The descriptions of the natural setting were very detailed and often very
poetic but at times, personally, I felt like they were a bit too much, both in terms of quantity/length and in terms of overuse of similies (I get that similes are nice but enough is enough).

I think there were also too many of what I would call "explanation sections", basically sections that feel more like an infodump about a certain topic (for example gardening practices or the art of tattoos) and they do tend to stick out a bit too much and take you out of the narrative flow.

Also, sometimes I found the time jumps in the narrative a bit confusing and it took me a little bit to re-orient myself and place the episode within the story's timeline. 

I struggled a bit to connect with the main characters (by the way, I don't know if I find the romantic aspect of their relationship really well-developed on the page and convincing) and, at times, I was actually more drawn towards secondary characters (such as the storyline of Tatsuji).

The story was interesting enough for me to want to keep reading until the end but it didn't really captivate me completely. I think the section narrating the experience of the internment camp, though one of the most harrowing, was also the most moving and impactful.

I didn't dislike this book - a 3 star review for me means that I found the book to be pretty evenly balanced between things I liked and things I didn't like, but weighted enough to the positive side that I'm glad I read it. But I do have to say I'm disappointed, because I kind of expected to really like this book and I can't quite pinpoint what it was about it that let me down.

I do know I found The Garden of Evening Mists to be very slow paced, to the point where I had a hard time getting through certain sections of it. I don't mind a slower paced book and there are many books I absolutely adore that took some effort to get into at the beginning, but this one felt more like it was dragging. I do know that I found the setting and descriptions to be beautiful and entrancing, but had a much harder time connecting to the characters. I wrote in my review of Migrations about my struggle with stories that are told from grief-stricken/traumatized/numb protagonists - sometimes it works for me and I certainly understand that it's a very realistic portrayal, but it's easy to find protagonists like that distant and hard to connect to. And Yun Ling is hard for me to connect to, no matter how much I sympathize with her. And finally, I do know that I found the structure of this novel confusing, with it very unclear when various events were taking place. Even though I often love stories told non-chronologically, here I'm not sure what it added.

That all being said, there are several things I really enjoyed about this novel. For one, the writing style was beautiful and there were several quotes I highlighted, something I only do when I'm really drawn to. I was really interested in learning about the history of Malaysia, China, and Japan during WWII and the art of Japanese gardening, both of which are woven into the story very well. I was really taken with the concept of shakkei, the art of borrowed scenery, a Japanese gardening technique where the environment outside of a garden is used to augment the experience of being in the garden. Tan Twan Eng uses this concept in both a literal and metaphorical sense in a way I thought was very thoughtful and clever. And finally, this book did result in me feeling compelled to read several articles and essays about Japanese gardening and horimono, Japanese full-body tattoos. I consider this (feeling the pull to learn more about a topic) the mark of a successful historical fiction novel. So although I was disappointed not to love it, it was certainly worth the read for me.

Planejei ler esse livro lá em 2020,  mas só agora me senti pronta e não me arrependo. Talvez antes eu não tivesse a maturidade para lidar com uma história tão ambígua, permeada por beleza e tragédia.

“The Garden of the Evening Mists” tornou-se uma das minhas obras favoritas, entrando para o grupo de livros que eu gostaria de ter escrito. 

A história é agridoce e o que mais me marcou foi o constante tema das cadeias de brutalidade na quais somos envolvidos. Como as decisões de uma única pessoa podem destruir a vida de milhares, senão milhões.

A forma como temas geralmente abordados pela ótica coletiva, essa que por vezes nos faz esquecer que existem pessoas por trás de eventos catastróficos, também foi outro elemento que me agradou profundamente. 

Os inúmeros momentos de suspensão temporal, as frases que muitas vezes pareciam detalhes elaborados na renda mais fina, drapeada sobre a história como uma véu a me transportar para a Malaya, renderam inúmeras marcações e inspirações para a minha própria escrita. 

Tan Twan Eng escreveu uma obra prima que merece mais reconhecimento e uma tradução para o português. Sinceramente seria uma honra poder fazê-la, quem saiba surja a oportunidade no futuro.

Espero um dia conseguir escrever algo tão belo, complexo e sensível quanto essa história.

Historical fiction about the aftermath of World War II in Malaysia. I originally picked this up because a rec list mentioned the lush descriptions, and I was briefly in Cameron Highlands in 2018 and thought going back for a virtual visit sounded amazing. I got what I was looking for and a whole lot more besides. It was completely lovely--nuanced, complicated, hopeful, and also devastating.

The Garden of Evening Mists weaves back and forth between past and a late '90s present. In the "present" strand, Judge Teoh Yun Ling has just retired after receiving a serious medical diagnosis and heads back to Cameron Highlands for the first time in 40 years to meet with an art historian interested in the work of her late mentor Nakamura Aritomo, a famous gardener and woodblock print artist. In the "past" strand, it's 1949, and Yun Ling attempts to commission Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister who died in a wartime slave labor camp. Aritomo refuses the commission but offers Yun Ling an apprenticeship so that she can create her own garden. 

That's the plot. In practice, this means that the book is about 50% gorgeous descriptions of gardens, tea plantations, and jungles and about 50% flawed, complicated, traumatized people attempting to heal and have relationships with other flawed, complicated, traumatized people. It's thoughtful and moving but also very heavy. 

It snuck up on me and wove a quiet, hypnotic spell. It took me almost a week to read the first half and then I rushed through the second half in just a few days. Tan Twan Eng has such compassion for his characters, even as he refuses to let them off the hook for anything. He's also uncommonly good at writing women; I rolled my eyes a bit about the reveal of Yun Ling's romantic past (and maintain that the book would have been stronger and more interesting without that element), but I found her voice and character completely believable, both as a woman about my age and as a much older woman. I have complicated feelings about the ending, but again, it felt completely in character.

I’m SO happy I’m back in a historical fiction mood! I’ve been mainly reading contemporary for over a month now, not being in the right headspace to situate myself in a different time period. But Tan Twan Eng made it so easy to get lost in the world he conjures up, 1940s and 1950s Malaysia, spanning the Second World War and Malayan Emergency.

.

In the ‘present day’ storyline, Yun Ling is struggling to come to terms with her aphasia. She’s determined to set down her past before she’s unable, coming face to face with the trauma she endured as a prisoner of war during the Japanese Occupation of then Malaya. She also recounts the time after, apprenticed to a famous Japanese gardener in the countryside.

.

This is a book for people who love to get swept away in the prose. The sentences are beautifully crafted, the author lingers over the descriptions of the jungle, tea estates and gardens. It’s incredibly evocative but I can also imagine it being tiresome for folk who like a little more action in their reads.

.

Like with any good historical fiction, I learned a lot about the Occupation and the subsequent Emergency, as well as the arts of Japanese gardens and horimono. It’s difficult to read at times given the horrors Yun Ling and her sister suffered as prisoners of war, but I don’t think it descends into trauma porn. Tan Twan Eng approaches the topics sensitively, reminding us that we must learn from the past.

.

My only complaint is I wasn’t convinced by the romance in it. However, it plays only a small part and the novel has so much more to offer besides that.

.

Definitely will be picking up The Gift of Rain!

This book is extraordinary in its depth, its lyricism, and its compassion. As a piece of historical fiction, it is remarkably well-realized and rich. But it is also a meditation on the power of art, the power of memory, and the mysteries and longings of the human heart.