The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo
Reading Reflections
1As I noted in my prior post, 2The Night Tiger, I enjoyed that book so much that I committed to reading Ms. Choo’s earlier debut novel, The Ghost Bride. Here she also spins an enchanting yarn inspired by multiple streams of history, folklore, religious worldview, and mystery.
Although set in 1898 British Colonial Malaya, much of The Ghost Bride takes place in a mythical afterlife.
Of the two novels, I prefer The Night Tiger. However, I come away from The Ghost Bride in awe of Ms. Choo’s imaginative storytelling skills.
The Ghost Bride has a stronger fantasy element—spends more time in unearthly realms. At a few points, the plot nearly lost me. But I hung on and am glad I did.
The Night Tiger felt more like magical realism; anchored in the physical world but with excursions into the afterlife and folklore. The telling felt tighter, the story clearer. But remember, that was Ms. Choo’s second work.
Most importantly, I am now officially a fan of Ms. Choo. I will anxiously await anything she produces. As noted, her imagination makes me want to cheer.
3You can find full reviews of The Ghost Bride here and here.
This article was originally posted on my Long Ago & Far Away Wordpress blog in October 2019. I have made minor edits and reposted it to my Substack Archive as I believe it is of interest to Substack readers of this newsletter.
You can find that article here.
You will notice that I do not write “starred reviews” or anything so formal. That is not my interest and those can be readily found elsewhere. I am randomly curious and prefer the freedom to draw out unique aspects of a work or to make connections between works and other ideas. I often post links to Amazon and/or Goodreads reviews. I am not an Amazon affiliate. I get no remuneration from the writers or the retailers.