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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reread this for bookclub. loved it then, love it now. \the plot cleverly kept me guessing what happened to the narrator and her sister in the camp, what happened in the camp and what happened between her and aritomo. Along the way, I learnt about WW2 in South Asia, Japanese garden design and philosophy. The sense on place was amazing an I enjoyed the wistful regretful tone of the whole book.
It took me a while to get started, but once I did I didn't put it down. I didn't want to read it because I knew it would make me cry and I was absolutely right. The author was able to write a story, half in metaphor, about a terrible and terribly recent period in our collective history that slow-walks you into a painful grey survivalist moral area.... any disgust you feel for the characters and the tenderness you feel for the characters you have to also be able to feel about yourself.
This was such an interesting book....so much going on and such vivid and evocative descriptions. There are romances and mysteries and heartbreak all intertwined in stories of connections and loss. While in many ways, I loved this book and watching the stories and relationships unfold, in other ways I found it a little stitled and sometimes a bit too slow moving. Not an all time favorite of mine but an excellent and interesting book.
emotional
informative
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Really enjoyed the story. The history of tattoos was interesting as well.
How can someone write so beautifully of such beauty and such ugliness in the same book - in the same breath?
"Heaven's way is like the pulling of a bow, bringing down the high and raising up the low. It takes from what is excessive and gives to what is lacking. The way of Man is the opposite"
"Strange, is it not that a man should become real only when he vanishes"
I thought this book was absolutely fantastic. rather than spoil too much of the content, here are some trigger warnings.
i)Death
ii)War
iii)Sexual Slavery
iv)Rape
v)Depression
and more...
We follow Yun Ling who has just retired from her work as a judge and wants to finally fulfil the promise that she made to her sister who she lost during the Japanese invasion of Malaya. She plans to curate a Japanese garden in memory of her sister, and she has found Aritomo who was once the gardener for the Emperor of Japan to teach her, but this takes her back into her past, from the invasion to her watching her sister be a sex slave for Japan, to her escape and the secrets that she keeps in her heart that are linked to the history of the country.
In summary, I really loved it, and I cannot recommend it enough.
Thanks to Canongate for making a copy of this book available to me as part of their October readalong
"Strange, is it not that a man should become real only when he vanishes"
I thought this book was absolutely fantastic. rather than spoil too much of the content, here are some trigger warnings.
i)Death
ii)War
iii)Sexual Slavery
iv)Rape
v)Depression
and more...
We follow Yun Ling who has just retired from her work as a judge and wants to finally fulfil the promise that she made to her sister who she lost during the Japanese invasion of Malaya. She plans to curate a Japanese garden in memory of her sister, and she has found Aritomo who was once the gardener for the Emperor of Japan to teach her, but this takes her back into her past, from the invasion to her watching her sister be a sex slave for Japan, to her escape and the secrets that she keeps in her heart that are linked to the history of the country.
In summary, I really loved it, and I cannot recommend it enough.
Thanks to Canongate for making a copy of this book available to me as part of their October readalong
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
4.5 stars.
wow this book took me on a wild journey. i was invested until the very end, wanting to know what happened to yun ling in the camp and what happened to aritomo. perhaps because this is written by a fellow malaysian (and more importantly, fellow penangite!!) the characters were larger than life to me. i must admit i prefer the gift of rain, tan’s other book but this one is also compelling and managed to keep me hooked until the very last page.
wow this book took me on a wild journey. i was invested until the very end, wanting to know what happened to yun ling in the camp and what happened to aritomo. perhaps because this is written by a fellow malaysian (and more importantly, fellow penangite!!) the characters were larger than life to me. i must admit i prefer the gift of rain, tan’s other book but this one is also compelling and managed to keep me hooked until the very last page.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated