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A review by katrod
The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng
adventurous
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The true definition of an epic. When I started this one I thought it was going to be in line with the likes of Pachinko- and I shouldn’t have set my expectations too high.
While I did really love the writing, I felt at times the story lagged and it was longer than it needed to be. The balance of what the author focused on didn’t quite work for me, I wanted more details about the lives of those around Ah Boon, and less of the mundane details.
I love a story that teaches me about the history of a place I don’t know much about, and this is a sweeping tale of how Singapore went from British colonial rule, to Japanese occupation, back to the Brits, then independence, then to being part of Malaysia. It’s a lot for one small island nation to go through within only half a century!
My only gripe was that the history wasn’t actually explained very well, it very much assumed you had the knowledge of Singapore’s past governments. Since I do not, I had to look a lot of things up. While this may be intentional by the author (so as to not have to be the educator but to just tell the story) it definitely hindered my experience a bit.
While I did really love the writing, I felt at times the story lagged and it was longer than it needed to be. The balance of what the author focused on didn’t quite work for me, I wanted more details about the lives of those around Ah Boon, and less of the mundane details.
I love a story that teaches me about the history of a place I don’t know much about, and this is a sweeping tale of how Singapore went from British colonial rule, to Japanese occupation, back to the Brits, then independence, then to being part of Malaysia. It’s a lot for one small island nation to go through within only half a century!
My only gripe was that the history wasn’t actually explained very well, it very much assumed you had the knowledge of Singapore’s past governments. Since I do not, I had to look a lot of things up. While this may be intentional by the author (so as to not have to be the educator but to just tell the story) it definitely hindered my experience a bit.