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

Extraordinary in every way

Beautiful writing. A revelation of Malaysian culture and history. Insight into Asian differences. Memorable and deeply moving. A treasure.

Great book. Just don’t listen to it.

The book itself is fantastic. Highly recommended you read it. But skip the Audible version. As long as the narrator is telling the story, it’s fine. But once she tries a character’s voice, speaking in the dialect of a Japanese or Malaysian or any human, it starts grating on your nerves. Like nails on a chalkboard. A bad Mel Blanc impression.

A tale of good and evil in all of us

A beautiful symphonic tale of the art of Japanese gardening and tattooing, coexisting with torture and suffering. Themes of love in different forms, betrayal and redemption.

This Book is Absolute Perfection

With most books, the author either has you root for the main character (despite their flaws), or has you love the main character because they're so darn cool. It takes incredible skill and enormous courage for an author to force the reader to squirm from discomfort because we may not actually LIKE the main character and we may not find much endearing about her at all. We may not actually be able to forgive some actions of the main character but it doesn't mean we're not with her throughout the story, keeping her at a distance but utterly engrossed.

That kind of writing happens once in a blue moon but Tan Twan Eng has done it. This novel is pure poetry. It forces the reader to question their own morality, to ask themselves "Do I REALLY know what I would do in such a situation? Do I have the right to judge others, having never been in those circumstances?"

Anna Bentinck does a brilliant job. Her accents are fantastic (though admittedly not always accurate) and she portrays the main character with the perfect amount of "chilliness".

Early on in the book, I immediately judged the Professor as some bit player, an insignificant nobody. However, as the book unfolds, the Professor, as a human being, becomes heartbreakingly unforgettable.

This is my favorite book of all time. I'm desperate for Audible to have his other book, Gift of Rain, narrated.

A Work of Art

Any additional comments?

Without question the most beautifully written and narrated book I've had the pleasure to listen to.

Beautiful story.

Well written. Very descriptive. At times the flag back. Are hard to place in the time line. Narrator could have tried different accents or just read it without an accent. I will read this book again to try and get more details in the correct timeline.

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.