Gorgeous prose that takes you straight to 1920s Malaysia, a captivating story, and a satisfying end.

Tan Twan Eng's brilliantly written book uses historical and narrative drama to create memorable characters seemingly straight out of Somerset Maugham's playbook. Maugham, known as "Willie," with his partner Gerald, shows up in Penang to visit his good friend Robert, a barrister. Robert's wife, Lesley has a penchant for a local artist who has created a house of doors, and Robert, as it turns out, is having an affair with a local man. Lesley also has an interest in Sun Yat Sen and his political trials. Sen was revered by both the Communist Party in China and by the Nationalist Party in Taiwan, and Lesley is definitely an admirer.

Lesley is also drawn into the drama of her friend Ethel's trial for murder, another real-life aspect of the plot of the book. The descriptions of Panang, including the casuarina trees on the beach and other tropical scenes could not be more artfully described; the air, the water, and the gardens are painted carefully and beautifully, as are the houses.

At the same time, Eng considers the topics of race, sexuality, colonialism, culture, and ethnicity. The book is beautifully constructed and almost impossible to put down. The description of Maugham as a famous writer is delicately drawn, and the reader learns a lot about how and why Maugham writes what he does. We also learn that he has lost almost all his money, and that he is desperate to commence writing as quickly and as much as possible.

It's hard to imagine that Maugham traveled as much as he did, especially in Europe and Asia, and that he knows so many people, especially in South Asia. He is well known. His ability to describe characters and the drama of their lives is fascinating, and his incisive look at the power of people is mirrored in their interactions. Eng's characters are gently drawn and yet they could not be stronger nor more well defined.

Thank you to Bloomsbury Press and Net Galley for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

This is one extraordinary-special book.
From beginning to end.
I am blown away!!!
I absolutely love Tan Twan Eng . . .
(and very sad I’ve read each of the novels — and haven’t a new one at my fingertips).

During the epilogue my eyes became teary —tears I wanted to hold back — until finally, it wasn’t possible… a gush of tears over-took me. I was a sopping wet noodle.

This novel is beautifully engrossing — filled with fascinating heartfelt and heart-wrenching gripping history
— YES!!! A MASTERPIECE!!!
It’s based true events. It’s a work of fiction; yet it features characters and events drawn from history…a murder in 1911 which Eng set in 1910 to coincide with Sun Yat-Sen’s extended stay in Penang.

One of my top 10 - ‘ever’ favorite books!!!!

I’m busy today with my husband Paul, but I will return in a day or two or three to write a review.
I highly highly HIGHLY recommend it.
Those who have read Tan Twan Eng before - will not be disappointed.

REVIEW….( I’m back)

Attempting to offer up a more detail book report here….but be clear ….the best thing I can say to others is “just read it!!!”

NO MAJOR SPOILERS….

Books like “The House of Doors” is a great reminder to why we read. It’s an exquisitely written moving novel …. the type we want to both devour and savor….and will think about long after finishing it. ….sad that it had to end.

“The House of Doors” is divided into three sections.
It begins and ends in Doornfontein, South Africa in 1947.... with Lesley Hamlin as our narrator. She and Robert moved into a modest bungalow on the property of Robert’s cousin, Bernard, who was a sheep farmer. It was an adjustment for Lesley and Robert ……
Lesley says: “The vastness, the emptiness of Karoo countryside made me want to weep when we first moved here. Everything was so bleak — the land, the light, the faces of the people.I was a child of the equator, Born under monsoon skies; I pined for the cloying humanity of Penang”.
Lesley missed her garden — the trees she planted - flowers, shrubs, their high ceilings in Cassowary House, her old busy life of the different committees she was on, but with time, she did adjust realizing she no longer cared about those things.

The bulk of the storytelling takes place in Penang, Malaysia.
The year is 1921, Lesley and her husband, Robert (a lawyer and war veteran) are living at their Cassowary House on the Straits Settlement of Penang.
W. Somerset Maugham, the famous novelist was an old friend of Robert’s. Robert and Lesley call him Willie.
After a package arrives — the book “The Casuarina Tree”….by Maugham, one of Robert’s favorites….(Robert owns every book of his)….Willie and his secretary, Gerald come for a two week visit.

Willie has hidden his homosexuality…..and was married to Syrie. They lived in London, had one daughter, but Willie traveled so much with his ‘secretary’ (cover-up for lover) so often he wasn’t home much.. Their marriage of convenience was unraveling.
Willie has other problems besides his marriage … he suffers a huge financial loss — and his health is failing as well.

Lesley and Robert’s marriage is a kind of deception too. Behind the facade…are hidden true feelings … as well as adulterous affairs by both.

Daily routines take place when Willie and Gerald are visiting. Willie spends a few hours a day writing in his room. There are also hours spent at the beach for Willie and Gerald….
Breakfast and dinners are spent on the veranda with Robert and Lesley.
One of the standouts is the friendship that grows between Lesley and Willie. Lesley confides about her life in the straits — more than she thought she would tell him. And it was more than Willie expected to hear. Lesley had a personal connection to the Chinese revolutionary, Sun Yet Sen. ….
And not only does Willie (and readers) learn about the war and a mysterious scandal— but OMG….we learn about a murder trial that takes place in Kuala Lumpur, involving Ethel Proudlock, (Lesley’s-friend-an English woman) ….that is gripping!!!! > and fascinating!!!
It’s a story Maugham becomes interested in and wants to write about.

There is so much to love: history, topography….the complexities of betrayal, adultery, murder, friendships, marriages, art, literature, music, philosophers, poets, scholars, political strife, corruption, race, gender, secrets, sexuality, illness, death, loss, love…

With three-dimensional memorable characters ….Eng’s depiction of their relationships— particularly between Lesley and Willie is masterly.
This might be the closest thing to a perfect novel that I’ve ever read.

“The world is so still, so quiescent, that I wonder if it has stopped turning. But then, high above the land, I see a tremor in the air. A pair of raptors, far from their mountain eyrie. For a minute or two I want to believe they are brahminy kites, but of course they cannot be”.
“My eyes, follow the two birds as the drift on the span of their outstretched wings, writing circles over circles on the empty page of sky”.


Highly recommended….a book favorite!