The Night Tiger: The Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

Product Information

On top of that, there's a lot of repetition, which unfortunately doesn't feel like a narrative device, but like a tool to keep the bar low for readers with short attentions spans: How often do we have to hear about the five virtues and what they signify, how often do we have to hear about Ren's age, how often do we have to hear explanations regarding the weretiger? When William’s Chinese name came up, it turned out to be 威力安，not 威廉 as I expected, so I thought that Lydia was just another coincidence or a misdirection.

A lively, sexy, and thought-provoking East-meets-West story about community, friendship, and women’s lives at all ages—a spicy and alluring mix of Together Tea and Calendar Girls. Fans of Isabel Allende will likely soar through Yangsze Choo’s The Night Tiger at a breakneck pace, so you might want to clear your schedule before sitting down to read it. Ji Lin and Ren's increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes. Also, the book reminded me of the (admittedly very European) discussion re American YA literature which often perpetrates evangelical and conservative messages (see A Wrinkle in Time or the whole "Twilight" series): Choo obsesses over virginity, and while it is explained that this was a female currency in Malaysia at the time, the way Jin Lin complies and that no-sex-scene gave me the creeps: It shows a man who is promiscuous because of heartbreak (of course), and who is longing for a virgin who absolutely wants to have sex with him but is afraid because she is expected to remain chaste (of course) - and all of this is not portrayed as tragic or the result of an oppressive society, but more than anything as romantic (newsflash: It's not).Revisiting the story, King himself judged it to be "a perfectly respectable tale, albeit one obviously written by a guy who had only begun to learn his chops". a fine example of historical fiction, a work of magical realism, a ghost story, a mystery, a romance, a coming-of-age tale. In The Night Tiger, houseboy Ren must fulfill a promise he made to his dying master, which sets him off on a journey of discovery, magic, and danger. Malaysian folklore, history, mystery, magical realism, things I enjoy in a book, and there were many parts of this book I enjoyed immensely. BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Some were grand affairs, like the newly built Celestial Hotel, while others were no more than large sheds open to the tropical breeze. Instead, what author Yangsze Choo has given readers is a darn good yarn replete with shape-shifting tigers, severed fingers, complex sibling bonds, an evil stepparent, vivid dreamscapes, thwarted love, a psychopathic serial killer, poison, and grave-robbing.When a woman is found brutally killed, questions arise: Is a murderer on the loose in the Kinta Valley? She is intelligent and had dreams of going into medicine, but being born a female at this time, she must do as her stepfather wishes. And as she grows in power, she muses that “not even Odysseus could talk his way past [her] witchcraft. Choo's writing is beautiful in this gorgeously immersive read, with rich descriptions that give us a fabulous sense of location and this historical era.

The parcel contains a list of names and money transactions that indicate Koh Beng is selling the amputated fingers on the black market. One plot point relies on knowing the Chinese versions of English names, and I immediately guessed the answer, because that’s how I would transliterate Lydia.Now, I’m wondering why I don’t read more of these types of books and am thinking maybe I should lower my defenses and try reading more of them.