Name: Rachel's review of The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo
Item: The Night Tiger
Rating: 3
Author: Rachel

Yangsze Choo

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'The two main characters will captivate you as their paths are destined to cross... you won't be able to put this one down!' Reese Witherspoon 'I was willingly propelled into a fascinating and exotic world' Daily Mail They say a tiger that devours too many humans can take the form of a man and walk among us... In 1930s colonial Malaya, a dissolute British doctor receives a surprise gift of an eleven-year-old Chinese houseboy. Sent as a bequest from an old friend, young Ren has a mission: to find his dead master's severed finger and reunite it with his body. Ren has forty-nine days, or else his master's soul will roam the earth forever. Ji Lin, an apprentice dressmaker, moonlights as a dancehall girl to pay her mother's debts. One night, Ji Lin's dance partner leaves her with a gruesome souvenir that leads her on a crooked, dark trail. As time runs out for Ren's mission, a series of unexplained deaths occur amid rumours of tigers who turn into men. In their journey to keep a promise and discover the truth, Ren and Ji Lin's paths will cross in ways they will never forget. Captivating and lushly written, The Night Tiger explores the rich world of servants and masters, ancient superstition and modern ambition, sibling rivalry and unexpected love. Woven through with Chinese folklore and a tantalizing mystery, this novel is a page-turner of the highest order. 'An exuberant medley of magic, romance and weirdness' The Times '[A] highly imaginative and a spellbinding read' Woman's Weekly

The Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

The Night Tiger

"Choo has written a sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world." --Kirkus(starred review) Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother's Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for. Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master's dying wish: that Ren find the man's finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master's soul will wander the earth forever. As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths wracks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Ren's increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes. Yangsze Choo's The Night Tigerpulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming of age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible.

A Novel

Paulina 

Rachel

i will protect ren with my HEART and SOUL. my little brotherrrr i hope you did get your medical training. i genuinely loved the premise & how it twisted through the landscape | perspectives, picking up on fates & incomplete sets, with its discussion on the "facade" of a family / saving face.

& actually something that i don't see people commenting about more is just how clear the [nuanced?] coloniser perspective that is william's exemplified here. the casual, matter-of-fact "because you are not white you don't >really< matter" - and even the "better ones" whose reflection ends at their guilt, as if the admission absolves them, instead of acting upon it.

in terms of technical storytelling, i really liked that as readers we get that feeling of tension & almost-collisions the same way ren & ji lin did about each other. but idt the tension was handled well after the peak, it just abruptly loosened towards the ending of the book & knotted haphazardly towards the end. 

i looved the description of the humidity & heat. i took notes on the tense changes in ren's part especially - how when he had his flashbacks, they were so vivid almost if he is experiencing it again. however i strongly disliked how especially in ji lin's perspective, she was describing terms like "char kway teow" & "hulu dan hilir" to - whom exactly? i get it if it was in ren's perspective, it's in 3rd person & thus explainable, but she wouldn't describe those terms to herself. like let the anglosphere readers google "mau lihat" & "pawang" on their own. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE ITALICIZED BAHASA MELAYU WORDS. it's a pitfall i want to avoid.

<SPOILER> ji lin & shin... yeah i didn't like that. i really liked the earlier portrayals of their r/l tho, that longing for connection. ever since my friend discussed abt the laziness of using the incestuous lens instead of really diving in deep on how sibling relationships can just be as fierce in their intensity as romantic ones. i just feel like this was a missed opportunity in unpacking this possessiveness they had for each other. i just dislike shin (especially) at the end of this - he as a man has had more experience, more opportunities to "grow", not like ji lin. she even wondered if it was deliberate, that power he had over her. GIRL GET THE FUCK UP!!!!!!</SPOILER>

madina

i will protect ren with my HEART and SOUL. my little brotherrrr i hope you did get your medical training. i genuinely loved the premise & how it twisted through the landscape | perspectives, picking up on fates & incomplete sets, with its discussion on the "facade" of a family / saving face.

& actually something that i don't see people commenting about more is just how clear the [nuanced?] coloniser perspective that is william's exemplified here. the casual, matter-of-fact "because you are not white you don't >really< matter" - and even the "better ones" whose reflection ends at their guilt, as if the admission absolves them, instead of acting upon it.

in terms of technical storytelling, i really liked that as readers we get that feeling of tension & almost-collisions the same way ren & ji lin did about each other. but idt the tension was handled well after the peak, it just abruptly loosened towards the ending of the book & knotted haphazardly towards the end. 

i looved the description of the humidity & heat. i took notes on the tense changes in ren's part especially - how when he had his flashbacks, they were so vivid almost if he is experiencing it again. however i strongly disliked how especially in ji lin's perspective, she was describing terms like "char kway teow" & "hulu dan hilir" to - whom exactly? i get it if it was in ren's perspective, it's in 3rd person & thus explainable, but she wouldn't describe those terms to herself. like let the anglosphere readers google "mau lihat" & "pawang" on their own. DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE ITALICIZED BAHASA MELAYU WORDS. it's a pitfall i want to avoid.

<SPOILER> ji lin & shin... yeah i didn't like that. i really liked the earlier portrayals of their r/l tho, that longing for connection. ever since my friend discussed abt the laziness of using the incestuous lens instead of really diving in deep on how sibling relationships can just be as fierce in their intensity as romantic ones. i just feel like this was a missed opportunity in unpacking this possessiveness they had for each other. i just dislike shin (especially) at the end of this - he as a man has had more experience, more opportunities to "grow", not like ji lin. she even wondered if it was deliberate, that power he had over her. GIRL GET THE FUCK UP!!!!!!</SPOILER>

i just finished the book the minute i started writing this. the night tiger has a great story to tell, i found myself enjoying it until 4 am despite being a scaredy cat. why? it’s rich with malaysian cultures, especially with our beliefs in superstition and ghosts- that includes existing with them in this very world. the narratives are put together so well though they, beautifully yet mysteriously, entangle with one another. if i go further, i might spoil it all with my excitement but if you are interested in postcolonial period setting, with a huge superstitious likings, this book crosses it all for you. ready yourself for a strange love story, too!

im really glad i picked this one out randomly and to my surprise, i enjoyed every minute of my experience reading it. so eager to watch the ghost bride on netflix but i think i should read it first

taryn a.

Wow. I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did, but there are so many aspects of it to fall for -- the lush setting, tense (slow built and tenderly handled) romance, and surprising mystery. I'm simultaneously left wishing more people I knew had read it, or that a sequel would be written -- purely to, one way or another, keep this world alive and thrumming a little longer.

The Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A sumptuous garden maze of a novel that immerses readers in a complex, vanished world.” —Kirkus (starred review) An utterly transporting novel set in 1930s colonial Malaysia, perfect for fans of Isabel Allende and Min Jin Lee Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for. Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever. As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths racks the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Ren’s increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes. Yangsze Choo's The Night Tiger pulls us into a world of servants and masters, age-old superstition and modern idealism, sibling rivalry and forbidden love. But anchoring this dazzling, propulsive novel is the intimate coming-of-age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible. "A work of incredible beauty... Astoundingly captivating and striking... A transcendent story of courage and connection." —Booklist (starred review)

Rebeca Keren Nuñez

Super intrigante e inesperado. Te mantiene sacando conclusiones y teniendo que reformularlas. Pensé que el final me iba a frustrar pero no, tal vez hay cosas del final que no sean resolución cuento de hadas (el bueno siempre triunfa y el malo siempre muere), pero esta bien, es mas real dentro de toda la magia que tiene la historia. Me pude imaginar todo lo que iba leyendo, los personajes, los escenarios por donde estaban, todo.

emily allen

** spoiler alert **
           This book is phenomenal in regards to weaving folklore together with historical fiction. The imagery and the symbolism is beautiful, and the way that the characters are all connected is incredibly satisfying.

Sadly, I can’t give this book full stars because of the primary romance that occurs between Ji Lin and Shin, who are siblings. This romance is one of the central plotlines of the book, and I personally found it very uncomfortable, particularly because of how often it was stressed that they were siblings. If you’re able to look past that, I highly recommend it, but otherwise it isn’t the most appealing romance to read (although Choo’s writing style is, of course, fantastic; it’s the nature of the romance that threw me off).

Sheila

Great story that brought old superstitions about souls after death to life. Wish there wasn't the awkward step-sibling romance, though...

Nadine 

An oddly compelling book. It's probably more a 3.5 than a 4 but I'll be generous. Perhaps because having lived in the area there was so much that was familiar. Enjoyed the intertwined stories and the idea of the 5 virtues that each had a shadow side. I really liked that the book was narrated by the author who has quite a lovely voice.

Karen Shimek

Sheila Goicea

I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

I know this is totally off, but this came to mind when I read the description.


  Forty-four is an unlucky number for Chinese. It sounds like “die, definitely die,” and as a result, the number four and all its iterations are to be avoided. On that ill-fated day in June, I’d been working at my secret part-time job at the May Flower Dance Hall in Ipoh for exactly forty-four days.

Be sure to read the Author’s Note for a breakdown of the meaning behind names and numbers referenced throughout this story!

There is no doubt that this book is exquisitely written. The time that must have gone into fabricating such a story, I cannot fathom. Not only that, but the cultural detail is stunning. For how much I loved the thoroughness of this story, I really disliked other aspects of this story that, as a whole, were too glaring for me to ignore.

The Night Tiger follows several different characters, in particular, five “main” or prominent characters. The main protagonist is Ji Lin, aka Louise. Following her are Ren, Mr. William Acton, Lee Shin, and Dr. MacFarlane. Set in 1930’s British-occupied Malaya, The Night Tiger discusses a lot about how men and women’s roles differ greatly. Ji Lin desires to be a doctor, but due to the time, is unable. She winds up working in a dance hall--a rather promiscuous station for her timeframe where sexuality is heavily frowned upon--to pay off her mother’s debts. Ji Lin seems to take the lead between the multiple POVs.

The Night Tiger brims with elements of folklore and magical realism, that are sometimes simply odd. It's probably due to the fact that the story shifts between so many POVs that it felt unsettled. I found these shifts sometimes difficult to palette. I'm thinking multiple POVs is not my niche. Despite my qualms with the narration, I deeply appreciated the effort put into this unique story.

My Rating: ★★1/2

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Jennifer

The Night Tiger is a haunting read set in colonial Malaysia. With its intriguing blend of magic realism, superstition, and murder mystery - this novel is a lush yet treacherous ride. It's an ambitious novel in a sense that Choo incorporates many impressive elements all in one in a way that feels natural and authentic. To name a few: weretigers, coming of age, mystery, Confucian virtues, rituals & fates, and the cultural diversity in Malaysia in the 1930s. This results in a refreshing and intriguing backdrop in which the story takes place.

Narrated alternately between two characters, Ren and Ji Lin, I found the chapter progression in The Night Tiger quite seamless. Normally multi-perspective novels suffer from the discontinuity due to the jumps between different narrators but I think the dual perspectives worked pretty well here. I recall vaguely that Choo had the idea of duality while writing this novel and I think this concept worked really well. Both characters are interlinked through common central themes discussed in the novel e.g. coming of age and superstition, and eventually the unique mystery plot in which their paths collide.

I thought the plot in The Night Tiger is pretty solid. By incorporating Chinese lore and superstition, the mystery plot that centres the book is spooky and yet page-turning. It's yet another accomplished feat of duality between the ghosts and the reality. The weretiger in the novel has a symbolic importance throughout the novel as its presence ties the two main characters (and the support characters in their circles) together. It's overall well paced and also at times spine-chilling, warranting The Night Tiger quite a page turning material.

While I thought this book accomplished plenty of technical feats, I'm also somewhat concerned with the graphical content in the writing. To name a few, personally the gruesome description of the murder scenes was a bit too much for me, as with the several romance scenes that felt unjustified & misogysnistic. If the graphical content are whittled down in favour of more magic realism, I might find the writing in the crucial mystery scenes much more bearable.

Barring the questionable graphical content, The Night Tiger is nevertheless a pretty unique novel: it seamlessly blends murder mystery, superstition, and magic in an ambitious duality conept.

N.B. This book contains following potentially triggering content: death, murder, abuse, gore, vomit, corpse, hospital visits

(3.5 stars out of 5)

Sam Pulliam

Initially a 3* but the more I think about it, the more it's probably a 3.5/3.75* read

“We were a chocolate-box family, I thought. Brightly wrapped on the outside and oozing sticky darkness within.”

This historical fiction novel with touches of magical realism is set in what is now Malaysia and tells the story of Ren who is on a quest to find and reunite his former boss’s finger with his body after he dies. Ji lin, whose family doesn’t know about her night job as a dancehall girl, is left a finger by one of her dance partners and she is trying to find the owner.

I haven’t read much historical fiction or magical realism recently and that might be why I found the beginning of this book to be pretty slow. When I did start to latch on to this story, I was primarily thinking about it from an academic perspective since I was exposed to a lot of colonial literature in undergrad. I think this story is interesting as a foil for those texts since it’s written by a woman of color and offers undeniable criticism of colonization. This story contains a great deal of mystery and mysterious deaths and at the center, it appears at least one white doctor is the common denominator. Malaysian people are the primary victims, many of whom are women and that gave me a lot to think about in terms of colonization criticism. If I were going to write a research paper, I might pair this with something like South Sea Tales by Robert Louis Stevenson and talk about how authors of color are now able to combat these narratives and use their own voices via historical fiction while celebrating their cultural traditions through magical realism.

I know this review is REALLY different from what I usually write but 90% of my notes on this book are me thinking about how I would write a paper about this text. The other 10% is about how much I didn’t enjoy the toxic romance and how magical realism is really hit or miss for me.

Trigger warnings from BookTriggerWarnings(dot)com
Colonialism
Death
Domestic abuse
Incest (step-sibling)
Mauling
Violence

Caitlyn Gabbert 

This book is definitely not something I would usually go for, but I’m making an effort to get outside of my reading comfort zone this year so I decided to give it a try. And I’m SO happy I did!!! 

This historical fiction is part murder mystery, part romance, part fairy tale inspired by Chinese lore. It is so beautifully written you will feel like you are in 1930’s Malaysia. 

From the first page, I had no idea where this book was going. But I was completely immersed in this world, fascinated by every character. Books are supposed to take you to another world, and this one definitely did. 

Everyone read this book!

Jillian Slindee

Step sibling awkward love, missing fingers and a salesman who turns into a tiger to kill women. This was awful.

Leelynn Brady

First, I want to say thank you so much to Sammie @ The Writerly Way for doing a buddy read with me for this book. Stay tuned for our discussion post, because trust me - I have a lot to say about this. I'm actually trying to figure out how to put all of my thoughts into words where it won't spoil it, so bear with me.

Find the rest of my review on Sometimes Leelynn Reads

Kerri McDonald

This was a haunting and evocative read. This the story of Ren, a young houseboy tasked with a quest, and Ji-Lin, a young woman working as a dressmaker and a dancer, and how their stories eventually intertwine.

I loved the amount of culture that was infused into this book. I know next to nothing about Malaysia in the 1930s but this story was so richly weaved that I felt immersed in the culture of the land and the times. I loved learning bits of their traditions and superstitions. This writer certainly has a way of drawing you in and making you take residence in her stories. The characters are wonderfully layered, which helped me to root for them and their well-being. The story is taut and fast-paced, keeping you on your toes even when you think you have a moment to relax. The various mysteries and how they all weave together just made me want to read faster and faster! And the ending was so packed with intensity that I was, quite literally, on the edge of my seat as I listened to it! The author does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook, as well.

Overall, this was a wonderful, rich story that will keep you interested while past the last page.

Megan Rose

** spoiler alert **
           “The Night Tiger” is such a well-written and thought-provoking book. I wasn’t familiar with the five Confucian virtues prior to this book and thought Choo impressively weaved that in as the connection between all the characters. 

I also found the differing writing style for Ji Lin (first person, past tense) and Ren (third person, present tense) to be really intriguing. Usually when books flip between writing styles like that, I get thrown out of my reading groove and can’t help but fixate on it. With “The Night Tiger”, I didn’t even notice until I was about 50 pages in, which really speaks to how well-written this novel is, and hardly noticed it as I continued through. 

Usually my favorite parts of books are characters, but in “The Night Tiger”, I think I actually appreciated the plot more and how the different beliefs drove the story forward (I was especially interested in the belief of the 49 days after a person’s death and returning the finger to Dr. McFarlane’s grave so he could be whole again). I was kind of worried there would be loose ends, but Choo deftly and thoughtfully tied everything up -unlike some books where authors rush to tie everything up and it feels like an easy out.

The one part of the book I had the most difficult time with was the relationship between Ji Lin and Shin. While some of their moments together were kind of cute, during some of their more romantic moments, I would try to pretend they weren’t step-siblings and just childhood friends (although that didn’t always work when they were back at home with their parents).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and can see myself reading it again sometime in the future.

Anyaconda

The Night Tiger was a great mystery read set in 1930s Malaysia with superstitious and folklore elements. We're following two main characters Ren, an 11-year old houseboy, who's looking to reunite his former master's lost finger with his body and young Ji Lin, a dressmaker's apprentice in an intertwined storyline. 
I enjoyed the writing style and lush descriptions of this more character-driven story.
I'd recommend this book if you liked The Geisha or Pachinko adding a mystery twist to it.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with an eARC. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

Rachel &
The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo

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The Night Tiger by Yangsze Choo