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The Night Tiger: The Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

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Malaya, with its mix of Malays, Chinese, and Indians, is full of spirits: a looking-glass world governed by unsettling rules. The European werewolf is a man who, when the moon is full, turns his skin inside out and become a beast. He then leaves the village and goes into the forest to kill. But for the natives here, the weretiger is not a man, but a beast who, when he chooses, put on a human skin and comes from the jungle into the village to prey on humans. It’s almost exactly the reverse situation and in some ways more disturbing”. Smith, Teresa (4 May 2019). "Book Review: The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo". Theresa Smith Writes . Retrieved 5 May 2022. Time is running out: there are only 20 days left before Dr. Mac Farlane’s forty-nine days of the soul are over. If by then he can’t find the finger, he’ll have failed. How will his old master rest? Ren remembers Dr. MacFarlane’s last days, shivering fevers. And then the dreams, the waking nightmares in which the old man would cry for mercy, or crawl slavering on all fours. If Auntie Kwan had still been with them, she would have taken charge, but in the end there was only Ren”. Throughout everything, there’s a murder mystery. Were you surprised that there were two killers: Koh Beng and Lydia?

For the most part, this was such a gorgeous and evocative read. The Night Tiger is set in 1930s Malaya and leans heavily on folklore and stories of ghosts and weretigers. It's a slower paced novel - especially in the middle - though I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing here. Choo gradually paints a portrait of this time and place, rife with belief in weretigers, possession, and that a person must be buried whole before the 49 days of the soul are over.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? (Yes, I can repete myself as well, but do you feel like my review is literature?) For example, when I was growing up, I was told not to hang around banana trees at night because there are female ghosts that come out of them. That's an Indian superstition. And the Malays only plant frangipani in graveyards. But everybody else there, whether Chinese, Indian, whatever, also avoids it outside of graveyards. A lot of the tiger myths are Malay, but they may have some Chinese roots as well, because there are many Chinese stories of weretigers.

a b King, Stephen (2000). On Writing: A Memoir Of The Craft. Simon & Schuster. p.41. ISBN 978-0-7432-1153-6. Mythical creatures: The spirit tiger is belief that a soul could reincarnate as a tiger. At one point, many in the village believe the murders are a result of a spirt together and Ren himself, wonders if the tiger is his deceased former master. What did you think about this?Collings, Michael R.; Engebretson, David (1985). The Shorter Works of Stephen King. Starmont House. p.35. ISBN 978-0-930261-03-0.

The characters start to cross and interact, and the shifting narration also helped show wildly different experiences of Malaysian life. Ren, an orphan boy, works as a servant to Dr. William Acton, an English doctor with layers of secrets in the expat enclave. Teenage Ji Lin is better off than Ren, but she’s still been pulled out of school and sent to work in a suitable occupation for girls, as a dressmaker’s apprentice, while the boy of her family, her “twin” stepbrother Shin, can attend medical school. Race, class and gender separate these characters, creating such a wide variety of experiences, but something supernatural is pulling them together. Discuss the structure of the novel, alternating between Ren's and Ji Lin's perspectives. How do their narrative styles and worldviews compare? Do you prefer one to the other? How would the novel have been different had it only been from one perspective? There’s a rumor that when we colonials came to this part of the world, the natives, considered us beast-men as well, though nobody has said that to my face”. And other main character, Jin Li, sewing dresses, dancing with men to pay her mother’s debt, recently gave up on her dreams because of her stepfather accidentally finds the finger. And she needs the help of her taciturn brother who is a doctor for finding out whose finger it was.The book is set in 1931 in Malaysia, the main characters are Jin Li also knoen as Louise, a young woman, who has a busy life working in part-time jobs and she still doesn't know what to do with her life! Sherwood, Harriet (18 April 2022). "The God of Small Things to Shuggie Bain: the Queen's jubilee book list". The Guardian . Retrieved 30 April 2022. When 11-year-old Ren's master dies, he makes one last request of his Chinese houseboy: that Ren find his severed finger, lost years ago in an accident, and reunite it with his body. Ren has 49 days, or else his master's soul will roam the earth, unable to rest in peace. But it is Ji Lin, along with Ren, who will carry this storyline. Both characters have been short-changed by life suppressed by colonial times. The two possess analytical skills and intelligence beyond their stations. Yangsze Choo will position these characters to cross paths again and again. She imparts prolific dreams that will visit them in the night with profound meaning. Yet neither will feel the slamming impact until the very end.

Alongside this is the story of Ji Lin. Refused the chance to be a doctor because she is a girl, Ji Lin instead works as a dancehall girl, unbeknownst to her abusive stepfather and beloved stepbrother. When a handsy dance partner one night leaves something behind, she discovers to her horror that it is a severed finger. The dance partner in question is shortly found dead. Soon a mysterious man is showing up, following Ji Lin around, and asking questions. It’s about life after death, love, siblings’ affection, abuse, feminism and awakening of women by discovering their own capabilities, murder, passion, class system, Malaysian and Chinese folklore with vivid characters and captivating storytelling. At times like this the boy looks far younger than his years. The old man is sorry—he wishes he could do it himself, but he’s exhausted. Instead, he turns his face to the wall. While writing this book, I asked myself, "Is this a ghost story? A murder mystery?" I don't really know. But I've always been interested in what I call mirror worlds--there's a world that is seen, and a world that is not. In the old houses, there's an upstairs and a downstairs. And perhaps in the end, reality is what you end up believing in. Two people can see the same event and will recall it significantly differently.Richly complex…Gorgeous…Transport[s] us into a colonial world we more often see from the view of the occupier, in this transcendent tale about twins who share no blood, mythology and superstition, sibling rivalry, loyalty, forbidden love and identity.” — San Francisco Chronicle Starred Review. A sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world…Choo weaves her research in with a feather-light touch, and readers will be so caught up in the natural and supernatural intrigue that the serious themes here about colonialism and power dynamics, about gender and class, are absorbed with equal delicacy. Intriguing characters that really came alive and some that I was fearful for. One character seems to have "an affinity for deaths and accidents". He also thought events were like " dark fairy tales where wishes, however evil and stupid, are granted". A work of incredible beauty…Astoundingly captivating and striking in its portrayal of love, betrayal, and death, The Night Tigeris a transcendent story of courage and connection.” ― Booklist(starred review)

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