The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng

Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023--San Antonio

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng is historical fiction that takes place on Penang Island (which I have visited twice) during the period beginning slightly before and through WWII.  Although fiction, the story blends with the known details of what the war was like in this part of the world--the fierce terrorist acts by the Japanese occupiers in China and the other Asian countries (including a complete failure to follow generally accepted rules of warfare), the harsh treatment of and conditions for prisoners, etc.  The story centers around the mixed race (half Chinese/half English) son of one of the wealthy British families that had been operating a trading house (supplying rubber, tin, spices, etc., to Britain and bringing in exchange needed items to the market in Malaya) for centuries.  As a half-cast, the boy has never felt as if he fit anywhere.  He has no close friends.  He spends much of his time alone on an uninhabited island the family owns that he can reach by rowing a small boat from the family estate.  When a Japanese man arrives and rents the island from his father, the son feels betrayed.  But the man has been raised by monks and trained in the practice of Aikido, a centuries-old martial art.  Seeing both the loneliness of the boy's life and realizing how befriending him could be of benefit in accomplishing goals he has been assigned that are the reason he is in Malaya, the man offers to become the boy's teacher.  The story describes the rituals of the martial arts training, the development of the friendship, the eventual use of the boy to gain critical information, the tension as the Japanese military invades the island, the decision the boy has to make to protect his family in a way that he is uniquely qualified to do so during the occupation, the horrors that take place during the occupation, and the constant strain between the boy and his teacher/friend during the occupation.  It's a good book that vividly describes almost all aspects of the story. It's easy, as the reader to become emotionally involved.  I gave the book 4 1/2 stars out of 5.