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The Garden of Evening Mists [Kindle Edition]

Tan Twan Eng (Author)

4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (197 customer reviews)

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Length: 354 pages (Contains Real Page Numbers)
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Product Description

Review

Just as elegantly planted as his Man Booker longlisted debut The Gift of Rain, and even more tantalisingly evocative --The Independent

Book Description

The internation bestseller, winner of the Man Asian Literary Prize 2012 and the 2013 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction and shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2012

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Product details

Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 1640 KB
Print Length: 354 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1782110186
Publisher: Canongate Books (2 May 2013)
Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.� r.l.
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1782110186
ISBN-13: 978-1782110187
ASIN: B00BJKYM8G
Text-to-Speech: Enabled

X-Ray: Not Enabled

Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (197 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #337 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars

4.4 out of 5 stars

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

79 of 82 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful and sensitively written 26 Jun 2012

By Caroline

Format:Paperback

Having so enjoyed his first book, I started reading this one with great anticipation. I was not disappointed. His main character, a woman judge who has been tortured by the Japanese when they invaded Penang, approaches the former gardener to the Emperor of Japan, wanting him to make her a Japanese garden in memory of her sister.

His writing is magical and he paints vivid pictures of the Malaysian jungle near Cameron Heights. His introduces a longstanding family friend who is a survivor of the Boer War. Like the Judge he has experienced loss as his family was put in a concentration camp by the British. The battle for independence and the fight against communism also adds further depth to this fascinating story, which is wonderfully crafted throughout.

A must read.

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53 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Evocative and profound. 1 Jun 2012

By Columba

Format:Paperback

I found this second novel by Tan Twan Eng both absorbing and extraordinarily enriching. His hero is a woman. He writes in the first person singular and is obviously very much in touch with the female aspect of his psyche which adds to the authenticity of his plot.

I loved his first novel, 'The Gift of Rain,' and this one has an even greater profundity. I like especially the way in which he connects the past memories of his hero, Judge Teoh Yun Ling, with her present existence.

The real subject of the story is a Japanese Gardener, Nakamura Aritomo. He had once been the gardener of the Emperor of Japan. Yun Ling's story is intimately connected with Aritomo and the unique relationship between the two. There are several interesting characters and each plays a vital part in the unfolding of the story.

On the very first page Tan Twan Eng writes,

- "Thirty-six years after that morning, I hear his voice again, hollow and resonant. Memories I had locked away began to break free, like shards of ice fracturing off an arctic shelf. In sleep these broken floes drift towards the morning light of remembrance."

That's a marvellous paragraph and immediately hooked me on the story. Its a beautiful book full of wonderful and moving images as well as being an intriguing read.

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35 of 37 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Total magic 9 Sep 2012

By antony mair

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

In this wonderful book we are plunged into the Far East, and the conflicts between Malays, Chinese and Japanese. Against a background of total savagery in and after the Second World War there is a tale of love and forgiveness that unfolds with the slow inevitability of the garden that is the centrepiece of the book. The two central characters - a former gardener to the Emperor of Japan and the Malayan Chinese prosecutor of Japanese war criminals, who subsequently becomes a judge - are portrayed with astonishing sensitivity, as is the setting in the Cameron Highlands. I loved every single minute of it, and now know where I want to go on my next holiday!

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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Read 22 Nov 2012

By Ms. F. C. Brown

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am not a fan of Man Booker Prize books as I find them a bit highbrow. However, I loved this book and I bought it because I loved his first book. Having been born and raised in Penang myself I recognised a lot of the places mentioned in the first book. Likewise, having visited Cameron Highlands and Kuala Lumpur it was interesting reading the book. Tan Twan Eng writes beautifully and I really enoyed the book.

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38 of 41 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Images that haunt the imagination and a great story to match 27 July 2012

By Tim Murgatroyd

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

For me, Tan Twan Eng's 'The Gift Of Rain' became one of those books that enter your subconscious on some level and keeps popping back into your mind. It was partly due to the evocative descriptions, partly the complexities of the central character. So when I bought my copy of 'Garden Of Evening Mists' I thought it unlikely he could achieve the same success twice. However, Tan Twan Eng has proved himself a genuine artist once again. The narrator is intriguing all the way through to the book's ending (which, by the way, carries a surprising twist and punch unusual in a so-called 'literary' novel). There is an air of beautiful sadness to some parts of the story. Again, the descriptions of the Malayan highlands are layered with deeper nuances, just as they were when Tan Twan Eng described the island of Penang in 'Gift Of Rain'. Finally, there are timeless (and some horrible) moral dilemmas swirling round this book like the mists round the eponymous garden. Dilemmas for the characters that made this reader, at least, think about the hard choices people face in the world. Tan isn't a prolific writer and reading his novel reveals why: every word counts.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Murky Malayan Memories 10 April 2013

By Stuart Sussex Scribe

Format:Paperback

Judge Teoh (or Yun Ling)is a Straits Chinese Malaysian who takes early retirement due to a cranial disease eating away at her memories. This is really a plot device to start Yun Ling writing her story before she forgets it all and the book the develops into three tiers of overlapping memories - before and during the second world war (under Japanese occupation), working on a Japanese Garden for Aritomo (the former gardener of Emperor Hirohito) at the time of the Malayan emergency pre-independence, and lastly the present day.
The setting is almost all in the Cameron Highlands of the Malayan peninsula - in particular the garden of Yugiri and the adjacent tea estate of Majuba run by an eccentric South African Magnus Pretorius and his Straits Chinese wife Emily and son Frederick. The descriptions of the tropical rain forests and gardens are magnificent and the 1950s and wartime flashbacks have enough detail to appear realistic.
The cast focuses heavily on the above characters with a present day Japanese visitor (Tatsuji) providing another set of memories (as a failed kamikaze pilot) together with the key to unlock the plot and bring all the discordant pieces together.
The characterisation is generally very good though there are some rather unlikely elements of the plot which stretch the belief in the characters eg would someone with Yun Ling's background really sleep with Aritomo and then refrain for 40 years for fear of exposing a tatoo?
The writing has a mystical and slightly sentimental feel to it but is generally very good. The plot presents itself as a series of multiple memories leaving the reader struggling a little to remember where he/she is, and there are a lot of loose ends left hanging; why does Aritomo just disappear? Read more ›

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars The Garden of Evening Mists

I do not claim to be qualified to comment on a professional author's work. The book is well written, has well rounded and balanced characters and has a plot line to keep you on... Read more

Published 23 hours ago by Chief1169

5.0 out of 5 stars should have won man booker!

Beautifully atmospheric book which throws light on a little understood period of history from the viewpoint of an unusual set of protagonists. Read more

Published 1 day ago by Mrs. Andrea P. Birch

5.0 out of 5 stars what a story

it was a great story that had me from the beginning........it was hard to ready in some places but gripping......very well told. Read more

Published 2 days ago by CanadaJen

5.0 out of 5 stars It was the first book all 10 of my book group loved

This is a fascinating book with many different strands, It is in part about the Japanese occupation of Malaysia and the subsequent terrorist operation of the communists. Read more

Published 3 days ago by Anne

4.0 out of 5 stars A book the stir you and set you thinking

A story of a young man growing up in turbulent times who found someone to befriend him and the way the war pulled them to loss betrayal and death ,decisions made that maybe should... Read more

Published 8 days ago by pal

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting eye-opener on the history of Malaya

A complicated story revealing the horrors of the Japanese occupation of Malaya, on the one hand, and the beauties of a Japanese garden on the other hand. Read more

Published 9 days ago by michele klein

5.0 out of 5 stars A bookclub choice, which achieved full marks!

An incredible book, beautifully written, and a very credible story. Ticked all the boxes of being a great read. History, culture, art and love, plus a twist in the tale. Read more

Published 13 days ago by MJB, Scotland

5.0 out of 5 stars The sensations of the book stay with you long after you've finished...

I had already read and very much enjoyed Tan Twan Eng's first book, The Gift of Rain. I like this book just as much, if not more. Read more

Published 13 days ago by Mme Suzanne Lageard

5.0 out of 5 stars SUPER FAST DELIVERY

GIFT FOR A FRIEND WHO LOVED TAN TWAN ENG'S FIRST BOOK (GIFT OF RAIN) SO CAN'T COMMENT ON THE BOOK ITSELF.

Published 16 days ago by WILLIAM WARTON

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic

Brilliant read and fantastic history lesson. Ten out of ten. A good book for men or women, something for everyone

Published 17 days ago by Jill Fitzsimmons

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