The Garden of Evening Mists

The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

On 25 July 2012, the book was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and on 11 September it was shortlisted.^[7]

During a major pruning of random documents in various folders on this machine I have come across occasional book reviews that I have written for book group meetings.  This is one such.  It seems a shame to consign it to the Recycle Bin without keeping a record of it somewhere:

What I thought

In one word, atmospheric.  It was beautifully written, I found it a bit slow to come to the point and I found the switching between time periods a bit hard work.  This is now a popular and effective way of telling stories but the juxtaposition of chapters was rather random and not always logical in my view.  I found the most engaging passages those that dealt with the interval of civilian internment of the two sisters, the incident concerning Tatsuji, the Kamikaze pilot’s mission which was carried out by his superior officer (and lover) and the story around the tattoo which Yun Ling consents to have and its later significance.  I found Aritomo a rather difficult to grapple with, he was so enigmatic and it becomes apparent that he carries baggage.  This is the first book I have read that deals with a patch of history about which I knew nothing: The Japanese occupation of Malaya.

The following synopsis contains spoilers:

Synopsis

Newly retired Supreme Court Judge Yun Ling Teoh returns to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya, where she spent a few months several years earlier. Oncoming aphasia is forcing her to deal with unsettled business from her youth while she is still able to remember. She starts writing her memoires, and agrees to meet with Japanese preofessor Yoshikawa Tatsuji. Tatsuji is interested in the life and works of artist Nakamura Aritomo, who used to be the gardener of the Japanese Emperor, but moved to this area to build his own garden.

During the Japanese occupation of Malaya, Yun Ling was in a Japanese civilian internment camp with her sister, Yun Hong. Yun Hong did not make it out alive, and after the war was over, Yun Ling decided to fulfil a promise made to her sister: to build a Japanese garden in their home in Kuala Lumpur. She travelled to the highlands to visit family friend Magnus Pretorius, an ex-patriate South African tea farmer who knew Aritomo. Aritomo refused to work for Yun Ling, but agreed to take her on as an apprentice, so she could later build her own garden. In spite of her resentment against the Japanese, she agreed to work for Aritomo, and later became his lover.

During the conversations with Tatsuji, it comes out that Aritomo was involved in a covert Japanese program during the war, to hide looted treasures from occupied territories. The rumours of this so-called "Golden Lily" program were widespread, and Magnus was killed trying to save his family from the Communist guerrilla, who came looking for the gold. Aritomo never talked about the treasure to Yun Ling, but gradually it becomes clear that he might have left a clue to its location. Before he disappeared into the jungle, he made a horimono tattoo on her back. It now appears this tattoo might contain a map to the location of the treasure. Yun Ling decides that, before she dies, she must make sure that no-one will be able to get their hand on her body, and the map. In the meantime, she sets out to restore Aritomo's dilapidated garden.

Themes

Taking place over three different periods of time, the novel deals with a number of historical issues. The Japanese occupation of Malaya is the backdrop for the earlier story, while the central narrative of Yun Ling and Aritomo's relationship plays out against the backdrop of the post-war Malayan Emergency. Finally, as Yun Ling narrates the story, we are in the age of independent Malaysia. The various characters represent different attitudes towards colonialism; Yun Ling – a Straits Chinese – downplays the importance of nationality: "Old countries are dying...and new ones being born. It doesn't matter where one's ancestors came from." (ch. 5) Magnus, meanwhile, carries memories from South Africa under British rule. His sister died in a concentration camp, where he suspects she was murdered by the British. (ch. 4) Tatsuji carries post-colonial guilt for the actions of his nation during the war, and tries to apologise to Yun Ling, but she replies that "your apology is meaningless." 

A central theme in the novel is the role of memory in human existence, and the relationship between memory and forgetting.  Memory is also strongly tied to guilt, particularly survivor guilt, Yun Ling wonders "why did she survive and her sister perish?"

Critical reviews of The Garden of Evening Mists were mostly favourable.