's review

4.0

The narrative and writing style of the book are exceptional. Each major section possesses standalone brilliance, and their collective impact is even more compelling.

Only negative arises when some sections conclude with undramatic resolutions, where a character simply proclaims knowing for some time and provides a verbose explanation.

lilias's review

dark informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I wish there had been a smoother flow from one story to the next. Without more connection between stories I felt the structure of the book, going backwards in time, was kind of a neat trick rather than serving a literary purpose. I didn’t love the writing style, which could be an issue of translation, but I did love the overarching themes. 

It was really interesting to see Hong Kong through this book. I remember hearing about the handover on the radio in 1997, and so much of the action of <i>The Borrowed</i> is the transitioning Hong Kong, all the ways it has changed over time and all the ways it hasn’t changed.

sylvia_reads's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The last few pages turned my whole idea of this book upside down in the best way possible.

Apart from that this is just a really good book, I had also never read anything by a writer from Hong Kong and knew fairly little about the city. It was really interesting to learn about it’s history through this book!

renethan06's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

mkrowley's review

5.0

This was so cool and fun! This was my book for Hong Kong, and it did a great job of taking me through some key moments in Hong Kong history and painting a portrait of the place and the people. This is a series of six novellas that are each a self contained mystery, centering on expert sleuth Kwan Chun-Dok and his apprentice Sonny Lok. They move backward in time and are lightly interconnected, so as you move forward you do feel like you’re piecing together your own mystery as you connect the pieces and remember things that happened in “later” stories. The mysteries themselves were pretty fun! They kind of remind me of Agatha Christie— Kwan is the genius detective who will figure it all out by the end!

my_bibliotheca's review against another edition

4.75

Ini merupakan buku kedua dari Chan Ho-Kei yang sudah aku baca setelah Second Sister. Dengan menawarkan premis yang tak kalah menarik dari Second Sister, buku ini berhasil menciptakan plot twist yang tak terduga.

Bercerita tentang pengalaman Kwan Chun-Dok selama bekerja menjadi polisi Hong Kong. Ada 6 cerita dengan berbagai kasus yang berhasil ia pecahkan permasalahannya. Uniknya, penulis memaparkan bahwa dari keenam cerita tersebut terinspirasi dari beberapa kejadian besar di Hong Kong. Jadi, selain menawarkan sisi klasik kisah detektif, The Borrowed (13.67) juga mengandung realitas (hisfic) dari konflik dan permasalahan di Hong Kong. 

Bukunya cukup tebal yakni 544 halaman yang dibagi menjadi 6 cerita dengan menggunakan waktu kejadian yang mundur. Cerita pertama diawali dengan Kwan yang masih dilibatkan dalam penyelesaian kasus walau ia sedang koma. Dan cerita terakhir yang sungguh tidak terduga. Dari keenam cerita, tidak ada cerita yang mengecewakan. Semuanya selalu diakhiri dengan plot twist yang ciamik, bahkan sebelum pembaca menyadari dimana kejanggalannya, Kwan selalu berhasil memaparkan pendapat dari persepsi yang unik, namun akurat.

Dalam buku ini juga kental akan kritikan terhadap kinerja polisi yang dicap sebagai suruhan pemerintah tanpa memedulikan kemaslahatan rakyat. Tapi, tokoh utama kita, Kwan berbeda. Ia tak ragu menerobos peraturan jika itu bertentangan dengan keadilan dan hanya berat pada pihak golongan tertentu. Yah, cukup relate dengan keadaan kepolisian di negara Wakanda ya. Dimana kepercayaan masyarakat terhadap polisi juga turun drastis akibat kinerja yang kurang berpihak pada rakyat.