The Garden of Evening Mists

Neniu kovrilo — The Garden of Evening Mists (EBook, 2012, Weinstein Books)

Bitlibro, 352 paĝoj

Lingvo: English

Eldonita je 3-a de novembro 2012 de Weinstein Books.

ISBN:: 978-1-60286-181-7
Numero OCLC:: 1011009660

(1 recenzo)

Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice "until the monsoon comes." Then she can design a garden for herself.

As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to the gardener and his art, while all around them a communist guerilla war rages. But the Garden of Evening Mists remains a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? And is the …

Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan. Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice "until the monsoon comes." Then she can design a garden for herself.

As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to the gardener and his art, while all around them a communist guerilla war rages. But the Garden of Evening Mists remains a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?

5 eldonoj

Stephanie Jane recenzis The Garden Of Evening Mists de Tan Twan Eng

Beautiful!

5 steloj

The Garden Of Evening Mists began by thwarting my assumptions which is always a good way for a novel to capture my interest. It was so long since I had read the synopsis that I forgotten everything except its post-war Malaysia setting (or Malaya as it was then). So I envisaged Judge Teoh making his way to his retirement celebration only to be brought up short when She arrived! Tut tut me assuming a judge would be male!

Tan Twan Eng has created an absolutely beautiful novel here. I loved his delicate turns of phrase in describing the incredible natural Malaysian landscapes as well as the deliberate beauty of the eponymous garden. This garden is designed according to Japanese teachings and I felt the whole story reflected Japanese style. Its theme of cultural conflict takes many forms from the obvious of the austere garden on a lush mountainside, to the …

The Garden Of Evening Mists began by thwarting my assumptions which is always a good way for a novel to capture my interest. It was so long since I had read the synopsis that I forgotten everything except its post-war Malaysia setting (or Malaya as it was then). So I envisaged Judge Teoh making his way to his retirement celebration only to be brought up short when She arrived! Tut tut me assuming a judge would be male!

Tan Twan Eng has created an absolutely beautiful novel here. I loved his delicate turns of phrase in describing the incredible natural Malaysian landscapes as well as the deliberate beauty of the eponymous garden. This garden is designed according to Japanese teachings and I felt the whole story reflected Japanese style. Its theme of cultural conflict takes many forms from the obvious of the austere garden on a lush mountainside, to the aftermath of the Japanese army's horrific acts against the Malaysian-Chinese population during the Second World War. Much of Teoh's post-war is an attempt to come to terms with her treatment during those war years and, while Tan steers clear of overtly graphic detail, we readers are left in no doubt as to what Teoh and her sister endured. She narrates in two timelines being desperate to remember her personal history before disease takes her memory forever.

Tan writes brilliantly for a female narrator and I never had any doubt that I was reading a woman's words. I also appreciated the diversity of his cast of characters. Malaya at this time was a fervent melting pot of cultures on the brink of shaking off British colonial rule so we not only see the aftermath of the war, but also the guerrilla struggles to establish an independent future. So many narrative threads should have made The Garden Of Evening Mists a complicated novel, but it actually has a real clarity of vision and portrayal. And it's just beautiful!