The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

 

I loved this book. It was one of the most dynamic and well-written stories I've read in a long time. I love how Choo trickles out her details and connects her characters.

This is a book that's both a coming-of-age story, and one about the importance of truth. While there are multiple characters who are vital to the narrative, this is really only about two of them.

Taking place in 1930's Malaysia, Ji Lin is dealing with the restrictive society of the day. Her stepfather halted her education, even though she's quite smart, so she can't fulfill her professional dreams of being a nurse. Her mom has a secret mahjong debt, and Ji Lin feels a responsibility to help pay it off.  This means working two jobs, as both a dressmaker's apprentice and a dance hall girl.

Ren is only 11, but has lived quite a life. He's just lost his master, a doctor, to illness. A loyal houseboy, Ren promises the dying man he'll undertake a crazy mission of finding the doctor's lost finger and returning it to the grave. Without this missing piece, the doctor fears his soul won't move on. Ren ventures out to track down the finger, offering his services up to the surgeon who removed the finger in the first place (for medical reasons.)

You'd now think this is a story about a finger. Ren hunts for it. Ji Lin ends up in possession of it (that's not a spoiler.) However, the story is something so different.

For Ji Lin, the finger puts her on the right path, but her story is about finding her voice and her independence. She must realize it's okay to take control of one's life and share her thoughts out loud.

For Ren, the finger is what propels him forward to opportunity, but his journey is all about becoming more than a child. He's establishing his character through kindnesses and his decisions. If this book had a hero, Ren would be it for me.

Amidst all this, there's a lot of other stuff going on that adds up to an action-packed book. Most of the activity centers around a local hospital full of European doctors and local support staff. It's here where we find the night tiger prowling around. It's also here where accidents keep happening, random deaths occur, past transgressions are seriously felt, and love is discovered. This is where people are sneaking around, committing crimes, manipulating, and harming each other. This is the underbelly of the story.

The cast of characters partaking in all this action come together to create such a rich story. There's even a little magic tossed in, but its portrayal makes so much sense that it doesn't detract from the realism felt in every corner of this book.

With some great surprises and a lot of powerful emotions, Choo creates a story with depth that imparts a culture and an era in a tangible way. She explores emotion and devotion as ties that bind in both life and death. You finish the book content, and curious for what's next. Even though this is a story, I found myself wondering about the fate of the characters as I finished the last page. What went on to happen?

Go read this if you're looking for something different, and wonderful. It's worth it.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner

I'm a Jennifer Weiner fan. I may even still have my copy of Good in Bed. Either way, it's always fun to get to read another one of her books. I would recommend checking out her entire library of novels to find the one(s) that look most interesting to you.

This book was not the rom-com I'd expected. I appreciate that. What began as a best friend-turned-bully story, complete with a lot of emotional scars, becomes something so much more complex. It's not the typical, "love is going to help me heal" scenario. There's mystery and money and....SPOILER ALERT....murder.

Daphne Berg is a social media influencer capitalizing on plus-sized hashtags. She's found her niche to speak to people, and most of the time that helps her appreciate her own body. Like any insecurity though, it gives Daphne moments of doubt, where her confidence diminishes. This isn't helped by her "best" friend, Drue. Wealthy and oblivious, Drue makes the cardinal mistake of outwardly pitying Daphne for her weight. It destroys their friendship until one day Drue pops back up to ask Daphne to be in her wedding. As the reader, you want Daphne to yell out a strong, "NO!," but she lets herself get lured back into the friendship. Daphne meets a hot stranger the night before the wedding at a lavish party. That's where you think you know the direction this book will take. You're wrong. Instead of focusing on the hotness, Daphne gets distracted having to solve a murder.

There's a lot to this book, which is always so much better than a simple love and confidence story. Falling in love isn't what's going to uplift Daphne; being happy with who she is will. Each character in this book is dealing with something -- a secret, regrets, parts of their past that hurt -- but being right in your own mind about you now is the lesson to learn. Allowing your past to be a part of you that maybe influences you to change counts. At one point in the book Daphne talks about how everyone needs justice, even nasty people. She's specifically talking about solving a crime, but this sentiment goes further. You don't need to hide. You can be you.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It's surprising and fun and a great summer read that gives you something to think about once you've finished the book.


Other Jennifer Weiner books I've reviewed:
Mrs. Everything

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

This is probably the most mediocre book I've read in a long time. The word, "meh" comes to mind when thinking of how to describe my impression of it. 

The premise is enticing enough though -- young starlet, in the early 1960's, gets knocked up by famous actor on set of famous movie before being sent to small coastal city in Italy for discretionary purposes. It's a great start, but all that comes after is varying stages of melancholy for the long list of characters, interconnected through a narrative that bounces all over time.

There are way too many characters and too many literary styles mashed into what really should have been a straightforward story. You don't get to know anyone closely, and the narrative is often interrupted with screenplay synopses, play scripts, and excerpts from unfinished novels that do more to disturb the flow of the story than drive it forward.

The back-and-forth movement through time (from past, to present, to places in the middle, and back again) works for the story when the time shifts go by chapter, but by the end, time is just a jumbled mess as the author wraps up the lives of every character, even minor ones I'd already forgotten. It's at this stage paragraphs got so long and runny, I had trouble finishing the book.

The summary of this book may tantalize you. You may think I'm being too harsh in my judgement and consider reading this book anyway...don't. Trust me when I tell you you're better off finding something else to read.

Love and Other Impossible Pursuits by Ayelet Waldman

Let me start off by saying I really liked this book. Despite the fact that all the characters are sad and/or distraught, despite the fact that a horrifically tragic event takes place - the writing is simply amazing. The book is so vivid without being wordy. Sentences are expertly strung together to create a completely engaging story even while you cringe through the scenes.

I say all this first so the plot won't dissuade you from reading this book. Don't miss out because you're worried about the story being a downer.

The book begins in the middle of Emilia's story. She's already ended a marriage in order to create her own love story, becoming the hated step-mother in the process. Once a successful lawyer, Emilia is now an aimless soul who has just lost her own daughter to SIDS. In heavy mourning, Emilia is struggling to re-center herself while trying to connect with her five-year-old stepson. Not an easy thing to do when being around children plummets her deeper into the well of depression.

So, I wasn't kidding about this being a sad book, but it's not a depressing book. Emilia is just lost. She has too much to process and lacks the confidence to face it all head-on. This all makes Emilia feel human, feel real. It's not hard to connect on some level with her. Actually, all Waldman's characters are like this. Even William, the overly-informative stepson is described so clearly that you're able to get into this head just a little.

This is a book about compassion rather than despair and I really liked how reading it made me feel.

As a side note, Waldman is married to another amazing writer, Michael Chabon. If you've never read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay run, don't walk, and get a copy NOW!