Returned. Didn't have time. Should try again. ( )

I have to admit that this book took me a few chapters to really get into it. However, those chapters where not bad, just not full of action. Once you get past those few chapters, this book is full of history. It is the story of one mans journey through WWII in a wealthy British family, as the only bi-racial member. I found the journey of his life was so unique of a story that I found myself wanting a little more. It is not a story that is easy to read and so many times you feel as if you don't know where your own loyalities would lie if you were there.
This is a must read, and don't give up after the first few chapters, it does get better. ( )

A very good book, one that engages the reader right from the beginning. There are pockets inserted at strategic positions within the story to allow the reader some breathing space, but the story remains perfectly intact, without the feeling of it being severed or cut-off.

A book that depicts the beauty of colonial architecture right down to the heavenly smells of local Penang in Malaysia, this is definitely something I'd recommend to anyone who's interested in reading about what it might have been like in pre-war Malaya. ( )

We discussed whether we could understand the character's motivation for action and behaviour. Cultural differences perhaps. A very fine book, well written and evocative. Interesting to read about the WW2 in that part of the world. Really violent at the end - too much. ( )

This remarkable debut saga of intrigue and akido flashes back to a darkly opulent WWII-era Malaya. Phillip Hutton, 72, lives in serene Penang comfort, occasionally training students as an akido master teacher of teachers. A visit from Michiko Murakami sends him spiraling back into his past, where he grows up the alienated half-British, half-Chinese son of a wealthy Penang trader in the years before WWII. When Hutton's father and three siblings leave him to run the family company one summer, he befriends a mysterious Japanese neighbor named Mr. Endo. Japan is on the opposing side of the coming war, but Endo paradoxically opts to train Hutton in the ways of aikido, in what both men come to see as the fulfillment of a prophecy that has haunted them for several lifetimes. When the Japanese army invades Malaya, chaos reigns, and Phillip makes a secret, very profitable deal. He cannot, however, offset the costs of his friendship with Endo. Eng's characters are as deep and troubled as the time in which the story takes place, and he draws on a rich palette to create a sprawling portrait of a lesser explored corner of the war. Hutton's first-person narration is measured, believable and enthralling.