Book of the Month Club has been a hit or miss endeavor for me over the last year or so. I’ve had the opportunity to broaden my reading horizons and have found quite a few literary gems (The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Motrton, Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, and The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne, to name a few) and duds (The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman, One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul, and Not That I Could Tell by Jessica Strawser, to name a few more) with this particular monthly subscription.
Luckily my January selection, The Night Tiger by Yangza Choo, has proven to be uniquely fruitful and magical. Unlike anything I’ve read in recent memory. It encompasses ancient mystique, forbidden romance, and the inexplicable connections all living beings have withh one another. I learned a few things about Chinese superstitions and The Five Virtues of Confucius, which play a major role in the telling of this story as well as how the characters interact with one another.
Set in 1930’s Malaysia and told from the perspectives of Ren (3rd person) a Chinese houseboy to a prominent English doctor and Ji Lin (1st person) a dance hall girl/dress maker who dreams of becoming a doctor, the reader witnesses all of the ways their paths over lap, parallel and cross through out the book.
Ren, an 11-year-old orphan touting himself as a 13-year-old houseboy, is on a mission to reunite his deceased employer with his lost severed finger that has mysteriously disappeared. In Chinese culture, it is believed that all parts of the body must be brought together within 49 days of death in order for the soul to pass on to a peaceful after life. Ren believes that his dead master now inhabits the body of a tiger, causing the violent deaths of numerous villagers as he restlessly prowls for what is rightfully his. As he seeks to accomplish his task, Ren finds himself newly employed by a young doctor, who has a disturbing past of his own. One that puts him in the crosshairs of a similar course of tragedy.
Ji Lin, a young and attractive girl trying to help her mother with a slew of shameful debts, takes a job as a dressmaker and secretly moonlights as a dancehall girl (a profession best kept hidden from her mother and step father). Ji Lin is in a difficult position as she begins to pine for the most forbidden of lovers. On the precipice of having to make a life altering decision, Ji Lin sets out on a path she won’t be able to turn back on.
As the 49 days dwindles away and inexplicable deaths begin to occur, the namesakes of the 5 Virtues of Confucius begin to find the fates that await them in the unraveling of a mystery that will prove fruitful for some and deadly for others…
I really, really enjoyed this book. Really well written, beautiful imagery, and the characters were so flawed and interesting, I found myself sucked right into the story. This is one of those books that could easily be devoured in a day. If you have a BOTM membership and haven’t selected this read, I’d definitely recommend you jump on it! And if you don’t have a membership, you should check it out – I’m rarely disappointed. 🙂
Happy & healthy reading!
Alexis
