A review by peachie_pie
The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

challenging emotional slow-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? Yes

3.75

“Are all of us the same, I wonder, navigating our lives by interpreting the silences between words spoken, analysing the returning echoes of our memory in order to chart the terrain, in order to make sense of the world around us?”

This is a beautiful and complex story exploring one woman’s experience in a Japanese POW camp and her life after, and how her sisters life is interwoven to hers. 

Despite being possibly the most challenging work of fiction I have ever read and got a little frustrated in the first half due to the narrative being difficult to follow, it is so worth sticking it out as the final third is phenomenal. A very unusual and thought provoking novel. 
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