www.kopihangtuah.blogspot.com
This is a story of a life struggle. This is a story of sadness. This is a story of dignity, purpose and love. This is telling us how much we as human beings are fragile but yet, with such realisation, we still roam the Earth with greatness along with the confusion that we carry with us forever ...
Title: The Garden of Evening Mists
Author: Tan Twan Eng
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-78211-018-7
Publisher: Myrmidon Books Ltd
Year: 2012
TAN TWAN ENG is the pride of the nation (Malaysia) when his masterpiece, The Garden of Evening Mists, got shortlisted for The Man booker Prize. Not only am I proud for what he did for the nation, I am also thrilled to know that he is my fellow statesman, the beautiful island of Penang. Tan writes beautifully. Justice is not done if Tan's work is read in a rush and pages turning fast like what one would expect from a Dan Brown's book. His requires patience. Readers should take their time and indulge in the slow but substantially composed storyline. The appreciation of such steady digestion simply pulls you into his world. Almost analogous to wine tasting where you let the liquid linger enveloping your tongue rather than a forceful gulp.... between the sad memories of her late sister and her passion to prosecute Japanese occupation war criminals, her attention focuses on being an apprentice of this Japanese gardener. The apprenticeship proves to be an adventure uncovering many surprises ranging from her inner feelings to the gardener, communist attacks, to war secrets that involves Japanese spies and treasure hunts ...
The Garden of Evening Mists, as the name suggests, mostly revolve around a Japanese garden in the cool ambience of Cameron Highlands in Pahang. Set in three (3) different snapshots of the life of a Chinese lady, Yun Ling, the journey begins with a dark past of Japanese invasion of Malaya. Like many Chinese, women in particular, the Japanese occupation was nothing short of a living hell. Yun Ling and her sister struggle through the war in a godforsaken civilian camp deep in the rainforest. Of course, the Japanese did not stay long. The moment Hiroshima was bombed to pieces and the prospect of the same happening to Tokyo was apparent, the army of the rising sun surrendered. Yun Ling got her life returned to her but it is never the same. She lost her sister, her dignity and some fingers!
Such traumatic experience leaves a deep hatred towards Japanese. But!, ... despite the despise she has, Yun Ling later (the 2nd snapshop) finds herself enveloped with love and care for a Japanese gardener living at the fringe of a tea plantation estate. What is worse, this aged Japanese gardener was formerly the Emperor's (of Japan) gardener. All facts and feelings intertwined giving confusion to Yun Ling. She is playing tug-of-war between love and conscience. Her family and friends, mostly Chinese, looks negatively towards her like what Kunta Kinte would have felt if another black falls in love with the white colonial masters. Between the sad memories of her late sister and her passion to prosecute Japanese occupation war criminals (now that she is in the Malaya judiciary system), her attention focuses on being an apprentice of this Japanese gardener. She has to fulfil her promise to her sister. She has to build a Japanese garden in her (sister) memory. The apprenticeship proves to be an adventure uncovering many surprises ranging from her inner feelings to the gardener, communist attacks, to war secrets that involves Japanese spies and treasure hunts.
This is a story of a life struggle. This is a story of sadness. This is a story of dignity, purpose and love. This is telling us how much we as human beings are fragile but yet, with such realisation, we still roam the Earth with greatness along with the confusion that we carry along with us forever. Yun Ling is no different. She, like any other human beings, went through the exact template of a life saga. It is as if life is pre-ordained - or, perhaps, life is indeed pre-ordained anyway - leaving Yun Ling alone again in her old age (Snapshop 3) abandoned by her sister, her friends and her beloved mystical Japanese gardener lover. The pain Yun Ling feels gets unbearable when everything in her (memories), surrounding her (the surviving Japanese Garden of Evening Mists) and "on" her (a full body Japanese tattoo, Horimono, crafted by the gardener) are the legacy of the one and only lover she ever had.
* kopihangtuah
| mcmlxxv:viii:xxix |
0 comments:
Post a Comment