The Painter from Block 59

The Painter from Block 59 is a quirky book set in one of the parts of Singapore that tourists rarely see. A few MRT stops from the modern city centre,the amazing Malls ,expensive hotels and luxury condominiums are the apartment blocks the workers live in, small,basic and often crowded.

Nurse Jie-Li lives in one of these with her parents,single at 28,struggling with a job she's started to dislike and mounting money problems she's at a loose end in her life. Things look up when she meets a former neighbour, Mr Kwok, who makes an unusual proposition , find the "treasure" hidden by his late wife in their former apartment and he'll give her half of its value. Jie-Li does find treasure next door in the form of the American tenant,a young artist, before she even begins to look for Mr Kwok's treasure.
Being in the former Kwok apartment stirs confusing memories for Jie-li and her search for answers has ramifications for everyone.

This is an involving tale largely about a young woman trying to find herself and what she wants in life as those around her try to keep secrets and avoid opening old wounds that were largely healed until Jie-Li begins to look for answers. As she does so she's torn between advice from her family that more money is the answer to every problem and her laid back partner saying the opposite, likewise she constantly wants answers to things that happened in the past while those she asks have already come to terms with those events and see no need to revisit them. It's a book about different perspectives, all of the main characters at some point in the book jump to conclusions and their errors cause friction and misunderstanding.

This is a hard book to characterise, there's a bit of romance,a family drama....but not a melodrama and , despite Jie-Li being in her late 20's, almost a coming of age story as she learns to see things from the point of view of others rather than just her own ,often somewhat self-centred ,thoughts. On a personal level I also enjoyed the insights into Singaporean culture and the lifestyles of ordinary working people in the city state,a place I've visited a few times and find endlessly fascinating..

5⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️



✨ Sets in Singapore
✨ Finding who you really are
✨ Family drama



✨ As Asian myself. I felt like I have connected with the story . Intensify of each chapter was so close to home.
✨ Jie lie was a strong lady,finding the things she needs for her family. As I mentioned I’m from an Asian household who sometimes needs to be pushed and help our parents while they aged. The responsibility and burden is sometime is too much. I felt the hard, rough and sad truth of sometimes we have to face.
✨ This book deserve more audience to be honest , well written and the reality of life .


✨Thankyou netgalley for the opportunity to have this arc for a honest review.



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