❝Moments in time when the world is changing bring out the best and the worst in people.❞ *
Tan Twan Eng's debut novel A Gift of Rain continues to receive the attention it deserves.
“…what I am perhaps the most impressed with is the story’s dealing with race. Japan’s involvement in World War 2 is always something that fascinated me, but at the same time not something I wholly wanted to investigate. From many British soldiers accounts, it was one of the harshest regimes, and even peers of mine in Hong Kong told stories about Japanese culture both then and now like they were fireside stories for camp, sadly making
Bridget Jones’ mother’s opinion of the Japanese being a ‘cruel race’ a far more popular opinion than I would like. Naturally then, it makes the topic a hard one to tackle and open up to a Western audience. What
the Gift of Rain does is bring a sensitive perspective in showing the lives all citizens in Malaya of all races, Philip experiencing this hostility even before the war due to his mixed race- very close to what I have witnessed over recent years. Tan explores how the practical survival instinct to choose a side is near impossible when opened up to enough humanity, and how what is truly crucial is to hang onto the characteristics that you choose for yourself.
Overall, I would say that it needs a little faith and patience to get off its feet, but once in flight it becomes a story you’re unlikely to forget.”
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