In many ways this book is like a japanese garden, at least the way I understand japanese gardens after reading this book. Everything has a meaning and mostly it doesn't get revealed to you before you are at the right place at the right time. You walk around a corner and suddenly a vista is revealed. Japanese gardens are also very controlled and restrained, another quality I feel it shares with the novel. There's lots of intense feelings, but it's all hidden beneath a veneer of traditions, seremonies and duty. And like the garden offers sudden insights, so does the novel give us new glimpses of both feelings and events.
As a westerner I didn't know much about Malaysia or its history before I read this book, so it was really interesting to learn both a little about World War II in Asia and about Malaysia in the early 1950's, just as their independence was getting close to being a reality. It made me curious to learn more about Malaysia.
I'm usually a fast reader and like/need to finish novels fairly quickly. This one didn't allow me to do that. It required time. Luckily I had the sense to surrender my usual impatience and allow The Garden of Evening Mists the time it needed.
Denne omtalen er også publisert på bloggen min.
Viser 1 svar.
Jeg kjøpte denne boken i Malaysia, og underveis i lesingen har jeg kjent igjen stedsnavn, malaysiske gloser og andre "kulturelle særtrekk" som jeg ble kjent med der nede. Romanen ga meg en mye bedre forståelse av Malaysias nære historie, og jeg er helt enig i trådstarters terningkast - denne boken fortjener toppscore også for sine litterære kvaliteter. Eva M.'s anmeldelse er veldig fortettet og god - og jeg slutter meg til hennes beskrivelse. Malaysia er et spennende land som har gjennomgått store omveltninger opp gjennom tiden - jeg håper denne boken av Tan Twan Eng vil få mange norske lesere, og for min del har jeg bestemt meg for å lese mer av denne forfatteren.
Sist sett
