Catalogue

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Title:	Harmony Silk Factory, The
Authors:	Aw, Tish
Genre:	Fiction
Pages:	362
Year:	2005
Language:	English
Description:	Set in Malaysia in the 1930s and 1940s with World War II as backdrop, and the Japanese about to invade. It is the story of four people: Johnny, an infamous Chinaman whose shop house, "The Harmony Silk Factory", is used as a front for his illegal businesses; Snow Soong, the beautiful daughter of one of the Kinta Valley's most prominent families; Kunichika, a Japanese officer who loves Snow, and an Englishman, Peter Wormwood, who went to Malaysia and who also loved Snow to the end of his life. A journey that exposes the cultural tensions of the era. Comments from Groups: We enjoyed the writing style and the sense of mystery and thought it a challenging read. Quite thought provoking. Taupo 006 Disappointed. Some beautiful descriptive writing and interesting to learn some history of Malaysia, but too many 'jumps and holes'. One member who had lived there felt it an unrealistic portrayal of life and times, especially that of the female character. Auckland 063 None of our book club would recommend this book to others. Everyone struggled to follow story lines and there were so many unanswered questions. Dunback 001 Great discussion - so many unanswered questions in the book, keeping the mystery and suspense throughout. Interesting history and perspective too. Tauranga 004 Most of us found the book confusing and wondered why we had read it. One of our members (Dutch) who was interred in Indonesia during the war, found it very good even though it triggered terrible memories. She found a great deal of symbolism in the book that the rest of us hadn't even thought of. It made for great discussion. Levin 001
Categories:	Fiction, War theme, Relationships, Malaysia

Reviews

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By: GISB 003		2023-11-06 10:24:17

Group lukewarm about book.

By: KAIK 003		2023-11-06 10:23:49

Not many read the book but those that did enjoyed it.

By: AUCK 414		2023-11-06 10:23:06

Only 3 of 10 read or managed to finish this book. We liked the scenery and history but the end was unsatisfying.

By: AUCK 420		2023-11-06 10:21:19

Very difficult to read as very detailed, but great storyline!

By: ALEXA 006		2023-11-06 10:20:31

Unrealistic, but we liked the three narratives/layers.

By: MORRI 002		2023-11-06 10:19:07

Half of our group liked this book, and the other half didn't as none of the characters were likeable.

By: UPHU 001		2023-11-06 10:12:56

We were "all over the place" - some of us thought it required too much work to sort out the plot/theme! Very interesting to read about the Malaysian attitudes and opinions about the war., but inconsistency was seen by some in the quality of the writing. Half found it interesting and would recommend to others, and the other half did not enjoy it and some didn't finish it.

By: CULV 001		2023-11-06 10:09:41

There was a wide divergence of opinions about this book. Those of us who read it thoroughly had a very animated discussion in trying to work out all the connections between the three narrators. Marvellous writing - beautiful flowing prose and vivid word pictures.

By: MTMA 002		2023-11-06 10:06:28

Enjoyed. Interesting read but left a lot unanswered!

By: WAIKA 001		2023-11-06 10:05:46

Mixed reactions. Author handles language beautifully especially in Part 1. Members will be looking for more from him.

By: AUCK 224		2023-11-06 10:04:16

The story seemed so full of contradictions and assumptions. And we couldn't agree on who Jasper's father was.

By: WELL 062		2023-11-06 10:02:43

Varied responses from readers. Approximately half the members were very impressed with it. The remainder - several of us were exasperated with it, the others didn't like it. We all liked his writing, and the general consensus would be that we think Tish Aw is a writer to look out for. The discussion was lively and those of us who had not finished it decided that we should try to get it out from the library and persist.

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