I never heard of Tash Aw or The Harmony Silk Factory till I found an old man reading this book , curious I note down the name and bought it in the expo. So many times I took it but never got interest to read. After reading "The Good Muslim" I thought that I should read some Asian authors books. I took this book set a time of 5 days to finish and started reading.And I did finish in 5 days.
I'm still wondering what is this book about - part Malaysian history, part unfulfilled love, part gardening and part friendship. But more importantly its about Johnny Lim . Who was he? .The book is divided into three parts. Three different people telling their stories which runs into Lim or I can say Lim as a central figure. First his son Jasper tells how cruel his father was , killing his own employer and father-like figure Tiger Tan to inherit his wealth and other such things. He was not happy with what his father did. Jasper fully and clearly expresses what he feels of his father. His search for truth in regards to his mother continues.
Secondly Snow Johnny Lim's wife's narration through her diary entries. The bizarre honeymoon trip along with three others - two Englishmen ( Peter, Honey) and a Japanese Kunichika Mamoru arranged by her father made them ended up at Seven Maiden Islands for some days .Though she was attracted to Johnny, she wanted to tell Johnny about her decision to leave him but she could not. They were stranded in a small island and storm killed Honey as they believe. But in reality someone killed him ?. Honey was the only one who understood the reason behind that trip. The trip brought Snow closer to Kunichika . Unlike Jasper, Snow was not straight forward in expressing her feelings.
Third narration was by Peter, the eccentric Englishman who despises Kunichika and adored Snow. Johnny was his 'only' friend according to him. In spite of the friendliness and Johnny's openness Peter's evil will persisted through out his life. Peter thinks Johnny was an innocent child , worrying about losing his wife Snow to Peter. Late in his life Peter designs a garden in honour of his friend. His narration was full of musical details and operas.
For me none of the three (Jasper, Snow and Peter) fully understood their nature of relationship with Johnny. They narrates their lack of confidence and expectations on him but none of the them took any effort to understand and close to him, No one knew exactly " Who is/was Johnny Lim?" . Even to readers its bit muddy - we are ended up assembling Johnny from various aspects without getting full picture of him.
Bit sluggish here and there but it was still a good read specially the historical details and the portrayal of everyday life in Kinta Valley. This book received "Whitebread First Novel Award- 2005". Tash Aw really did a good job in exploring Malay history and make it interesting.
Notes :
1) Kinta Valley - Centre of tin mining during British rule in Malaya.
2)Seven Maiden Islands - present day Lankawi Islands.
3) Coolies - Kulhi, the name of a tribe native to Gujarat i India
4)Nanyang - the South seas
5)Kek Loong
6)Mat Hitam
7)Kempeitai - the Japanese secret police
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