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The Gift of Rain
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
An epic novel nominated for the Man Booker Prize, this epic debut tells the story of a young man's perilous journey through the betrayals of war and into manhood.
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BarbaraBB
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Penang, 1939. The young Philip Hutton, half Chinese, half English, meets a Japanese man who will be his Aikido teacher, who shares tons of wisdom and who loves him unconditionally. Philip shows him his homeland and Tan Twan Eng is able to captivate Malaysia‘s smells, images and aromas masterfully. Then Japan invades Malaysia and the story becomes one about divided loyalties, betrayal, courage, cruelty and forgiveness. I loved it.

RaeLovesToRead Ooh. I have this and I haven't read a book about a sport yet... 1y
BarbaraBB IThe prompt is a bit far fetched, it‘s about martial arts, but I highly recommend it! @RaeLovesToRead 1y
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RaeLovesToRead Martial arts deffo count if it's a prominent plot feature!!!! (This is the prompt I am LEAST looking forward to). 1y
BarbaraBB @RaeLovesToRead It is, so i‘d say read it. And be blown away 💛 1y
Cortg Sounds excellent! 1y
81 likes2 stack adds6 comments
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BarbaraBB
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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#WeeklyForecast 25/23

I am going to read two books that I‘ve been very much looking forward to. In fact I already started A Town Called Solace (my first Mary Lawson) and am enjoying it a lot. The tagged book is one I have such high expectations of after loving The Garden of Evening Mists that I have postponed reading it for a long time.

Cinfhen I hope you have a wonderful week ahead 😘 1y
TrishB Enjoy 👍🏻 I‘ve loved all the Lawson ones I‘ve read. 1y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen On my way to see RHCP 🌶️💃 1y
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BarbaraBB @TrishB I know, one of the reasons I figured it about time to start reading her myself! 1y
Cinfhen Have FUN 🤩🙌🏻♥️ 1y
thewallflower0707 Yeah, looking forward to reading if you liked it! 1y
youneverarrived It was my first by Lawson too. Read it last month and really enjoyed it 🤍 1y
Tamra Lawson!!! 💕 1y
Megabooks Have a great week! 💜 1y
Suet624 Can‘t wait to see what you think of Rain. 1y
BarbaraBB @Suet624 I am 80 pages in and loving each of them. Cherishing it! 1y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB that‘s great to hear!! 1y
71 likes1 stack add12 comments
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SusanLee
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Eggs Beautiful cover 💕 2y
10 likes1 comment
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SusanLee
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Eggs Beautiful 🤩 2y
9 likes1 comment
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SusanLee
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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BarbaraBB I must read this, I adored 2y
Eggs Perfect 👍🏼 ☔️ 📚 2y
SusanLee @BarbaraBB I‘ve enjoyed both books as much! I can‘t wait for his third novel coming soon! 2y
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BarbaraBB I didn‘t know that! 2y
SusanLee @BarbaraBB The House of Doors releasing in March 2023 2y
BarbaraBB Thank you!! 2y
11 likes6 comments
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Itchyfeetreader
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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This is a book that is going to find a place in my list of favourites. The story is one of family, war, fate and regret and is set predominantly on the island of Penang which is a character in its own right. Multi faceted and moving I feel so silly it‘s been on my kindle for so long … loved it (and I am off and running for my #booked2022

BarbaraBB Wow. I loved another one by this author and would love to read more! 3y
Suet624 @BarbaraBB I thought the author‘s name sounded familiar. Thanks for saying something. Now I need to stack! 3y
Itchyfeetreader @Suet624 it‘s a wonderful book. Enjoy when you get to it 3y
BarbaraBB So do I! 3y
40 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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Itchyfeetreader
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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First time on a train in nearly two years after flying visit to my parents … hoping to get into this one which is my #booked2022 weather choice. Enjoying so far

TrishB All the firsts are a bit weird aren‘t they! 3y
Itchyfeetreader Very ! However the predictability of it arriving late helped with familiarity! 3y
36 likes2 comments
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SusanLee
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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#falltreasures #over500pages @Eggs @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
This is one of my favourite read from a favourite author! Hard to get into it at first but once I got the hang of it, it was a beautiful journey!

Eggs Great choice 💗📚👏🏻 3y
5 likes1 stack add1 comment
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thevagabondlawyer
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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There comes a time when you read a book, so beautifully written, so genuinely moving, that makes everything else in life seem bland. THE GIFT OF RAIN by TAN TWAN ENG is that book. Mr. Eng wrote piercingly of the pain of terrible tragedy without veering into flimsiness. His in-depth immersive storytelling was inexplicably stunning; his imagery powerful. He did not seem to write to impress you; he wrote beyond you. 👏😊

56 likes1 stack add
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Tove_Reads
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Well, no rain here for weeks. Won‘t stop me from reading this book though! #myanmar #readtheworld #readingtheworld

MommyWantsToReadHerBook Ooh sounds good 😊 6y
43 likes1 stack add1 comment
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BiblioNyan
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Used bookstore haul!! Sir Betrothed and I decided to hit the bookstore to celebrate the new car. I found five brilliant sounding #OwnVoices Asian Literature novels and a beautiful edition of Northanger Abbey, which I‘ve never read but want to.

#koreanlit #chineselit #MalaysianLit #southasianlit #britishlit #bookhaul #litsygram

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alia.anwar.12
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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2 likes1 stack add
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Rachael86
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Finally getting around to reading the thank you gift I received from some of my students #thankfulteacher #neverendingreadinglist #lovetoread

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erzascarletbookgasm
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Another book #setinsoutheastasia. This debut novel is set against the backdrop of the build-up to and aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Penang in Malaysia (then a British colony) during World War II. It was a longlist for the Man Booker Prize 2007. On my TBR shelf.
#aprilbookshowers

review
AmrahAMajid
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
Pickpick

Tan Twan Eng is a talented writer, no doubt about this. But the main problem I have with the book is that it is too melodramatic. It's like watching a movie - a Chinese action movie at that. And towards the end, I kept thinking that Tan must have really hated his protagonist to put him through so much misery. Haha. But yeah, Phillip Hutton has the gift of rain - hope for some, pain and suffering for others.

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AmrahAMajid
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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Unlike Tan's other book, this book was rather slow to catch my attention. But now, with a quarter left to read, I am hooked.

Baby is sleeping, husband is away. Perfect time for some literary indulgence.

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Amandajoy
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng
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The books I brought for my trip. Any suggestions on which one to pick next? They all look so good!

BookishFeminist The Fifth Season is amazing! 8y
GuiltyFeat On Beauty is probably Zadie Smith's best. 8y
15 likes2 comments
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Liz1
The Gift of Rain | Tan Twan Eng

This is one of the books I am reading for Book Riot's 2016 Read Harder Challenge.