Book Review - The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

“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?” Ref: Booktopia

Review:

“An elegant and haunting novel of war, art and memory ... its beauty never comes to rest.” Booktopia

The Book Club members had a very long discussion about the often complex structure of the novel. It continually switches time between post- WW2 Malaya in the 1950s to Malaysia 30 years on.

Retired judge, Yun Ling Teoh returns to Cameron Highlands, suffering from Asphasia, a brain disease that leads to memory loss, to live at Aritomo’s Japanese garden “Yugiri” and begins writing her memories down while she still can. This book is full of beautiful descriptions of characters, places, emotions and actions. It is hard to put down. It is an intriguing story of two very complex, powerful but sensitive characters, Yun Ling Teoh and the mysterious Japanese gardener Aritomo. “Mysteries and secrets persist.” This book describes beautifully so much about Japanese art: “the archer's hiatus before the arrow speeds from the bow; the patch of skin that a master of the horimono tattoo will leave bare; or the "beautiful and sorrowful" moment "just as the last leaf is about to drop" ... An elegant and haunting novel of war, art and memory. “ The Independent.

The secondary characters are equally interesting. Magnus Pretorious , the former South African, owner of the tea plantation that is the location for much of the story and the link between Yun Ling and Aritomo. Frederick, Magnus’ nephew, a soldier during the Malayan uprising, who also loves Yun Ling and Magnus’ wife Emily, a Straits Chinese like Yun Ling, give the reader an interesting insight into the complex diversity of Malaysian culture and society. This is a wonderful, complex, emotional story that is beautifully written. “This beautifully written book is full of arresting images... Achieved with the seemingly effortless poise of a remarkable fictional artistry, Tan Twan Eng's winning novel will be prized by all those who cannot resist the mastery of language .” Good Book Guide

We all enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to other Probus Club readers.

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Thank you to Margaret Cassidy for this review