The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

 


Synopsis :

The Harmony Silk Factory traces the story of textile merchant Johnny Lim, a Chinese peasant living in British Malaya in the first half of the twentieth century. Johnny's factory is the most impressive structure in the region, and to the inhabitants of the Kinta Valley Johnny is a hero—a Communist who fought the Japanese when they invaded, ready to sacrifice his life for the welfare of his people. But to his son, Jasper, Johnny is a crook and a collaborator who betrayed the very people he pretended to serve, and the Harmony Silk Factory is merely a front for his father's illegal businesses. This debut novel from Tash Aw gives us an exquisitely written look into another culture at a moment of crisis.

The Harmony Silk Factory won the 2005 Whitbread First Novel Award and also made it to the 2005 Man Booker longlist


This is what I say :

The Harmony Silk Factory has been sitting on my shelf for years.  I always wanted to save such titles for when I am really, really free to read but then it's been saved for far too long.  Having heard a lot about this title and this author, I always have been rather intrigued by how the story would be like.

Finally, a few months ago, I decided to pay The Harmony Silk Factory a visit.  That visit took over a few months.  

"How was it?" you might ask.

Honestly, I left The Harmony Silk Factory as perplexed as when I first visited it.  The story was narrated from three perspectives.  Each perspective left me as confused as the next one. I wasn't really sure what to make out of it.

I am sure it's well written.  Perhaps I am too impatient to wanting to complete it rather quickly and thus wasn't able to fully appreciate what it has to offer.

At the end of the day, there's no different if I visited or not, The  Harmony Silk Factory at all.  


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