- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Harper Perennial; First Edition edition (4 July 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007204515
- ISBN-13: 978-0007204519
- Product Dimensions: 20.4 x 12.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 286,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Harmony Silk Factory
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Product Description
Review
'A fine, strong, confident novel – and what a storyteller Tash Aw is. Unputdownable’
Doris Lessing
'The Harmony Silk Factory is an utterly remarkable debut. It's a dream of a novel, lovely and exquisite and intense, and reveals Tash Aw's already prodigious gift for storytelling; this young writer has come to us fully formed, and with the promise of a long and significant career.' Chang-rae Lee
'Bewitchingly written and gracefully assured … The story Aw tells is mercilessly gripping and his prose is lucid, uncluttered, beautiful … Aw orchestrates a graceful ballet of dissonances and congruences, of echoes and discords.' Neel Mukherjee, The Times
'Tash Aw's striking debut is as elusive as it is exotic. Aw is a skilled and sensitive writer' Daily Mail
'Absorbing … a rich, intense novel … The strength of Tash Aw's writing can be seen in the three narratives. Each voice is distinct and each offers a subtly different viewpoint, remaking the material afresh … The beauty and danger of nature are everywhere in this delicately drawn novel' TLS
The Guardian
'A hugely confident, ravishingly descriptive debut of distorted truths and assumed identities.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
55 of 62 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I could say that 'The Harmony Silk Factory' is a stunning debut novel, but I'd be under-selling it. Using the word 'debut' implies that the book is good considering it's a first-time effort, that it's stunning by a different, less difficult set of criteria to other novels. This isn't a stunning debut - it's a stunning novel, no matter the author's publishing history.
The novel follows the story of Johnny Lim, a man of whispered reputation. No-one is quite sure if he's a hero or a gangster, a capitalist business man or a Communist leader. His story is told by three different narrators - his son Jasper, his wife Snow, and his friend Peter. Each relate part of Johnny's story, at times over-lapping and giving different interpretations of the man and his actions.
What makes the book work so well is the way Aw combines an epic, at time mythic, feel with wonderful small details. His chosen structure keeps mysteries alive until the end, and he writes wonderfully. The more I say the less you'll have to discover for yourself, so I'll keep it brief. What I will say is that if you're interested in the getting in at the start with an author who will become a big name in the future, order yourself a copy of 'The Harmony Silk Factory'.
49 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book has been a big hit here, all over the headlines and bestseller lists - something that made me initially suspicious about it. Moreover I actually grew up in the Kinta Valley where this novel is set, I didn't want to read a slushy and inaccurate portrayal of the country. In the end I bought it after it had been longlisted for the Booker Prize and I had to stay up through the night to finish it. I was constantly surprised by how Tash Aw turns the countryside into something magical and spooky, he reinvents the entire history of Malaysia. All the characters in the book bend the truth and so the reader never really knows what's going on, right up until the enigmatic ending. This is an entertaining book, but also serious and thought-provoking, about how we re-shape our personal stories.
There are one or two problems, for example I found Snow, the central female character, a little too cold even for her name. However the storytelling is so convincing that one overlooks these details. I wouldn't say that this book changed my life but it did teach me to look at my country and surroundings in a new light. I'm also glad that Malaysians are reading and talking about a book that doesn't involve hobbits, spells or secret codes.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Written from three perspectives, the book starts strongly. However, in the second part (Snow's diary) it descends into sentimental and verbose mush. The scenes describing Johnny & Wormwood's friendship are totally implausible: as a Malaysian, I had a good chuckle at the thought of going for a casual 17-mile walk in the equatorial heat. Finally, I don't think that Tash Aw has the faintest idea about the relationship between Nyonya-Babas, descendants of 15th century immigrants, and the newer immigrant Chinese.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Petering out
What a disappointment this was! The book came highly recommended and, to be fair, it sets off at a good rate with intriguing and well crafted stuff about Malaya, Johnny and the... Read more
Published on 24 May 2009 by Gargoyle
A lesson in not trusting your narrator
For a novel with little action this certainly keeps you turning the pages. We hear Johnny's story from three different narrators but because we never hear his voice we are left... Read more
Published on 15 April 2008 by Hayles
This book doesn't succeed or work at all
Falls apart after the brief first section. The book is split into three parts and the writer tries to shove a heterosexual love story between Snow and Johnny and Snow and Peter,... Read more
Published on 7 Dec 2007 by Ally M
Lost in the jungle....
Johnny Lim, the central character, is the most successful merchant in the Kinta Valley (central Malaysia), trading in textiles and smuggled/stolen goods. Read more
Published on 26 Nov 2007 by stevieby
Typically 'Bookeresque"
It did not surprise me to discover that this book had been long listed for the 2005 Booker Prize. It has the typical literary style that for me turns an excellent novel in to a... Read more
Published on 28 Sep 2007 by DubaiReader
Lush story telling
This book is very poetically written. The civil war setting provides plenty of action and tension, but it is primarily the heady tropical atmosphere which stands out for me, and I... Read more
Published on 28 July 2007 by Bolandini
First part good, but...
...peters out in the second and last sections. For something also set in Malaya try Tan Twan Eng's The Gift of Rain, which I really enjoyed.
Published on 30 Jun 2007 by Spotty
An engaging read
The Harmony Silk Factory is a story of one man, Johnny Lim, as told through the eyes of his son Jasper, his wife Snow and his English friend. Read more
Published on 29 Jun 2007 by Sofia
Fresh writing, silent puzzles
I too was attracted to this book by the Booker short list. I kept going, quickly, because of the ironic certainty and freshly crafted viewpoint of each narrative; the lesser trod... Read more
Published on 3 Jun 2007 by nycstitcher
Shockingly disappointing
This book begins well, creating a period atmosphere around the impending Japanese invasion of Malaysia and the Communist resistance, and great characterisation of Johnny Lim, the... Read more
Published on 4 Jun 2006 by Marcus
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