I chose this book, after reading the blurb, and had high expectations for it.
A story set in Malaysia/Malaya ranging from 1920s to more modern times, tracing the entwined story of a grandmother, Mary, and her granddaughter, Durga.
Secrets unfolding amidst a sea of make-believe stories.
I found it hard to stay with the story, as sections jumped this way and that, back and forth from early years to now, from one viewpoint to the other, and I was still a little confused at the end.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin General UK - Fig Tree, Hamish Hamilton, Viking, Penguin Life, Penguin Business for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley and am grateful for the chance to review the book. Durga returns to her childhood home and her grandmother. An accident sees her grandmother in hospital. The ensuing narrative changes between now and then following the lives of Durga's grandmother and mother. Things are not always as they seem and in this case it seems that Mary (Durga's grandma and parent) has lived a life creating a truth different from the actual truth. I wanted to enjoy this book but it felt fragmented, it felt difficult to create an apparent storyline. The book was narrative driven but that drive felt anything but straight forward.

Mary had a difficult life and it appears that she tried to wrap this into alternative histories for herself and her granddaughter. However I cannot decide which is real and which is Mary's fairytales. The characterisation is painted too thinly to aid the interpretation of the narrative. I feel this book could have been a masterpiece But just failed to cross the gap that would take it to that level

I really wanted to like this book. I usually like books set in Asia, and I had never read anything based in Malaysia.
The premise is as follows: Durga visits her grandmother, Mary, for Diwali. There's a firework accident which results in Mary being admitted to hospital and Durga staying home longer than she had anticipated and bringing up some ghosts from the past.

Here's my problem with the book: it's not that it's not well written (I think it is). It's mostly how it's marketed. The description says: "But a reckoning is coming. Stuck together in in the rising heat, both women must untangle the truth from the myth of their family's past. What happened to Durga's mother after she gave birth? Why did so many of their family members disappear during the war? And who is to blame for the childhood tragedy that haunts her to this day?"
So I would expect much more mystery in the book, and a story unfolding. However, most of it focuses on Mary's childhood and the present, and these topics aren't touched upon until about 70% in. By then, I was tired of waiting for it and I was distanced from the story.

My other main problem with the book is that even though it's told from Durga's perspective, it felt like even she was detached from the story, as an omniscent narrator who's also detached from it. So, I was also detached from the main characters. Not because I didn't find bits of myself in them, but because of how they were written.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley. Many thanks to NetGalley and Viking for this ARC.

Thank you to netgalley.co.uk for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

As soon as I saw this book available for request, I just had to snap it up. I have read a lot of World War II fiction novels, but this was quite a unique take on the subject for me.
This book was wonderfully written, the descriptions were well done and I really enjoyed reading it. I think it took me about two-three sittings to get through the book. I was flying through the book and didn't realise it. I loved the characters in the book. I would definitely more by this author.

Fragile Monsters by Catherine Menon is an impressive debut. This multi-generational family drama is set in Malaysia between WW2 and the present day.

Durga returns to Malaysia from Canada to restart her life as an academic. While visiting her grouchy grandmother a series of events trigger the unwinding of the mystery surrounding Durga’s mother, the war years and family secrets. The plot switches between pre-war Malaya under British rule and the war years, the post-war reconstruction and modern day denial.

I enjoyed Fragile Monsters, I knew nothing about the process of Malaya becoming Malaysia so I can’t vouch for it’s historical accuracy. The intergenerational interplay between Durga and her grandmother is handled very well and there s a compelling pace to the novel that builds to an effective ending.

Well worth a read

4/5

A moving story set in Malaysia in 1985. The novel focuses on the relationship between Durga and her grandmother Mary. Durga had been brought up by her grandmother, never having known her mother, but had escaped to Canada to pursue a career in mathematics. Now having return to Malaysia to take up a new teaching post, she is reunited with Mary. Having an analytical mind, Durga, wants to understand the past but her grandmother is a difficult person to pin down.
The narrative alternates between the present (1985) and Mary's past beginning in 1920. It covers the years of turmoil during the Second World War, Japanese occupation and the country's fight for independence. It is wonderfully atmospheric with natural disasters forming a backdrop to events.
This is a story of the ghosts from the past and of the secrets and lies with which we deceive ourselves and others. It takes the purifying and cleansing effects of water and fire to bring the truth to the surface.
I really enjoyed this book, it makes compulsive reading. The characters are very strongly defined and the setting brings a beautiful poignancy to the tale. Emotional and thought-provoking, a very beautiful book.

Fragile Monsters took me back to a time of more traditional story telling. A time when you hear the same story told differently and you don't know what is true but the truth is there. This book gives a vivid account of a granddaughter visiting her grandmother. It set in rural Malaysia in recent times. It is a gripping book, not only did I want to get to the end and find out the conclusion but I enjoyed the twists and turns along the way. This book is not sugar coated, the characters are difficult and with that possibly unreliable, however this just hooks you in to have your own thoughts.
A challenging read as you need to keep up with the pace but so worth the read. I enjoyed it immensely. It was different yet at the heart traditional story telling.

A beautiful story following Durga’s life as she returns to Malaysia to visit her grandmother. I loved how the story unfolded and throughly enjoyed learning more about the history of Malay through Durga’s family. I find this era of history fascinating and it is refreshing to read stories from other parts of the world especially during WWII. The history is woven so well throughout the novel and I felt fully invested in the characters. It also deals with female friendships, guilt, secrets, young love and family.

What a wonderful debut novel and a great work of historical fiction.

This novel is set in Malaya/Malaysia and follows the life of Durga, in flashback when she returns, from Canada, to visit Mary her grandmother. who has lived in the same tumbledown house all her life. We soon learn that Durga's mother died under mysterious circumstances and that Mary consciously avoids talking about it. As the novel unfolds we also come to understand the dangerous period that Malaysians experienced during the Japanese occupation and how those years impacted on Durga's family. But gradually the house, old boyfriends, the housekeeper and family photos reveal their secrets. The difficulty Durga faces, unlike in Maths - the subject on which she lectures at University, is there seem to be no neat solutions. Catherine Menon is a writer who provides great depth to her characters and Fragile Monsters draws you remorselessly into their lives. Her characters live on the page and, as a result, this novel cannot fail to engage its reader

An unusual story revolving around a young mathematician and her grandmother. I love the use of language in the narrative, and found the story engaging. There are intriguing layers of lies, half truths and ghosts in this tale which is set in Malaysia and spans three generations of a family. Fascinating and atmospheric.
⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What a gripping storyline. This is the kind of book you don't want to put down. It is the story of Mary and her grandfather Durga, secrets and ghosts, past and present.
At times I struggled to follow the storyline, as there is a lot of jumping from past to present and vice versa, however I just had to find out what happened to Durga's mom.

Thank you Netgalley and Viking for my advanced copy.

A wonderful debut novel, full of half truths, ghosts and stories from a grandmother reluctantly sharing tales of family with her granddaughter. Interwoven with these is the history of Malay in WWII, seen from differing viewpoints. In other hands this could have been a confusing and unsatisfying book, but Ms Menon manages to hook the reader in from the beginning and make them care about the characters and their lives.

A wonderful novel that had me gripped from the first pages. A weaved tale about the generations and the stories they tell - and whether they are all true - that is for the storyteller to know and for the listener to decide.

The title of this book has been perfectly chosen although I will not divulge who or what these ‘Fragile Monsters’ may be. I absolutely adored this book and was completely engrossed from the first page. This is one of my favourite books I’ve read this year. I loved being able to read about another ethnicity under the BAME umbrella. This book is categorised as historical fiction and I would agree with that as it is set in the past but to be honest I personally believe that this is an exploration of emotions and secrets.

Fragile Monsters gives brilliant insight into female relationships, teen love, guilt, familial ties, cultural divide and the class system.... so a little bit of everything.
This story progresses through three generations, and the characters have been craved out perfectly. Having read a few books recently that jump through generations and timelines I was worried that it could feel disjointed but I was pleasantly surprised with how beautifully it flowed. If you are even looking at this review to decided whether or not buy it I wouldn’t think twice.

Thank you very much to the publishers for sending me this proof copy.

This is a multi-generational novel set in contemporary Malaysia. Durga comes home to visit her grandmother, Mary, and her arrival sets off a chain of events which stir up memories of war and loss. It was fascinating to learn about the turbulent history of Malaysia through Mary’s eyes - she is a character who stays with you long after the story is finished. An assured debut from Catherine Menon.

There was a lot to take in with this book and though I appreciate the complexities of the time it is set and the way it reveals hidden truths and deception, I did find it difficult to follow and struggled with the flow of the writing.
I think the different background stories of the two women in this family was so interesting and there's clearly a lot of toxic behaviour that makes compelling reading. I just think it wasn't the book for me

Durga has come back to Pahang in Malaysia to visit her grandmother Mary, for Diwali, and during a firework accident Mary gets hurt and admitted to hospital. Following this injury Durga settles back in the family home to help care for her grandmother where she is faced with hers and her grandmother’s ghosts from their path.

I really wanted to love this book. I adore books set in Asia, feeling immersed in the beautiful culture but this book really didn’t provide that for me. It was a very character focused book so the setting and the history of Malaysia was lost. I also didn’t enjoy the writing style, it was very disjointed, stories leapt about confusingly and there were unclear layers of stories within stories. It was hard to try and keep focused on the actual narrative.

What I did enjoy was the character of Mary. She is fierce, manipulative, intimidating and untrustworthy but she doesn’t care. Her life story shows someone who is selfish and focused but also compelling to read about.

A story about family secrets and lies set in Malaysia. I thought that this story was interesting. I was intrigued to read about life in Malaysia and how the family were affected by World War 2.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Really enjoyed this powerful atmospheric debut. I ended up immersed as Durga tries to untangle her family secrets and stories.

A story told from the heart though it took a while to get into the rhythm of the writing style and I could have done with a list of Malay translations! However, once I was there I found the whole story immensely educational and poignant. Durga’s life and that of her grandmother were certainly not easy and life in Malaysia with its monsoons, constant invasions and poverty certainly didn’t feel inviting. However, there was also a deceitful simplicity - story telling within the story - which kept me riveted until the end.