2 out of 5 STARS
Read my goodreads review here.
The routine of our deceptively regular geriatric heroine was interrupted by a violation greater than any other: someone vandalized her favorite book - specifically someone drew on said heroine's photo with a black marker. THE HORRORS!!! Many other horrors are in this book so best come out with it right now...
WARNING: (This book can be) TRIGGERING. BODILY MUTILATIONS. BLOOD, lots of it. REALLY BAD SEX SCENES, REALLY BAD.
Lets get on with our summary. Although this summary is not entirely spoiler free, the really juicy important bits have not been revealed. But I hid it just the same for those wanting the complete experience
SPOILER ALERT
The book reads like an autobiography because the book doesn't really start off until our geriatric heroine is visited by a researcher who demands an interview in the most invasive way possible. We learn how invasive it is towards the end of the book. But before that, the first scenes happen in a mysterious city. No clue is given to what city it happens and I found that odd and annoying. Turns out, that was also a secret that will be revealed at the end. It would have been alright if the location and the demanding researcher was built up as a proper mystery to be solved. Sadly, it read like bad writing.
All Professor Maddin's unethical and unprofessional behavior paid off when our granny granted her an interview (because granny thought the end was near or some mysterious pressing matter). Early on, we know that granny sees ghosts. When Professor Maddin's calls coincided with apparitions of the ghosts-of-her-past, granny decided that it's a sign that her story must be told before it was lost. Because it had never occurred to granny to write/type it down all by herself when she clearly has not much to do. The professor and granny sits down and our story begins with a name. In her very young days, granny was called Ling. She's half of a twin, with the other half being a boy named Li, who appeared as a ghost previous. We all think this is quite significant. Don't be fooled. Goes the same for any of the ghosts she's seen. Now, as far as name goes, Ling turned out to have lived in Shanghai as a girl surrounded by bad white people who treats them as second class in their own country. Historical accuracy ends there and we find out that Li did a horrible thing that enabled his emotional separation from his twin. All by her lonesome, Ling starts seeing ghosts. Oh they also had twin sisters who were about as useful as an abominable snowman in this story. Many useless characters appear that are quickly forgotten when Dad decides to move Ling and Li to The Black Isle, which was never identified as Singapore except for a map insert.
Just when we've spent so much time hanging out in Shanghai, we are taken to a ship and spend a chapter or so there. Mind that once the character leaves a certain "area", it is immediately forgotten and no connection is made to it ever. That is except with the possibly the editor says oi, this is left hanging, tie it up, quick and clean. Don't worry. Whenever a loose end is being tied up, it is so painfully clear that it hurts your eyes. Apart from some new characters, we learn that Li is sick and Dad decides to administer first-aid in the most grotesque way possible that not only jumped this book into the horror genre (the B-class ones) and demonstrated how girls are second class in a traditional Chinese household. Wait, that was immediately after Mum was painted as a formidable character aka control freak who favored the boys also. We know that Ling is ill treated by nearly everyone in her life, except a ghost which she didn't even bother connecting with. Good thing that Ling has started to learn how to connect with ghosts on the ship so that we can see a development of her abilities. But you'd need to squint to see this nice progression because, again, "areas" are more stand alone like the writing a bad sitcom. After the ship, the troupe stays a bit in The Black Isle slums where poverty is introduced together with anonymous characters galore. Ling likes to go to school and is an avid reader. To be fair, unlike most female teen age characters who claim to like reading, our girl Ling actually reads and has opinions on some nice classic books.
Forget that because Dad is moving the family to the plantations. As we forget what the devil happened before the plantation scenes, real action happens. This is my favorite part. The actions were solid, the death and horror were well crafted, the coming of age bit is both scary and lucid, and most of all, the scenes moved in cohesion with a very nice pace and 3 dimensional characters. I LOVE THESE SCENES. As a testament to that, I had to stop reading and get on goodreads to see if everyone loved it as much as I did. To my disappointment, majority of readers seemed to dislike this book. It turns out that when you read this part, you are almost wishing that the entire book was an expanded version of these chapters. And, when you get to the second half of the book, you'll be wishing even harder.
The plantation bit ends and the family is relocated back to the city just in time for Ling, trying to be independent to support her coming of age bit in the plantation, to seek employment with the Wee. Her timing couldn't be more perfect because she somehow lands in the Wee Mansion. To be fair, Ignatius Wee had been mentioned in the pre-plantation scenes. But that there's a living Wee family was not really introduced right. Some bits happened like an enemy (not hers), a real enemy, a dog, a love interest, and a Malay witchdoctor who was pretty much a caricature. Issa was the Wee's driver and the car he drove had more personality than him. From here on, we see the same characters as they get older. It starts with Ling's engagement to Daniel Wee. She changes her name to Cassandra and prepares to be an upper-class lady. Of course, WWII happened and Cassandra becomes Momoko. Who? Right. Our girl had changed her name again. Momoko is what her Japanese "husband" called her. She becomes a plaything for Taro-san and she pretty much escapes a lot of the horrifying war crimes others have experienced.
And it's ALL downhill. Actually it had gone downhill since after the plantation but I gave it a chance. Nope. It failed. Gone was the strong independent woman we saw in the plantation. Right after she fell in love, she became a hopeless, spineless character who doesn't think. She pretends that talking back to her Taro-san makes her strong-willed. No, it makes her pathetic to read. After the Japanese falls, the Wee family is dead except for Cassandra's long term rival. The next bit is the most infuriating of them all. It's when we learn that Issa, Cricket (Who? right. Although he was introduced in the Wee mansion bit, he's a wall flower.), and Kenneth Kee survives as well. Li survives but was mentally incapacitated so basically not gonna drive the plot any further.
Unexpectedly, at least to me, it becomes Kenneth's success story. Other bits happen like the ghost hunting, which was the only fun bit here but is reduced to a few scenes. Ken and Cass become lovers but Ken is an ambitious douche bag who marries Cass' rival. Ken makes Cass do some unspeakable things, twice: once as a part of the Communist revolt and another as an up and coming politician. Although Ken has always been described as a bad guy, Cass seems to actively maintain a close relationship with him and she even admits that she does it for love. What? Exactly. Ken is manipulative and would resort to monstrosities similar to their Japanese captors. He's not beyond murder. Twice. And Cassandra experiences both of them first hand. Yet, she still comes to him when he calls even until the very ends.
Cassandra becomes a granny and leaves The Black Isle for that undisclosed city which is revealed, and the real persona of the unethical Professor is revealed. Some loose ends are tied and then both characters learn forgiveness. The End.
END OF SPOILERS
Except for the plantation scenes, I found this book a disappointment. I tried very hard to like this book. I tried so hard that I endured all the badly written sex scenes. But I wasn't ready to forgive Cassandra for not sensing that bad man is manipulating her. And when even the bad man confesses about manipulating her, she doesn't blink. Granny claims that she knew but hey she never talked about it in the book. And, the book is in first person POV. Even Elizabeth Bennett had an entire chapter on her thought-process on her feelings for Mr. Darcy.
What should have been a wonderful book that's smack in the horror genre felt tired and unappealing. There were great scenes but the rest was mostly sad and lifeless narrative. The main character had nothing. Even the professor had more spark. Most of all, I was ecstatic to read a book centering on a female non-white character. But half the book was about an ambitious and manipulative guy that she had an affair with.
I feel cheated.
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