Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4862 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-10
• Binding: Paperback
• 447 pages

Review
A powerful first novel about a tumultuous and almost forgotten period of history. --Times Literary Supplement

A remarkable book about war, friendship, memory and discipline. --Ian McMillan, BBC Radio 3

Haunting and highly evocative... a deeply moving tale. --Cape Times

Ian McMillan, The Verb, BBC Radio 3
A remarkable book

Cape Times
"Haunting and highly evocative... a deeply moving tale."

Customer Reviews

Thought Provoking
I have a son who practises martial arts - his training has made The Gift of Rain more enjoyable. The mysticism of the Chinese & Japanese cultures set against our own makes for a thoughtful reading. The theme I found most intriguing lies with in the central characters of the book being extremely physically strong but are able to hold back and keep negative thoughts and deeds in check - couple this with an insight to the Buddha way of thinking and you have perhaps a recipe for the idealist way living we may like to aspire to. A simple motto "just because you can doesn't necessary mean you should........" springs to mind. Living with consequences is another theme and becomes more poignant with the passing of time - historical world events underpinnng the storyline have a huge impact on how your view might be changed. For me , Tan Twan is a breathe of fresh air and shows us that authors the world over are able to give us a tantalising glimpse into their cultural worlds

Fantastic insight into another era
There were two things I did not like about this book - first was that the author seemed cram unnecessary amounts of history at every opportunity. Much as I admire the author's research, it became a bit tedious midway through, especially since it seemed to have been fitted in for no apparent reason rather than to create an information overload. Secondly, I found the prose a bit monotonous, while the author has created superb and memorable characters, this did not carry through in the dialogues, resulting in the fact that every character sounded exactly like the author!

Apart from that, however, this is a brilliant book. The characters stick to your mind long after you've finished the last page, the descriptions are brilliant and vivid, and the tension between the Chinese Malaysians and the Japanese (something which has not been given much historical attention) is analysed with subtlety and sensitivity, as is the uncomfortable relationship that Malaya had with the colonial British. The author admits to embellishing a few historical bits, but this does not detract from the fact that this is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Being a Malaysian myself, I have been brought up with many horrific accounts of what happened during the Japanese occupation, and this book brings it into sharp focus of the events that led to it, as well as the events that have happened since. Highly recommended. I look forward to his next work.

Amazing
I recieved this book for christmas from my boyfriend, which instantly worried me as we have completley different tastes in books.

From the very beggining I knew he had made a good choice. This book makes you feel for all characters and their problems, in paticular Peter and his teacher. It also gives you a huge idea of the horror of WWII in the far east and apppalled at what another human being is capable of doing to another.

This is possibley one of the saddest books I have ever read, but one of the most enjoyable to read as you are captivated the whole time.

With a small baby, time to read is not always available but this book demands that you find the time as you will not want to put it down.