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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A beautifully told story with a very clear sense of place. I think it could have been a bit longer with a bit more development of some of the more minor characters like Arthur, Ethel, and even Robert though.
99th book of 2023.
3.5. I am always excited about a book that's about real people, and Eng's newest is a book about W. Somerset Maugham. It helps that I'm already a fan of Maugham's work and have read four or five of his novels, I don't know what this would read like if you haven't read any of his work or know much about him; but I tell a lie, because the book isn't really about Maugham at all.
There's two stories running parallel throughout the novel at different timepoints. Although the novel begins in 1947, almost all of it jumps between 1921 and 1910 and alternates every chapter from Lesley to 'Willie' Maugham himself. Eng's made an interesting structure with the book: Maugham is the 'listener', as we are; the parts in 1910 are Lesley's remembering. It's full of adultery and murder. I suppose if you're going to tell a tale like that, you want to tell it to a writer. The 1921 deal with Maugham's present day life in Penang staying with Lesley and her husband with his male secretary-lover, trying to write and dealing with all the other issues in his life like his wife back in England or his finances. I'm not often one for flashbacks, but I found Lesley's story compelling and Eng's framework (using Maugham as the listener) was a good way of doing it.
And Eng's writing is like water; it's lucid and clear. I fell through the pages with ease. In fact, it reminded me of Maugham's writing and I wonder if Eng is attempting to replicate that. There are still lines like this to catch onto,
3.5. I am always excited about a book that's about real people, and Eng's newest is a book about W. Somerset Maugham. It helps that I'm already a fan of Maugham's work and have read four or five of his novels, I don't know what this would read like if you haven't read any of his work or know much about him; but I tell a lie, because the book isn't really about Maugham at all.
There's two stories running parallel throughout the novel at different timepoints. Although the novel begins in 1947, almost all of it jumps between 1921 and 1910 and alternates every chapter from Lesley to 'Willie' Maugham himself. Eng's made an interesting structure with the book: Maugham is the 'listener', as we are; the parts in 1910 are Lesley's remembering. It's full of adultery and murder. I suppose if you're going to tell a tale like that, you want to tell it to a writer. The 1921 deal with Maugham's present day life in Penang staying with Lesley and her husband with his male secretary-lover, trying to write and dealing with all the other issues in his life like his wife back in England or his finances. I'm not often one for flashbacks, but I found Lesley's story compelling and Eng's framework (using Maugham as the listener) was a good way of doing it.
And Eng's writing is like water; it's lucid and clear. I fell through the pages with ease. In fact, it reminded me of Maugham's writing and I wonder if Eng is attempting to replicate that. There are still lines like this to catch onto,
That night, side by side, we drifted among the galaxies of sea-stars, while far, far above us the asterisks of light marked out the footnotes on the page of eternity.
Maugham in Malaya
Review of the original Canongate hardcover (May 4, 2023).
Longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, but did not make the Shortlist. The winner will be announced November 26, 2023.
W. Somerset Maugham and his wife Syrie in the mid 1920s. I could not find a photo from Penang in 1921. This image was sourced from W. Somerset Maugham: A Portrait Gallery
I'm always fascinated with fictionalized novels about authors and with books about books in general, so my bias there makes this a 5-star read. The House of Doors is centred around author W. Somerset Maugham's visit to Penang in British Malaya in 1921 with his then partner/secretary Gerald Haxton. Maugham is on the run from his unhappy marriage back in England. His old (fictional) friend Robert Hamlyn invites Willie and Gerald to stay with him and his wife Lesley.
Although Maugham is recovering from illness he is swept up with learning stories of past and present scandals and affairs in the expatriate community in Malaya. These would become the basis of his short stories later published as The Casuarina Tree (1926) esp. the story The Letter which was based on the real-life Ethel Proudlock Case from 1911 which is related to him by Lesley who, in this fictionalized version, is Ethel Proudlock's best friend. Towards the conclusion, author Eng also provides a possible explanation for the motives behind the real-life case.
Along the way, tensions in the Hamlyn marriage are revealed as well. Lesley also looks back on her encounters with Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen who also visited Penang while raising funds for his eventual revolution against Chinese Imperial rule. Author Eng admits in his Afterword that he adjusted the real-life dates for Sun's time in Penang in order to link up the timing with the Proudlock case.
I thoroughly enjoyed The House of Doors, and it has inspired me to read several original works by W. Somerset Maugham including some of the short story collections [RTC].
Other Reviews
When the World’s Most Famous Writer Visits a Hotbed of Amorous Intrigue, by James Wood, The New Yorker, November 6, 2023.
Trivia and Links
Tan Twan Eng provides an extensive bibliography of the books used in his research which he lists in his Afterword.
[b:A Writer's Notebook|758496|A Writer's Notebook|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394405579l/758496._SX50_.jpg|1548581] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1949)
[b:The Summing Up|52387477|The Summing Up|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564277199l/52387477._SX50_SY75_.jpg|388372] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1938)
[b:The Gentleman in the Parlour: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong|301374|The Gentleman in the Parlour A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong (Armchair traveller series)|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266518895l/301374._SY75_.jpg|939405] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1930)
[b:The Casuarina Tree|127799057|The Casuarina Tree|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1697759978l/127799057._SX50_.jpg|873087] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1926)
[b:The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham: A Biography|6901660|The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham A Biography|Selina Shirley Hastings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320480513l/6901660._SY75_.jpg|7124991] by Selena Hastings (John Murray, 2009)
[b:Willie: The Life of W. Somerset Maugham|191782|Willie The Life of W. Somerset Maugham|Robert Calder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1301236886l/191782._SY75_.jpg|185425] by Robert Calder (Heinemann, 1989)
[b:Somerset and All the Maughams|208078|Somerset and All the Maughams|Robin Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172692326l/208078._SY75_.jpg|201400] by Robin Maugham (The New American Library, 1966)
[b:Conversations with Willie: Recollections of W. Somerset Maugham|297978|Conversations with Willie Recollections of W. Somerset Maugham|Robin Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411623902l/297978._SY75_.jpg|289102] by Robin Maugham (W. H. Allen, 1978)
[b:Somerset Maugham|746961|Somerset Maugham|Ted Morgan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1350382201l/746961._SY75_.jpg|733107] by Ted Morgan (Triad Granada, 1981)
[b:Remembering Mr. Maugham|10319971|Remembering Mr. Maugham|Garson Kanin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348912897l/10319971._SY75_.jpg|2983782] by Garson Kanin (Bantam, 1973)
[b:Murder on the Verandah - Love and Betrayal in British Malaya|3419303|Murder on the Verandah - Love and Betrayal in British Malaya|Eric Lawlor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1677794488l/3419303._SY75_.jpg|3459767] by Eric Lawlor (HarperCollins, 1999)
[b:Sun Yat-sen|456244|Sun Yat-sen|Marie-Claire Bergère|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407812890l/456244._SY75_.jpg|444786] by Marie-Claire Bergère (Stanford University Press, 1998)
[b:The Unfinished Revolution: Sun Yat-Sen and the Struggle for Modern China|36717798|The Unfinished Revolution Sun Yat-Sen and the Struggle for Modern China|Tjio Kayloe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1514977145l/36717798._SX50_.jpg|58513433] by Tjio Kayloe (Marshall Cavendish, 2017)
[b:Sun Yat Sen in Penang|37715556|Sun Yat Sen in Penang|Khoo Salma Nasution|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1514348558l/37715556._SY75_.jpg|59354248] by Khoo Salma Nasution (Areca Books, 2008)
Review of the original Canongate hardcover (May 4, 2023).
Longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize, but did not make the Shortlist. The winner will be announced November 26, 2023.
Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other. - Epigraph for The House of Doors selected from W. Somerset Maugham's The Summing Up (1938).
W. Somerset Maugham and his wife Syrie in the mid 1920s. I could not find a photo from Penang in 1921. This image was sourced from W. Somerset Maugham: A Portrait Gallery
I'm always fascinated with fictionalized novels about authors and with books about books in general, so my bias there makes this a 5-star read. The House of Doors is centred around author W. Somerset Maugham's visit to Penang in British Malaya in 1921 with his then partner/secretary Gerald Haxton. Maugham is on the run from his unhappy marriage back in England. His old (fictional) friend Robert Hamlyn invites Willie and Gerald to stay with him and his wife Lesley.
Although Maugham is recovering from illness he is swept up with learning stories of past and present scandals and affairs in the expatriate community in Malaya. These would become the basis of his short stories later published as The Casuarina Tree (1926) esp. the story The Letter which was based on the real-life Ethel Proudlock Case from 1911 which is related to him by Lesley who, in this fictionalized version, is Ethel Proudlock's best friend. Towards the conclusion, author Eng also provides a possible explanation for the motives behind the real-life case.
Along the way, tensions in the Hamlyn marriage are revealed as well. Lesley also looks back on her encounters with Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-Sen who also visited Penang while raising funds for his eventual revolution against Chinese Imperial rule. Author Eng admits in his Afterword that he adjusted the real-life dates for Sun's time in Penang in order to link up the timing with the Proudlock case.
I thoroughly enjoyed The House of Doors, and it has inspired me to read several original works by W. Somerset Maugham including some of the short story collections [RTC].
Other Reviews
When the World’s Most Famous Writer Visits a Hotbed of Amorous Intrigue, by James Wood, The New Yorker, November 6, 2023.
Trivia and Links
Tan Twan Eng provides an extensive bibliography of the books used in his research which he lists in his Afterword.
[b:A Writer's Notebook|758496|A Writer's Notebook|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1394405579l/758496._SX50_.jpg|1548581] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1949)
[b:The Summing Up|52387477|The Summing Up|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564277199l/52387477._SX50_SY75_.jpg|388372] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1938)
[b:The Gentleman in the Parlour: A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong|301374|The Gentleman in the Parlour A Record of a Journey from Rangoon to Haiphong (Armchair traveller series)|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1266518895l/301374._SY75_.jpg|939405] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1930)
[b:The Casuarina Tree|127799057|The Casuarina Tree|W. Somerset Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1697759978l/127799057._SX50_.jpg|873087] by W. Somerset Maugham (William Heinemann, 1926)
[b:The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham: A Biography|6901660|The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham A Biography|Selina Shirley Hastings|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320480513l/6901660._SY75_.jpg|7124991] by Selena Hastings (John Murray, 2009)
[b:Willie: The Life of W. Somerset Maugham|191782|Willie The Life of W. Somerset Maugham|Robert Calder|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1301236886l/191782._SY75_.jpg|185425] by Robert Calder (Heinemann, 1989)
[b:Somerset and All the Maughams|208078|Somerset and All the Maughams|Robin Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1172692326l/208078._SY75_.jpg|201400] by Robin Maugham (The New American Library, 1966)
[b:Conversations with Willie: Recollections of W. Somerset Maugham|297978|Conversations with Willie Recollections of W. Somerset Maugham|Robin Maugham|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1411623902l/297978._SY75_.jpg|289102] by Robin Maugham (W. H. Allen, 1978)
[b:Somerset Maugham|746961|Somerset Maugham|Ted Morgan|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1350382201l/746961._SY75_.jpg|733107] by Ted Morgan (Triad Granada, 1981)
[b:Remembering Mr. Maugham|10319971|Remembering Mr. Maugham|Garson Kanin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348912897l/10319971._SY75_.jpg|2983782] by Garson Kanin (Bantam, 1973)
[b:Murder on the Verandah - Love and Betrayal in British Malaya|3419303|Murder on the Verandah - Love and Betrayal in British Malaya|Eric Lawlor|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1677794488l/3419303._SY75_.jpg|3459767] by Eric Lawlor (HarperCollins, 1999)
[b:Sun Yat-sen|456244|Sun Yat-sen|Marie-Claire Bergère|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1407812890l/456244._SY75_.jpg|444786] by Marie-Claire Bergère (Stanford University Press, 1998)
[b:The Unfinished Revolution: Sun Yat-Sen and the Struggle for Modern China|36717798|The Unfinished Revolution Sun Yat-Sen and the Struggle for Modern China|Tjio Kayloe|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1514977145l/36717798._SX50_.jpg|58513433] by Tjio Kayloe (Marshall Cavendish, 2017)
[b:Sun Yat Sen in Penang|37715556|Sun Yat Sen in Penang|Khoo Salma Nasution|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1514348558l/37715556._SY75_.jpg|59354248] by Khoo Salma Nasution (Areca Books, 2008)
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Colonial tales…
Robert and Lesley Hamlyn live in Cassowary House in Penang, part of the colonial settlement there. Lesley was born in Malaya (as it was called then) and has lived there all her life, while Robert is British-born and came to Penang as an adult. It is 1921, and Robert is still suffering badly from the lung damage he sustained during the war. Their two sons are in boarding school in England. Outwardly they seem to be a contented couple, mixing with the best of Malayan society. But when Robert’s old friend, the famous novelist Willie Somerset Maugham, comes to visit, Lesley finds herself telling him stories from her past – how they once knew Dr Sun Yat Sen when he spent some time in Penang, and how Ethel Proudlock, a friend of Lesley’s, was once tried for murder. And along the way, she reveals the history of her marriage to Robert. Willie is considering writing a book about Sun Yat Sen, but in the end it’s the story of Ethel Proudlock that fascinates him, and which he will later turn into one of his most successful stories.
Tan writes beautifully and his descriptive prose especially paints wonderful pictures of Penang during the colonial era. It is the writing that kept me going and meant that I enjoyed the book overall, despite some fairly hefty reservations as to the content. I’m rather confused about how I feel about it, to be honest. It has everything I should love – great writing, colonial setting, interesting characters. Yet somehow it never fully won me over – I didn’t feel emotionally invested. Let me try to explain why.
The first thing is that it seemed very odd that it reads almost exactly as if it were traditional colonial fiction written by a Brit. If that was what Tan was trying to achieve, then he certainly has. But since there is already a ton of colonial literature written by Brits, I somehow expected and hoped for a different perspective from a Malaysian writer. With the exception of the Sun Yat Sen strand, the story is relentlessly set among the colonial community, and therefore I felt gave no insight at all on how Malayans lived, or what they thought of life under colonial rule. Even in the Sun Yat Sen story, it is all about his interactions with the Brits – we are told of his popularity in China and of the ambivalence of the Malay Chinese, who have, according to Tan, largely bought into British culture. There is a Chinese character who plays an important role, but honestly, if Tan hadn’t told us he was Chinese, I wouldn’t have known – he seemed as colonially British as the Brits in terms of culture and attitudes.
The second thing that irritated me was that, in line with nearly every other piece of literary fiction written in the last decade, two of the main themes are the social and legal prejudice against homosexuality and the subjugated position of women. I find this concentration on fashionable themes tedious. I’ve said it before, but I always imagine publishers sending out a ticklist at the beginning of each year to authors, telling them which themes they must include if they want to be published – currently, strong women fighting against the patriarchy, tick; gay people being victims of homophobia, tick; straight men being violent and misogynistic, tick; white people being racist and non-white people being victims, tick. Tan pretty much covers them all to a greater or lesser degree. It’s not that I feel any of these things are intrinsically untrue, but they are not universally true. It’s bland when every book repeats the same messages.
But the thing that I think most niggled me was the incorporation of more than one of Maugham’s famous stories into the stories that Lesley tells. Tan is making the point that Maugham apparently often used real stories as the basis for his tales, sometimes without even changing the names, and Tan suggests that Maugham made himself unpopular in the Malayan colonial community as a result. Fair enough – interesting point and raises valid ethical questions. However, I didn’t feel Tan explored those questions – he simply left them hanging, and I couldn’t help feeling that, by using Maugham and other real people as characters in his book, Tan was doing rather the same thing himself. And I felt, to be honest, that the interesting bits in this story were mainly the bits that retold Maugham’s stories, and frankly, I think Maugham tells them better. Again I’ve said it before, but if a writer chooses to reference one of the greats of literature in his work, then he needs to be sure that his own writing will not suffer from the inevitable comparisons that any reader must make. I suspect if I hadn’t read Maugham’s stories quite recently, I’d have enjoyed this book more. As it is, though, I spent most of my time thinking I’d rather be reading Maugham.
Having said all that, the quality of the writing still makes it an enjoyable read overall, although slow and not as insightful or original as I’d hoped it might be. In all fairness, I need to point out that most people are raving about it, so hopefully my grumpy review will not deter anyone from reading it. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Canongate.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Robert and Lesley Hamlyn live in Cassowary House in Penang, part of the colonial settlement there. Lesley was born in Malaya (as it was called then) and has lived there all her life, while Robert is British-born and came to Penang as an adult. It is 1921, and Robert is still suffering badly from the lung damage he sustained during the war. Their two sons are in boarding school in England. Outwardly they seem to be a contented couple, mixing with the best of Malayan society. But when Robert’s old friend, the famous novelist Willie Somerset Maugham, comes to visit, Lesley finds herself telling him stories from her past – how they once knew Dr Sun Yat Sen when he spent some time in Penang, and how Ethel Proudlock, a friend of Lesley’s, was once tried for murder. And along the way, she reveals the history of her marriage to Robert. Willie is considering writing a book about Sun Yat Sen, but in the end it’s the story of Ethel Proudlock that fascinates him, and which he will later turn into one of his most successful stories.
Tan writes beautifully and his descriptive prose especially paints wonderful pictures of Penang during the colonial era. It is the writing that kept me going and meant that I enjoyed the book overall, despite some fairly hefty reservations as to the content. I’m rather confused about how I feel about it, to be honest. It has everything I should love – great writing, colonial setting, interesting characters. Yet somehow it never fully won me over – I didn’t feel emotionally invested. Let me try to explain why.
The first thing is that it seemed very odd that it reads almost exactly as if it were traditional colonial fiction written by a Brit. If that was what Tan was trying to achieve, then he certainly has. But since there is already a ton of colonial literature written by Brits, I somehow expected and hoped for a different perspective from a Malaysian writer. With the exception of the Sun Yat Sen strand, the story is relentlessly set among the colonial community, and therefore I felt gave no insight at all on how Malayans lived, or what they thought of life under colonial rule. Even in the Sun Yat Sen story, it is all about his interactions with the Brits – we are told of his popularity in China and of the ambivalence of the Malay Chinese, who have, according to Tan, largely bought into British culture. There is a Chinese character who plays an important role, but honestly, if Tan hadn’t told us he was Chinese, I wouldn’t have known – he seemed as colonially British as the Brits in terms of culture and attitudes.
The second thing that irritated me was that, in line with nearly every other piece of literary fiction written in the last decade, two of the main themes are the social and legal prejudice against homosexuality and the subjugated position of women. I find this concentration on fashionable themes tedious. I’ve said it before, but I always imagine publishers sending out a ticklist at the beginning of each year to authors, telling them which themes they must include if they want to be published – currently, strong women fighting against the patriarchy, tick; gay people being victims of homophobia, tick; straight men being violent and misogynistic, tick; white people being racist and non-white people being victims, tick. Tan pretty much covers them all to a greater or lesser degree. It’s not that I feel any of these things are intrinsically untrue, but they are not universally true. It’s bland when every book repeats the same messages.
But the thing that I think most niggled me was the incorporation of more than one of Maugham’s famous stories into the stories that Lesley tells. Tan is making the point that Maugham apparently often used real stories as the basis for his tales, sometimes without even changing the names, and Tan suggests that Maugham made himself unpopular in the Malayan colonial community as a result. Fair enough – interesting point and raises valid ethical questions. However, I didn’t feel Tan explored those questions – he simply left them hanging, and I couldn’t help feeling that, by using Maugham and other real people as characters in his book, Tan was doing rather the same thing himself. And I felt, to be honest, that the interesting bits in this story were mainly the bits that retold Maugham’s stories, and frankly, I think Maugham tells them better. Again I’ve said it before, but if a writer chooses to reference one of the greats of literature in his work, then he needs to be sure that his own writing will not suffer from the inevitable comparisons that any reader must make. I suspect if I hadn’t read Maugham’s stories quite recently, I’d have enjoyed this book more. As it is, though, I spent most of my time thinking I’d rather be reading Maugham.
Having said all that, the quality of the writing still makes it an enjoyable read overall, although slow and not as insightful or original as I’d hoped it might be. In all fairness, I need to point out that most people are raving about it, so hopefully my grumpy review will not deter anyone from reading it. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Canongate.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Wonderful book that starts slowly and then you can't stop reading. The various time planes are so cleverly interconnected that you never lose the thread, or maybe I didn't lose it because I read it in two days, but Leslie, Willie and Arthur and then Ethel, what great stories. This morning at 5 a.m. I got up to go read "The rain" in my collection of W. Sommerset Maughan's stories and then online I found "The letter" as well. This is the second book I have read by Twan Tan Eng and I can't wait to read another one.
Libro meraviglioso, che parte lentamente e che poi non si puó smettere di leggere. I vari piani temporali sono cosí abilmente interconnessi, che non si perde mai il filo, o magari non l'ho perso io perché l'ho letto in due giorni, ma Leslie, Willie ed Arthur e poi Ethel, che storie fantastiche. Stamattina alle 5 mi sono alzata per andare a leggere "The rain" nella mia raccolta delle storie di W.Sommerset Maughan e poi on line ho trovato anche "The letter". Questo é il secondo libro che leggo di Twan Tan Eng e non vedo l'ora di leggerne un altro.
Libro meraviglioso, che parte lentamente e che poi non si puó smettere di leggere. I vari piani temporali sono cosí abilmente interconnessi, che non si perde mai il filo, o magari non l'ho perso io perché l'ho letto in due giorni, ma Leslie, Willie ed Arthur e poi Ethel, che storie fantastiche. Stamattina alle 5 mi sono alzata per andare a leggere "The rain" nella mia raccolta delle storie di W.Sommerset Maughan e poi on line ho trovato anche "The letter". Questo é il secondo libro che leggo di Twan Tan Eng e non vedo l'ora di leggerne un altro.
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Sometimes I put books on hold and they come in and I can’t remember why I did it. That’s what happened with “The House of Doors”. It must have been because it was on the Booker Prize List for 2023. Oh but I’m so glad I read it! I loved it! Set in Penang (Malaysia) in 1910 and 1920 this book focuses on real events that happened; between the murder of a man by his married lover, the exile of Dr. Sun Yat Sen and the visit of writer W. Somerset Maugham and his lover Gerald to the region. Tan Twan Eng writes beautifully and had me hooked from the beginning with his fascinating tale of love, colonialism, revolution, secrets and redemption. Malaysia is a fascinating country. I had the pleasure of visiting in 2007, and was struck by the meeting of so many different cultures. This book furthered my fascination and made me want to know more. A cleverly crafted tale it is one of those books that makes me want to immediately go out and read more about the subjects of the book and the history and now I need to read W. Somerset Maugham. A wonderful book, beautifully told!
This is one of the most beautiful books I have read in a long time. It weaves together lots of true life people and events (Somerset Maugham, Sun Yat Sen, and real life murder) and makes a poignant story about their real and imagined points of intersection. The story is about being remembered, and also about being able to live a life true to yourself. It’s beautifully crafted, and the language is so lyrical and evocative, it really is breathtaking.