by Tan Twan Eng
This Malaysian novel, short listed for the Booker Prize 2012, was
discussed at
the first meeting of the 2014, hosted by Paulette.
All “old”
members were present, plus one new one – welcome Christine!
The book gave rise
to a very lively discussion and, in general, was liked by all, for various
reasons.
Firstly, for the richness of the language, including original
metaphors and vivid descriptions, mainly of the beauty of nature – in its wild
state (the rainforest etc.) or man made (the Japanese gardens, paintings), that
contrasts starkly with the ugliness of human behaviour.
Secondly, for opening a
window on a world and events not well, if not at all, known to us (Colonial
Malya, the Japanese occupation of it, the communist insurgency after the WW II,
and more). In this sense, it is an extremely complex novel, packed with stories
of many people whose lives all touch at the Tea Estate of Majula in the
Malaysian mountains, where the Yugiri garden had been created by Arimoto, the
Japanese Emperor´s gardener, and with a great number of facts. (Everybody
needed to Google.) It is narrated by Teoh Yu Ling, who had been a prisoner in a
Japanese labour camp, in which her sister died. It is not possible here to describe
all the plots, or all the interesting comments made.
The structure of the novel
is complex as well, moving us between at least three different time levels,
covering some 40 years (not to mention the excursions into the past, sometimes
very distant), and evolves progressively along the lines of a suspense novel –
raising many questions, some of which are finally never answered (Arimoto´s
real role and his disappearance, what end is Yu Ling planning for herself). If
I remember it right, it was felt that the level of the narrative declined
somewhat towards the end, and I personally found the chapter 19 – the telling
about the camp by Yu Ling a bit of an anticlimax.
The underlying themes are of
forgetting/loss of memory (the introductory quote begins “There is a Goddess of
Memory, Mnemosyne, but none of forgetting…”) and of forgiving, and the eternal
question of guilt and atonement in the times of war. And also of love that wins
over hatred.
As I think all of us, I have a whole list of quotes from this
novel…
Blanka
This Malaysian novel, short listed for the Booker Prize 2012, was discussed at
ReplyDeletethe first meeting of the 2014, hosted by Paulette.
All “old” members were present, plus one new one – welcome Christine!
The book gave rise to a very lively discussion and, in general, was liked by all, for various reasons.
Firstly, for the richness of the language, including original metaphors and vivid descriptions, mainly of the beauty of nature – in its wild state (the rainforest etc.) or man made (the Japanese gardens, paintings), that contrasts starkly with the ugliness of human behaviour.
Secondly, for opening a window on a world and events not well, if not at all, known to us (Colonial Malya, the Japanese occupation of it, the communist insurgency after the WW II, and more). In this sense, it is an extremely complex novel, packed with stories of many people whose lives all touch at the Tea Estate of Majula in the Malaysian mountains, where the Yugiri garden had been created by Arimoto, the Japanese Emperor´s gardener, and with a great number of facts. (Everybody needed to Google.) It is narrated by Teoh Yu Ling, who had been a prisoner in a Japanese labour camp, in which her sister died. It is not possible here to describe all the plots, or all the interesting comments made.
The structure of the novel is complex as well, moving us between at least three different time levels, covering some 40 years (not to mention the excursions into the past, sometimes very distant), and evolves progressively along the lines of a suspense novel – raising many questions, some of which are finally never answered (Arimoto´s real role and his disappearance, what end is Yu Ling planning for herself). If I remember it right, it was felt that the level of the narrative declined somewhat towards the end, and I personally found the chapter 19 – the telling about the camp by Yu Ling a bit of an anticlimax.
The underlying themes are of forgetting/loss of memory (the introductory quote begins “There is a Goddess of Memory, Mnemosyne, but none of forgetting…”) and of forgiving, and the eternal question of guilt and atonement in the times of war. And also of love that wins over hatred.
As I think all of us, I have a whole list of quotes from this novel…
Blanka