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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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:
Yes
Every line of this book felt like a poem in itself, the descriptive language was like that of nothing I have encountered before. I left the book feeling like it changed me, and I can't recommend it enough to people looking for a sincere book about memory and processing pain.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War
Moderate: Colonisation
Extraordinarily boring. Characters so flat I couldn’t even remember who was who. DNF page 223.
dark
reflective
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:
No
Such a wonderful book. Characters and places I felt I got to know intimately. Beautifully written, heartbreaking and emotional, but also informative.
I'm so glad I didn't give up on it, after I abandoned the audio version.
I'm so glad I didn't give up on it, after I abandoned the audio version.
Still thinking how I feel about it. It was very interesting
Fascinating look at Malaysian history but also of tattooing!
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
relaxing
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
3.5, only just rounded up. The first half was slow, and the jumping around between time periods was hard to follow (no indicators at the start of chapters so you had to wait until you read something that gave you a clue.. which I found jarring and unnecessarily difficult). The writing, as many have said, is lovely, but it didn’t feel new or particularly special to me. The second half picked up and came into its own, plot-wise, but I never quite bonded with the characters and the writing became almost self-consciously lyrical at times. Overall, I didn’t quite see what the fuss was about, and I think a more stringent editing process could have worked wonders on this book.
There’s something quiet and heady about books set in the hill stations - from [a:Ruskin Bond|46603|Ruskin Bond|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1397937527p2/46603.jpg] to [b:Miss Timmins' School for Girls|10194404|Miss Timmins' School for Girls|Nayana Currimbhoy|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348733212i/10194404._SX50_.jpg|15093577]. They are of a specific quality.
As I read The Gardens of Evening Mists I am struck by the context of the background in which I come across the books I read, to truly experience them. Just like my visit to Panchgani took hold of my imagination in Miss Timmin’s, my visit to Panchgani my visit to Cameron Highlands forms the basis for my understanding of 1950s Malaysia. The Japanese gardens I saw in my visits to Penang, Ipoh, and Fraser Hill expound the meaning behind a Japanese garden worth to the narrator. It is like a human soul, the NYT review says. Japanese gardens are esoteric in their ways. They hold secrets, mysterious entrances, perspectives on life, initiation to a calmer world, loss of memory or time.
The concept of a “borrowed landscape” is interesting to me. A garden which uses its scenery and backdrop, inculcates it into its own being - Isn’t that like circumstances creating a mindset, a personality for ourselves?
Our borrowed landscape is our personal history. This is important to me because I connect this to a central question on my identity. Can I take views from the outside my own mind and make them integral to me without wondering about my core belief? Do I get a say in what scenery is borrowed? I am my garden;’s Emperor gardener but the careful control is elusive.
In my own garden, I am not to be conflicted - I should be at peace but I am - objectively - neither the guest of the Emperor nor the maker of my own. The language, after a long time, is captivating me.
I mean, I wish the central figure wasn't a masculine voice in a woman's character. However...
The Japanese language obviously has a lot to teach us Mono no aware for example is the pathos of something, empathy for things, which is central to Chinese gardens. Pleasure gardens were also a central archaeological figure in the Mughal empire. There are different types of physical borrowing, but humans mostly borrow from time and memories. Shakkei. I like to think that there is something about the Horimono tattoo in the body’s Shakkei.
It is still surprising to me that people cared for art so much during wartime.
I would have liked to see that Night Sky garden by Arimoto’s grandfather. The ultimately borrowed scenery. It must have been very pretty.
22nd Jan, 2019
I am not wholly satisfied by the ending of this book. Is there a treasure in the map? It appears so but I do want a definitive descriptions just the ame. I understand that in a book about conflicts one of the answers I was seeking was the understanding with Frederik. Yun Ling wonders about her heartlessness in other ways but accepts the narrative as it is. How does she become a judge with all this baggage?
As I read The Gardens of Evening Mists I am struck by the context of the background in which I come across the books I read, to truly experience them. Just like my visit to Panchgani took hold of my imagination in Miss Timmin’s, my visit to Panchgani my visit to Cameron Highlands forms the basis for my understanding of 1950s Malaysia. The Japanese gardens I saw in my visits to Penang, Ipoh, and Fraser Hill expound the meaning behind a Japanese garden worth to the narrator. It is like a human soul, the NYT review says. Japanese gardens are esoteric in their ways. They hold secrets, mysterious entrances, perspectives on life, initiation to a calmer world, loss of memory or time.
The concept of a “borrowed landscape” is interesting to me. A garden which uses its scenery and backdrop, inculcates it into its own being - Isn’t that like circumstances creating a mindset, a personality for ourselves?
Our borrowed landscape is our personal history. This is important to me because I connect this to a central question on my identity. Can I take views from the outside my own mind and make them integral to me without wondering about my core belief? Do I get a say in what scenery is borrowed? I am my garden;’s Emperor gardener but the careful control is elusive.
In my own garden, I am not to be conflicted - I should be at peace but I am - objectively - neither the guest of the Emperor nor the maker of my own. The language, after a long time, is captivating me.
I mean, I wish the central figure wasn't a masculine voice in a woman's character. However...
“When the First Man and First Woman were banished from their home, Time was also set loose upon the world.”
“The noise of insects sizzled in the air, like fat in a smoking wok.”
The Japanese language obviously has a lot to teach us Mono no aware for example is the pathos of something, empathy for things, which is central to Chinese gardens. Pleasure gardens were also a central archaeological figure in the Mughal empire. There are different types of physical borrowing, but humans mostly borrow from time and memories. Shakkei. I like to think that there is something about the Horimono tattoo in the body’s Shakkei.
It is still surprising to me that people cared for art so much during wartime.
I would have liked to see that Night Sky garden by Arimoto’s grandfather. The ultimately borrowed scenery. It must have been very pretty.
22nd Jan, 2019
I am not wholly satisfied by the ending of this book. Is there a treasure in the map? It appears so but I do want a definitive descriptions just the ame. I understand that in a book about conflicts one of the answers I was seeking was the understanding with Frederik. Yun Ling wonders about her heartlessness in other ways but accepts the narrative as it is. How does she become a judge with all this baggage?