tau7 's review for:

The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng

3.5

dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This book is beautifully crafted and written but I disliked all the characters so much I found it hard to fully engage. Everyone is using at least one other person in a really horrible way and the matter-of-fact racism and snobbery was hard to get over. I realise it was written from the perspective of the time but that just underlined the pernicious nature of colonialism. I also struggle with books that mix fact and fiction in this way, I like to know where I am with history and inventing bits for the sake of a narrative is unsettling for me.