Review: The Harmony Silk Factory

The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw

As a kid, I loved history … I loved to dive into books of legends, stories, adventures, tragedies & the reason I loved them more than fantasy was that they were very real, albeit from bygone eras, but there’s always some aura about them all … that someone had lived through that bit of time.

When I bought the Harmony Silk Factory, to me, it was nothing more than just a book by some guy from Malaysia whose books made it big in the UK. Yes, a Malaysian guy, Chinese, but what the heck you know?

All assumptions died the moment I read the 1^st page because the story just gripped me. I may have stopped for lunch, for a bath, for my class, but I pursued it with all interest because of the way it was written.

Picture it … Malaya in pre-WWII, the town of Ipoh, still in its maiden days with the wondrous caves, the pomp of old Chinese & English luxury … the amazing rise of a kid whose luck turned, the hesitant wife and the ponderous ang-moh … all embroiled in the same circle, which divided the book into 3 rich perspectives.

The mix of olden days, the Kinta Valley, nature, Japanese occupation, old school romance and English touch makes the book a rich canvas painted with all these colours. So vividly described, that I can almost walk on each page I turned. Either that, or my imagination must be flying.

Read it if any of these tickle your fancy. 4 over 5 stars