An absolutely brilliant novel, one I savored at an onsen ryokan over a rainy weekend. The author transports us to the island of Penang on the eve of Japan's invasion of Malaya in 1941, evoking place and character with deft and luminescent prose, glistening with stunning metaphors. The narrative is about a young Chinese-English schoolboy who comes of age in the midst of war, ending up working as a collaborator with the Japanese in an ill-fated attempt to protect his family from the whirlwind. The story takes place five decades after the war, as our protagonist is dragged by chance back to a tumultuous past he has done his best to avoid.
In recounting his memories of that time to a visitor from Japan, a woman who loved the man he too had loved — his aikido sensei — we come to understand the difficulties he faced in coming to terms with his identity and conflicting loyalties, duties and obligations at a time when choices meant life and death.