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moeeyc's review against another edition
4.0
Book Club friends, pay attention! I have had the book for some time, but had to read a book by an author from Southeast Asia for 2016 Book Riot Read Harder Challenge. And so it was that I read a book about an area I wan't familiar with, on topics I had no experience with. OK, well I do have a fair bit of trade with WWII fiction, but not like this. It was an interesting and engaging read, bittersweet. Not nearly as many tears as the last one....read it!
brindagurumoorthy's review against another edition
4.0
The premise and writing are solid (the story centers on the survivor of a Japanese war camp living in Malaya amidst guerrilla warfare), but I often got confused with the switches between present and past and even more past. I think the book could have been shorter and clearer.
jenlee33's review against another edition
3.0
This was recommended to me by an acquaintance on Twitter. Pros: I learned quite a bit of history about Malaya (Malaysia) and Japanese POW camps during WWII. Cons: the style felt detached/cold and I never fully connected with Yun Ling, the narrator. All of the prose was very pretty, but lacked emotion, for what should have been an extremely moving story.
kkilfoyle's review against another edition
5.0
This book was a slow start for me. It took me until I was about 20% of the way through to get into the story. Then I was captivated and moved.
galaxytummy's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
lolapetoeta's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
hannibal812's review against another edition
5.0
This was an amazing read. I loved the fact that it had a slow (but quite steady) pace. It forced me to slow down and read the pages. The author's descriptions of the times and places were very rich and once I googled some of the locations and theme's of the book I was able to have such a crisp and vivid picture of the characters and story in my mind. Personally I enjoy a book that makes me look up words or use the internet to gain a better understanding. Malaysia, and SE Asia during WWII are topics I have very little knowledge of and are not typically things that draw me in, but the story of Yun Ling was compelling. As I read in another review, this is a book that leaves me wanting more and made me sad when I came to the end. A great read if you want to slow down and learn about a time and place about which you may not know much. I have so much history to look at and read!
adarkbard's review against another edition
3.0
I really enjoyed this book. The only problem I ran into was I had a hard time picturing the characters ages. As it bounces around in flashbacks between long past and more recent past I never really could develop a sense of what the characters looked like or how old they were. That being said the other descriptions in the book are picture perfect. The world is beautiful.
martinr71's review against another edition
4.0
To begin with, while I thoroughly enjoyed the beautifully descriptive writing, I felt the pace of the story was far too slow and, as each chapter flitted back and forth through the decades, it was just a little bit confusing. Once into the story though, I did begin to enjoy it. The quality of the writing is superb.