Reviews

The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng

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ratcowe's review against another edition

mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Despite the slow pace of the book I often found myself engrossed in the story of the shifting islands, kampongs, and of change and unable to put the book down.

minty's review against another edition

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2.0

I feel like I didn't really process this book--I found it fairly boring, and then would realize I had tuned things out. So this isn't an entirely fair review, BUT if it had been more compelling I wouldn't have tuned it out? Immersing myself in Singapore from that time was really interesting, though, since I have been to the country many times and my parents lived there, so I only know its modern incarnation.

madarzoe's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

asyaqub's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

ipekreading's review against another edition

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5.0

Starting in the early 1940s, The Great Reclamation tells the story of Ah Boon, a boy from a fishing village (kampong) in Singapore with a unique ability, and his childhood friend Siok Mei. The two grow up amidst a changing Singapore, a place reckoning with the legacy of both British colonialism and Japanese occupation while also striving to achieve modernity.

I was frequently forcing myself to take a break from Heng's absorbing prose to read up on Singapore's history, a slice of history I realized I knew very little about. Heng managed to balance history, coming-of-age against a time of political change, and themes of love and home with a touch of magical realism so masterfully. While this one is 400+ pages and by no means a fast paced story, every time I sat down to read this, I found myself reading it for far longer than I intended to. I loved the themes and loved how atmospheric the writing was.

Thank you Riverhead for the ARC of this!