The Harmony Silk Factory

Have you come across any English fiction that has Malaysia set as its backdrop? If you haven't, you should try "The Harmony Silk Factory (pix)" by Tash Aw (pix). He was born in Taipei and brought up in Malaysia. In his teens, he moved to England and now lives in London. According to him, there aren't many fictions about Malaysia. So, he decided to write this book that narrates the life of a communist leader, Johnny Lim, just before the Japanese was about to invade the country.
The novel is divided into three parts. The first part was written in Jasper's (Johnny's only son and child) point of view. Jasper gave a brief history of the Harmony Silk Factory which was bought by his father with the money he earned doing many illegal trades such as smuggling opium, heroin, Hennesy XO and rice. The factory was not the only thing Johnny could afford. He was also among the few wealthy Chinese who had a television set installed in his house. Besides, he was rich enough to sponsor Jasper to England for studies. The name Johnny was taken from Johnny Weiss Muller and the actual name of Johnny was Lim Seng Chin. At that time, it was a trend for the local people to adopt an English name, particularly from famous English artistes. Johnny was said to hate islands and it was not until towards the end of the story that the readers would be exposed to the reason. The Harmony Silk Factory had a revolving dining room which served as a hiding place when the police came for raid. During that time, many local people were hired to carry out traditional mining processes. Since the introduction of Dredging Machine by the British, many coolies were not needed anymore and thus fired. However, Johnny did not suffer such fate as he was skilled with machines. He was one of the few Chinese workers who was hired by Darby Tin Mine. He was able to repair the Dredging Machine when it failed several times. There came times when the machine broke down very frequently and Johnny was unable to fix the problem unless he was supplied with new parts. His employers, the British kicked him when he was unable to fix the machine and demanded for new parts. Out of rage, he grabbed a screwdriver and stabbed at one of his employers. A year and a week after that, the person died. When the incident had died down, Johnny came out to work again. This time round, he worked at Tiger Brand Trading Company owned by Tiger Tan. Tiger Tan was the head of communist at that time and he helped to nurture Johnny into an influential person of the party. However, Johnny was so power-hungry that he killed his mentor and took over his place. Johnny then married Snow Soong, daughter of a tycoon named T.K Soong. In order to gain trust and respect from his father-in-law, he planted explosives in his shop. When he came for a visit, the explosives were detonated so that the shop caught fire. It went as he had planned. T.K Soong was trapped in the burning building. Johnny ran into it to save him and became a hero in everyone's eyes. Unknown to his relatives, Johnny was the chief of the Malayan Anti-Japanese People's Army. Johnny betrayed his own people by collecting taxes for the Japanese. He was also the one who caused the death of the 44 most important communist members.
The second part is the diary written by Snow Soong. She recorded their journey to the Seven Maidens. She also wrote of her plan to leave Johnny who hadn't touched her since the day they were married. And they had not had their honeymoon after marrying for more than a year. So, her parents suggested them to have a trip to the Seven Maidens. They accepted the idea and brought along Johnny's friends: Frederick Honey, Peter Wormwood and Kunichika Momoru. They faced many obstacles during their journey. Halfway to the islands, some mechanical parts of their boat suddenly failed. When they were searching for the Seventh Maiden, their boat was destroyed by storm. Johnny and Snow couldn't swim but fortunately they were saved by Kunichika and Peter respectively. It was because of this incident that Johnny developed resentment towards sea as well as islands. At the island, Peter found an abondened building. Peter was fascinated by the discovery and created a garden near to it. Towards the end of the diary, Honey was found dead on the beach. The murderer was undisclosed.
The third part of the book was written in Peter Wormwood's point of view. In this part, Peter narrated how he came to know Johnny, Honey and also Kunichika. He first met Johnny in a coffee shop in Singapore. Later, he went to Kinta Valley to search for Johnny. He bumped into Johnny when the latter was carrying his father-in-law out of a burning shop. Peter also revealed that he was the one who had killed Honey after Honey told him the true purpose of the trip which had landed them on Seven Maiden. According to Honey, the reason Kunichika being there was to get close to Johnny who was undoubtedly the communist chief. This was planned by T.K Soong for the benefit of both himself and the Japanese. With the whereabouts of the communists, the Japanese would be able to wipe them out effortlessly. Meanwhile, in exchange for the information, T.K Soong would receive all the favours he could get from the Japanese. Finally, the Japanese invaded Malaya. Johnny could do nothing but coorperate with them and thus resulted in the death of his fellow comrades. Peter left the place for Singapore. Many years after that Peter saw Johnny cradling a sleeping child on a bench at KL but he didn't bother to call him. In the end, Peter made the final revelation -- he had Snow's diary in his possession. He decided to hand it over to her son, Jasper who was present at Johnny's funeral.
I've learned quite a number of things reading this book. Take for example, 'Hakka' which can be literally translated into 'guest people' are descendants of tribes defeated in ancient battles and forced to live outside city walls. I've also come to know that the word 'paradise' originated from an ancient Persian word 'garden'. And 'pontianak' are ghosts of young women who commit suicide after having babies out of wedlock. Not to forget that the Westerners call 'chempaka' as 'frangipani'. The way Peter described 'bunga raya' was hilarious indeed. He said it 'looks like some half-evaginated hermaphrodite genitalia, gloriously labial with a thin stamen that droops like a failed phallus -- the whole thing desparately vulgar'.
This novel has an intricate plot and it's quite touching in the end. Every Malaysian should read it!

Roses Are Red, Violets Are Blue

"Violets Are Blue (pix) " is a novel in continuation with "Roses Are Red (pix) " by James Patterson (pix). Both books are about the hunt for a psychopath criminal who labels himself the Mastermind.
While "Roses Are Red" is about bank robberies and murders, "Violets Are Blue" centers on murder cases committed by modern-day vampires. In the former book, we saw that Alex Cross, a homicide detective in DC, failed to drag the heartless killer to the face of justice after he was responsible for the slaughtering of quite a number of innocent family members of the bank managers. And he still can remember vividly how his female partner, Betsey Cavalierre, had been gruesomely violated and murdered in her own house. While he's always in constant fear for his safety, he's also aware that his children's and Nana's lives are at stake. His first wife, Maria, had died in an unsolved murder case, leaving him with two children, Jannie and Damon. He also has another child, Alex Jr, with a teacher named Christine Johnson. Christine decided not to stay with him after the kidnapping incident that befell her not long ago. She left him with the baby and old Nana Mama takes care of them while he's away for work.
"Violets Are Blue" starts off with two persons being found killed at Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Both of them are a couple. Sharp, deep bite marks are found all over the male victim's body and it's believed that they are made by a large carnivorous animal. There are bites on the female victim too, but they are not as distinct. Both the victims are hung by their feet from an oak tree when they are first sighted. It's because of this that they lose most of their blood by the time they are spotted. This merciless murder is followed by another one. The victim is a teenage girl. She's found hanging from a cypress tree by her bare feet with most of her blood drained. Meanwhile at Mill Valley, two lawyers are found hanging upside down from a rack used to hold copper pots. At Chateau Mormont Hotel, an old record company executive is discovered hanging from a lighting fixture, with bites on his neck. In all of these cases, none of the victims have their possessions stolen. It's obvious that the killers are not interested in money. Instead, they want blood to quench their thirst.
We are then being led into the lives of two brothers, William and Michael Alexandra. They have a white tiger as their pet and occasionally they go out and hunt for human prey with it. Both of them wear sharp fangs for their canine teeth and they are used for piercing the flesh on their victims' necks so that they are able to drink blood from their carotid arteries. When live preys are hard to look for, they will search for dead ones in morgues in order to satisfy their lust for blood. To vampires, drinking blood will be able to restore their energy and also make them superior to the person they withdraw blood from.
There are two famous magicians (Daniel and Charles) who are also leading a vampire lifestyle. Over the years, they have been travelling from one place to another, not only to perform in circus, but also in search for new preys. And they've been practicing it for almost a dozen years yet remain uncaught, at least until now. Just as the police force is about to lay their hands on them, they are found dead in their house. They've been murdered by more powerful vampires, the Alexandra brothers, who are being puppetted by the Mastermind all along.
Gradually, pieces of puzzles begin to come together and the identity of the Mastermind is unraveled. It's none other than the competent FBI agent and also a close friend of Alex Cross, Kyle Craig. It doesn't come as a surprise as the author has already mentioned it in the ending part of "Roses Are Red". What's left for question is the reason the murderer commits all those heinous acts.
Those who have read "Roses Are Red" should also read "Violets Are Blue" for a complete story. Both books are quite good though I wouldn't say that each and every page is equally entertaining.