2006-03-15
The Harmony Silk Factory
Author: Tash Aw
This is the kind of book I'd never pick up on my own. Fortunately I have friends to make recommendations for me. I admit it was a good book, but I still wouldn't get into it on my own.
"Johnny" Yim, Communist leader in Malay's Kinta Valley region, was born just in time to be an influential young man by the time Japan's invasion came in World War II. A self-made businessman by day, he secretly leads the guerilla resistance against British authority through his extensive contacts throughout the Valley. Everyone knows Johnny. Everyone likes and trusts Johnny. Except, the people that begin to actually know Johnny don't really trust him and aren't so sure they like him either.
We learn about Johnny and in particular the events of his life in 1941-2 through three sources: his son Jasper, who is attempting to write a factual, researched biography of his hated father, his wife Snow, who kept a diary before and during a trip they took with three other men, and his friend Peter, who is writing some memoirs after Johnny's funeral while waiting patiently in a nursing home to die himself. We're not privileged to know Johnny directly. Each of the three parts of the book is written in the first person and full of that writer's own problems.
As a credit to the author, I was tempted to cycle back to the beginning and re-read Jasper's tale of the events of Johnny's life after finishing the other two parts. I resisted, being in bed, but probably would have done it if I were on the train and had a few minutes to kill. I satisfied myself with a mental review instead. Aw created some great characters and pieced together an interesting study of how we really only exist in the minds of others.
He did not, however, produce a plot in which to frame his work. Part of Snow's diary contained a plot as the party of five journeyed to and frolicked on the island, but her story is cut off when it, plot-wise, starts to go somewhere. This accounts for a quarter of the length. Otherwise there's no particular action driving the story. Some people like to read novels heavy on characterization. I generally can't do it. I highly appreciate well developed characters in my action, but will chew on literary bubble gum featuring off-the-shelf wire frame actors running through an original plot more readily than I will drink a rich wine made from interesting people living in uninteresting times. I'm happy I read The Harmony Silk Factory, but it's an example of why I feel unsophisticated around some readers. I can recommend it, but I need to go read something totally different now.
This is the kind of book I'd never pick up on my own. Fortunately I have friends to make recommendations for me. I admit it was a good book, but I still wouldn't get into it on my own.
"Johnny" Yim, Communist leader in Malay's Kinta Valley region, was born just in time to be an influential young man by the time Japan's invasion came in World War II. A self-made businessman by day, he secretly leads the guerilla resistance against British authority through his extensive contacts throughout the Valley. Everyone knows Johnny. Everyone likes and trusts Johnny. Except, the people that begin to actually know Johnny don't really trust him and aren't so sure they like him either.
We learn about Johnny and in particular the events of his life in 1941-2 through three sources: his son Jasper, who is attempting to write a factual, researched biography of his hated father, his wife Snow, who kept a diary before and during a trip they took with three other men, and his friend Peter, who is writing some memoirs after Johnny's funeral while waiting patiently in a nursing home to die himself. We're not privileged to know Johnny directly. Each of the three parts of the book is written in the first person and full of that writer's own problems.
As a credit to the author, I was tempted to cycle back to the beginning and re-read Jasper's tale of the events of Johnny's life after finishing the other two parts. I resisted, being in bed, but probably would have done it if I were on the train and had a few minutes to kill. I satisfied myself with a mental review instead. Aw created some great characters and pieced together an interesting study of how we really only exist in the minds of others.
He did not, however, produce a plot in which to frame his work. Part of Snow's diary contained a plot as the party of five journeyed to and frolicked on the island, but her story is cut off when it, plot-wise, starts to go somewhere. This accounts for a quarter of the length. Otherwise there's no particular action driving the story. Some people like to read novels heavy on characterization. I generally can't do it. I highly appreciate well developed characters in my action, but will chew on literary bubble gum featuring off-the-shelf wire frame actors running through an original plot more readily than I will drink a rich wine made from interesting people living in uninteresting times. I'm happy I read The Harmony Silk Factory, but it's an example of why I feel unsophisticated around some readers. I can recommend it, but I need to go read something totally different now.
