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A review by goatsrsexy
Tale of the Dreamer's Son by Preeta Samarasan
3.5
I really enjoy reading books from other cultures because not only does it give me some insight into cultures I don't know much about and two different countries histories, but also because I find it lovely to experience reading books written and very different narrative styles that I'm used to.
Tell the dreamers son is a Malaysian book, I know next to nothing about Malaysian political history or really much East Asian history at all... And while of course this story is fiction I found it also gave me a lot of insight into things I'd previously known nothing about.
Some people may not like the way that the story jumps through time and I struggle with that myself, but I do think it worked really well for this particular book.
This book contains a lot of what I believe is Manglish, which from what I understand which is a kind of informal mix of languages. Sorry if I got that wrong, I was introduced to the term in another review for this book. This isn't something that bothers me because I read a lot of stories from different countries, but it may turn some non Malaysian readers off. I personally find it adds to story and despite the fact that I may miss some context, I like it. I think it's acceptable for me, a random Canadian woman, to feel like a bit of an outsider when reading a Malaysian book.
One of my favorite things in this book was how it described the different ways parents can fuck up their children. From emotional neglect to emotional incest the children in this book are never treated appropriately.That's something that I can relate to and I think that it was portrayed very well here. People too easily forget that children are real human beings with their own thoughts, feelings, and agency. They're not belongings.
This is a story about that spans decades. It is funny in some ways but also very sad. The prose is challenging but also accessible. I'd recommend this book definitely to anyone Malaysian or who knows about Malaysia, but id also recommend it to anyone interested in reading a book about class and religion and trauma and family.
Thanks to Netgalley and World Editions for providing me this advanced reader copy.
Tell the dreamers son is a Malaysian book, I know next to nothing about Malaysian political history or really much East Asian history at all... And while of course this story is fiction I found it also gave me a lot of insight into things I'd previously known nothing about.
Some people may not like the way that the story jumps through time and I struggle with that myself, but I do think it worked really well for this particular book.
This book contains a lot of what I believe is Manglish, which from what I understand which is a kind of informal mix of languages. Sorry if I got that wrong, I was introduced to the term in another review for this book. This isn't something that bothers me because I read a lot of stories from different countries, but it may turn some non Malaysian readers off. I personally find it adds to story and despite the fact that I may miss some context, I like it. I think it's acceptable for me, a random Canadian woman, to feel like a bit of an outsider when reading a Malaysian book.
One of my favorite things in this book was how it described the different ways parents can fuck up their children. From emotional neglect to emotional incest the children in this book are never treated appropriately.That's something that I can relate to and I think that it was portrayed very well here. People too easily forget that children are real human beings with their own thoughts, feelings, and agency. They're not belongings.
This is a story about that spans decades. It is funny in some ways but also very sad. The prose is challenging but also accessible. I'd recommend this book definitely to anyone Malaysian or who knows about Malaysia, but id also recommend it to anyone interested in reading a book about class and religion and trauma and family.
Thanks to Netgalley and World Editions for providing me this advanced reader copy.