The Garden of Evening Mists

By: Tan Twan Eng

Narrated by: Anna Bentinck

Length: 15 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Malaya, 1951. Yun Ling Teoh, the scarred lone survivor of a brutal Japanese wartime camp, seeks solace among the jungle-fringed tea plantations of Cameron Highlands. There she discovers Yugiri, the only Japanese garden in Malaya, and its owner and creator, the enigmatic Aritomo, exiled former gardener of the emperor of Japan.

Despite her hatred of the Japanese, Yun Ling seeks to engage Aritomo to create a garden in memory of her sister, who died in the camp. Aritomo refuses but agrees to accept Yun Ling as his apprentice "until the monsoon comes". Then she can design a garden for herself.

As the months pass, Yun Ling finds herself intimately drawn to the gardener and his art, while all around them a communist guerilla war rages. But the Garden of Evening Mists remains a place of mystery. Who is Aritomo and how did he come to leave Japan? And is the real story of how Yun Ling managed to survive the war perhaps the darkest secret of all?

©2012 Tan Twan Eng (P)2012 W.F. Howes

Mists of memory

The Garden of Evening Mists- Tan Eng



“Memories I had locked away have begun to break free, like shards of ice fracturing off an arctic shelf. In sleep, these broken floes drift toward the morning light of remembrance.”


When Yun Ling first comes to Yugiri in the decade following World War Two she remembers her sister’s death and their three years in a Japanese death camp. When she returns to Yugiri 40 years later, she remembers Aritomo. Aritomo, once the Japanese emperor’s gardener, created Yugiri, the Garden of Evening Mists. The garden was designed and built before the war in the Camaron Highlands of Malaya. Yun Ling has spent most of her life trying to forget, but as her aging brain threatens to erase her memories forever, she begins to record her story.

This is an intricate, layered story that worked beautifully on every level. The prose is poetic and suited to the exotic location. As the story develops, it is filled with details about Japanese gardens, woodblock printing, and surprisingly, tattoos. The characters are flawed, complex, and very real. They are people who grapple with devastating loss, survivor guilt, divided loyalties, and dangerous secrets. In the end some of the secrets are revealed. Some of the truth will never be completely revealed. Despite the lack of definitive answers, the ending of the book felt entirely correct.

Anna Bentinck’s performance of this book was outstanding. She handled all of the character voices and accents perfectly. I was especially impressed that she was able to maintain a consistent voice for Yun Ling while perceptibly aging the voice for the different time periods of the narrative.

A trip to Malaysia in my Mind

This book, beautifully written, brought me back to my own time in Malaysia and Singapore. I loved disappearing into it each day. The reading was well done and caught the accents from the region in a fair manner. However, I did find the book a bit long in places especially the earlier and middle chapters.

This is a very remarkable book

I have now listened to all three of these wonderful books written by TanTwan Eng. this one probably being the most sensitive. This author has a powerful command of the English language, and the prose is almost poetic.

A great story exploring coming to terms with life

The story of a woman who has gone from being a prisoner of war during world war ii to being a justice in the Malay supreme court. Through the symbol of a Japanese garden it explores how she comes to tem with some of the disappointments in her life as well as some of her triumphs.

Iron Orchid

What did you love best about The Garden of Evening Mists?

This is an exquisite tale of abuse, self-sufficient survival...and a slow recovery of self. It's set in the exotic (to me) culture of Malaysia during-and-after WWII. An iron-willed Malaysian girl is imprisoned by the marauding Japanese during their invasion of the island at the start of WWII. All is lost during her imprisonment...except her will. She survives but the cost of that survival is significant. Yet, as wounded and defended as she is, she allows life to bring her out of her emotional confinement through her relationship with a Japanese gardener and an Afrikaner champion. The book is unforgettable.

What does Anna Bentinck bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The reader, Anna Bentinck, embodies the complexity of characters...in all of their complexity...with wit and depth. I loved her performance.

Poetic

Poetic literature with the heartbreaking history of the narrating character revealed mystically. Enjoyed the narration and the character voice personas.

Wow, best listen I have had in a long time...

Where does The Garden of Evening Mists rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of my all-time favorites.

Have you listened to any of Anna Bentinck’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but I will seek out her work from now on.

Any additional comments?

I never knew I was interested in Japanese gardening until now. This book, with the fabulous narration, was hypnotizing.

Beautiful on So Many Levels

The Garden of Evening Mists is beautifully written by Tan Twan Eng and narrated by Anna Bentinck. The descriptions of the Japanese garden of Yuguri will transport you to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya. But this book goes so much deeper than that. The characters are full of depth and each have their own individual stories which weave together in a story of love and survival during the Japanese occupation of Malaya. I highly recommend this book anyone interested in historical fiction or Asian culture.

Enchanting History

I have read many books on the Occupation of China by the Japanese pre and during WWII. This book by Tan Twan Eng is one of the most interesting. There is a great deal of history explained while telling a story of human involvement by many participants of different Nationalities required to do a certain job that conflicts with the emotional consequences of doing that job. The book held my interest on every page with no particular plot to be explained. Instead, I was wanting to know the impact brought upon the many characters by the historical events being played out. Those events, as the events of my own life, can be explained although not necessarily resolved to my liking. An excellent story.

Artfully Present Story

Few words can do honor to such a work. A layered and historical context is deftly interwoven amid the verdure of Malaya. Multiple themes of love, Taoism, art, friendship and loss draw the listener, aided by inspired narration by Anna Bentinck, toward a deeper experience of life.