The Garden of Evening Mists
Ratings7
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings7
Average rating3.9
A BBC TWO BETWEEN THE COVERS BOOK CLUB PICK AN INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE WINNER OF THE MAN ASIAN LITERARY PRIZE AND THE WALTER SCOTT PRIZE Teoh Yun Ling was seventeen years old when she first heard about Aritomo and the garden. But a war would come to Malaya, and a decade pass before she would travel to see him. A man of extraordinary skill and reputation, Aritomo was once the gardener for the Emperor of Japan, and now Yun Ling needs him. She needs him to help her build a memorial to her beloved sister, killed at the hands of the Japanese. She wants to learn everything Aritomo can teach her, and do her sister proud, but to do so she must also begin a journey into her own past, a past inextricably linked with the secrets of her troubled country. A story of art, war, love and memory, The Garden of Evening Mists captures a dark moment in history with richness, power and incredible beauty.
Reviews with the most likes.
ehhhhh what do I say about this? Nothing happened for the first two thirds of the book, while it was a pleasant easy read with a few ‘setups' promising a later payoff, and then all of a sudden the author tried to cram 3 more plots into the last third. And the payoffs never happened. I'm not disappointed, it was an enjoyable enough read, inoffensive and with a nice turn of phrase... but what was it really all about? Did I miss something, or was too much was left hanging in the air unsaid?
I get the themes of retribution and making peace and consolation and all that, but... and what?
There's a lot of themes swirling around in the book, like ink in water. But no picture emerges.
