You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Very atmospheric - conjures up the setting wonderfully not just through description but in the dialogue and storyline. A well constructed historical novel set in the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia during and post World War II. The novel evolves gently describing the different relationships between the Malays, British, Japanese and Chinese. The author then hits hard as different events occur and are described brutally and with great impact. Excellent.
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Dementia, War
Absolutely one of my favourite books. Centered around a Chinese Malayan woman, Teoh Yun Ling, retelling the story of her unexpected companionship with a Japanese gardener in Malaya after WWII. The predominant plot tells of Yun Ling creating a japanese garden in honour of her sister, killed whilst a Japanese POW during the war. Yun Ling also talks about the Japanese atrocities during the war and her relationship to her past both in its immediate aftermath and 40 years on. We are taken through Yun Ling's time creating the garden under apprenticeship to Nakamura Aritomo, former gardener to the Emporer of Japan, learning about the art of Japanese gardening against the backdrop of the Malayan Emergency. This book is beautiful, horrifying, and a fascinating exploration of human connection through art and beauty.
I most recently listened to the Audible version of this book, narrated by Anna Bentinck, who brings the characters most exquisitely to life.
I most recently listened to the Audible version of this book, narrated by Anna Bentinck, who brings the characters most exquisitely to life.
I started this earlier in the year on a colleague’s recommendation. It’s epic, complicated & promises a lot of mindful appreciation of natural & created beauty juxtaposed with the brutality & violence of war. It encompasses themes of trauma, bereavement & beauty; loyalty, service & integrity; cultural prejudice & love challenging convention… after a protracted & unsure start I got hooked & overall I really enjoyed it! It’s hard to review without giving too much away…
It’s the story of a ’straits Chinese’ woman’s experiences of brutal violence and traumatic loss in a Japanese labour camp In Malaya during the 2nd World War, her apprenticeship to a Japanese gardener in Malaya some years after the war & her assessment of her life decades later as her health & memory start to fail… her accounts from all 3 perspectives are woven together through the book as we gradually come to understand how her life was intertwined with those of the other characters even before she met them & see whether her hopes & resentments can be reconciled...
Yun Ling wants a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the Japanese labour camp where they were imprisoned during the war & who’d been enchanted by Japanese gardens… she finds the exiled Japanese gardener, Aritomo, who initially refuses to design her a garden but agrees to take her on as an apprentice at his garden in Malaya called Yugiri. Yun Ling was Aritomo’s apprentice until the monsoon came, & during the monsoon he tattooed her back, by which time they’d become lovers & she was living with him, flying in the face of convention, expectation & prejudice.
The academic who’s come to study Aritomo’s prints, when Yun Ling has returned to Yugiri at the end of her life, tells her of his war time experiences as the only Kamikaze pilot to survive; she had been the only one to survive the labour camp she was held in for 3 years... We’re disappointed that she never built the garden which was the whole point of becoming Aritomo’s apprentice at Yugiri & that she never found her sister’s grave. The descriptions are human, vivid, sympathetic, sparse & uncompromising. We see humanity in amongst the depravity, grasp at hope (which is frequently extinguished) & are shocked at some of the events, which sadden & dismay more often than they delight & enlighten.
The intricate construction of the garden, alongside the development of discipline, strength & trust, is all with a view to enhancing an appreciation of the natural beauty of the world. We have no doubt that Aritomo is disciplined, refined, principled, appreciative of beauty & a talented artist. We learn of Japanese ideas of honour & sacrifice & can’t help but wonder if he’s atoning for his own failings & association with the worst aspects of his nation’s policies but in doing so only succumbs to them even further.
We learn with Yun Ling that Aritomo was part of a Japanese pre-war mission to steal cultural artefacts from Malaya; prisoners held in brutal labour camps were used to dig huge vaults in the Malayan jungle to hide them in; as soon as he learned of Yun Ling’s experiences in the war he must have felt implicated in her traumas. We realise Aritomo created Yugiri as the garden Yun Ling wanted for her sister all along & see his ingenuity in hiding the location of the camp in interdependent elements of the garden & Yun Ling’s tattoo… But I was disappointed that he didn’t face up to his guilt & make it better.
It felt like Yun Ling’s repeated sense of being sacrificed to the needs & failings of others, from her father not evacuating her to safety when he could, her brutal treatment by the Japanese & the death of her sister, was all just compounded by Aritomo’s secrecy, loyalty to the Emperor & disappearance into the jungle, never to return. Why not reconcile all the guilt, betrayal, exploitation & loss by staying with her & sharing his knowledge with her? She loses all integrity as a human being in her own right, neglected, abused, deceived, lost & lonely all her life.
Which is not to detract from my appreciation of the book… After all, isn’t life too often like this? Things left unresolved, confusion prevailing & overlapping paths leading to lost opportunities instead of beautiful connections…?
It’s the story of a ’straits Chinese’ woman’s experiences of brutal violence and traumatic loss in a Japanese labour camp In Malaya during the 2nd World War, her apprenticeship to a Japanese gardener in Malaya some years after the war & her assessment of her life decades later as her health & memory start to fail… her accounts from all 3 perspectives are woven together through the book as we gradually come to understand how her life was intertwined with those of the other characters even before she met them & see whether her hopes & resentments can be reconciled...
Yun Ling wants a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the Japanese labour camp where they were imprisoned during the war & who’d been enchanted by Japanese gardens… she finds the exiled Japanese gardener, Aritomo, who initially refuses to design her a garden but agrees to take her on as an apprentice at his garden in Malaya called Yugiri. Yun Ling was Aritomo’s apprentice until the monsoon came, & during the monsoon he tattooed her back, by which time they’d become lovers & she was living with him, flying in the face of convention, expectation & prejudice.
The academic who’s come to study Aritomo’s prints, when Yun Ling has returned to Yugiri at the end of her life, tells her of his war time experiences as the only Kamikaze pilot to survive; she had been the only one to survive the labour camp she was held in for 3 years... We’re disappointed that she never built the garden which was the whole point of becoming Aritomo’s apprentice at Yugiri & that she never found her sister’s grave. The descriptions are human, vivid, sympathetic, sparse & uncompromising. We see humanity in amongst the depravity, grasp at hope (which is frequently extinguished) & are shocked at some of the events, which sadden & dismay more often than they delight & enlighten.
The intricate construction of the garden, alongside the development of discipline, strength & trust, is all with a view to enhancing an appreciation of the natural beauty of the world. We have no doubt that Aritomo is disciplined, refined, principled, appreciative of beauty & a talented artist. We learn of Japanese ideas of honour & sacrifice & can’t help but wonder if he’s atoning for his own failings & association with the worst aspects of his nation’s policies but in doing so only succumbs to them even further.
We learn with Yun Ling that Aritomo was part of a Japanese pre-war mission to steal cultural artefacts from Malaya; prisoners held in brutal labour camps were used to dig huge vaults in the Malayan jungle to hide them in; as soon as he learned of Yun Ling’s experiences in the war he must have felt implicated in her traumas. We realise Aritomo created Yugiri as the garden Yun Ling wanted for her sister all along & see his ingenuity in hiding the location of the camp in interdependent elements of the garden & Yun Ling’s tattoo… But I was disappointed that he didn’t face up to his guilt & make it better.
It felt like Yun Ling’s repeated sense of being sacrificed to the needs & failings of others, from her father not evacuating her to safety when he could, her brutal treatment by the Japanese & the death of her sister, was all just compounded by Aritomo’s secrecy, loyalty to the Emperor & disappearance into the jungle, never to return. Why not reconcile all the guilt, betrayal, exploitation & loss by staying with her & sharing his knowledge with her? She loses all integrity as a human being in her own right, neglected, abused, deceived, lost & lonely all her life.
Which is not to detract from my appreciation of the book… After all, isn’t life too often like this? Things left unresolved, confusion prevailing & overlapping paths leading to lost opportunities instead of beautiful connections…?
it was hard reading this book not to think of it as ishiguro-lite; tan himself said that he re-reads An Artist of the Floating World at least once a year. and the similarities are overt - memory, its failings, the role of Japan in WWII, the cost of unspoken love etc.
regardless, tan pulls this off well, although i feel his work lacks much of the subtlety and silences that fill the spaces of ishiguro's writing. there's quite a bit of telling in this novel. it was around the end of the novel when the emotions hitherto seething beneath the surface built up to something tragic, cutting, poignant, yet, strangely, hopeful and exonerating. that made the slightly aimless and plodding pacing worth it
regardless, tan pulls this off well, although i feel his work lacks much of the subtlety and silences that fill the spaces of ishiguro's writing. there's quite a bit of telling in this novel. it was around the end of the novel when the emotions hitherto seething beneath the surface built up to something tragic, cutting, poignant, yet, strangely, hopeful and exonerating. that made the slightly aimless and plodding pacing worth it
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Historical fiction
I loved this book. I thought the descriptions of the garden, the struggles and coming to terms with life as the characters worked through the process of restoring the garden were lovely.