The South by Tash Aw

I think I'm missing something in this novel. It made the Booker Longlist last year, and the cover is plastered with praise from other authors, but I struggled to find what was so special about it. My heart didn't stop because it was so vivid (as apparently happened to Oisin McKenna) and I wasn't mesmerised while I was reading it like Michael Cunningham and I was surprised to read that Jemimah Wei wanted to live in it forever.

Oh well, I guess Tash Aw can't win us all.

It's not a bad book, and it is certainly not often that I have read something by a Chinese author, so it offers me something different to think about. The story is about a teenage boy, Jay, and his family who inherit a family farm in the south and go to stay there while they consider what to do with it. Jay has the opportunity to explore his sexuality once he is away from home and he soon finds himself in a relationship with Chuan, the son of the farm manager.

Being away from his normal routine allows Jay to grow emotionally and try new things such as helping with farm work and learning to ride a scooter. His parents take a step back from their three children and allow them some extra freedoms, such as travelling into town in the evenings, and Jay considers moving to the south as soon as he is old enough.

As with all families, there are backstories and challenges to relationships, and as Jay grows up through the summer he starts to see his parents in a different light. It's interesting to see that teenagers can be the same the world over and everyone has to find their way through trial and error.

This is probably not going to be one of those books that I run round recommending to people, and to be fair it had a very hard act to follow coming straight after Wally Lamb's The River is Waiting, but I'm sure it adds breadth to my reading list.

Comments

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