Scan barcode
sarahs_readingparty's review against another edition
I love historical fiction, but could not get past the dull characters and their unlikable attributes. It was also a little too vulgar for me.
mandi_m's review against another edition
4.0
Jacqui's review:
The White Pearl
A great read with secrets being unraveled throughout which kept me turning the pages to discover the next twist and revelation.
The main character, Connie, was a convincing heroine. The book explored her determination as a mother to keep her son safe, while doing her best for the casualties she meets along the way - all at great risk to herself.
The story weaves together a diverse group of people at the time of the Japanese invasion of Malaya, all with their own personal agendas. There’s secret lives, double crossing, poverty and prostitution, wealth and privileges, mixed in with love, passion, sorrow, hatred and selflessness.
The backdrop of the story is the stinking heat, tropical rainstorms, deep tangled jungles, savage seas, and the ever-present reptile and insect life of Malaya, all of which provide challenges over and above the threat of the advancing Japanese troops. The writer draws you into these places with her descriptive writing. The story is well researched in terms of the natural environment, the lifestyle of the rich plantation society and poor locals, and the mechanics of the Japanese invasion and Allied response.
I can really see this novel as a film – it has all the elements of adventure and human perseverance, with some dashing heroes and a resilient female lead, plus some amazing locations.
specialk046's review against another edition
3.0
Fairly well-written story. There were definitely a lot of twists and turns, some of them leaving me shaking my head and thinking, "Really? Did that really just happen?". It was still a decent read.
kerite's review against another edition
3.0
First off, I’m disappointed by how misleading the description is. “When a fighter plane crashes into the sea, they rescue its Japanese pilot. For Connie, that's when everything changes. In the suffocating confines of the boat with her life upended, Connie discovers a new kind of freedom and a new, dangerous, exhilarating love.” This reads like she falls in love with the pilot, or at least the pilot’s presence causes a major shift in her, but that’s not the case at all. The pilot is barely relevant to the story! I don’t know if authors write their own blurbs but it’s unfortunate, as the only reason I chose this book is because I was intrigued by that premise. Anyway, once I realized the story wasn’t going in that direction, I tried to enjoy it anyway; I liked the descriptive writing and it had a lot of promise, but the vibe was off in a way it’s hard to pinpoint. It seemed unable to balance different moods of different moments, making the tone feel inconsistent. Tension between characters or due to strained situations would build up and then fizzle, scenes that were supposed to be happy had an undercurrent of melancholy that made me feel like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and the love story that did develop was unconvincing. The end was both abrupt and strange, shifting from joyful to ominous in a nanosecond. I wasn't sure how I was supposed to feel and so I ended up feeling not much at all. It's one of those books that's enjoyable while reading, but once you put it down you have a hard time recalling anything noteworthy or significant.
timofeev's review against another edition
4.0
This didn't catch me the way The Russian Concubine but it was still a good book. I'm definitely going to read more from this author.
abookishaffair's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 stars. "The White Pearl" is a historical fiction book that takes place in Southeast Asia during World War II. It follows Connie, a woman who can't stop thinking about her past and what would have happened if she followed a different path.
Unfortunately this book wasn't my favorite at all:
Characters: I didn't feel like you got to know any of the characters very well at all, not even the main character, Connie. I really wanted to understand more about the various characters so you can understand a little bit more about where the characters are coming from. I don't necessarily need to like characters but I do need to be interested in what they do and what ends up happening to them and I really had a hard time with that during this book.
The pace of the book was a little bit too slow for me. I liked the beginning of the story in Malaya but once the characters get on the yacht (The White Pearl), the book really slowed down for me. It became a lot of characters just talking and thinking about their feelings and there wasn't a whole lot of action to continue moving the story along.
One thing that I really enjoy about Ms. Furnivall's books is that they take place in really unique settings when compared to a lot of other historical fiction books. The setting was my favorite part of this book. Malaya is such a fascinating place to read about and I liked reading about the other islands. The descriptions were good but not enough for me.
Unfortunately this book wasn't my favorite at all:
Characters: I didn't feel like you got to know any of the characters very well at all, not even the main character, Connie. I really wanted to understand more about the various characters so you can understand a little bit more about where the characters are coming from. I don't necessarily need to like characters but I do need to be interested in what they do and what ends up happening to them and I really had a hard time with that during this book.
The pace of the book was a little bit too slow for me. I liked the beginning of the story in Malaya but once the characters get on the yacht (The White Pearl), the book really slowed down for me. It became a lot of characters just talking and thinking about their feelings and there wasn't a whole lot of action to continue moving the story along.
One thing that I really enjoy about Ms. Furnivall's books is that they take place in really unique settings when compared to a lot of other historical fiction books. The setting was my favorite part of this book. Malaya is such a fascinating place to read about and I liked reading about the other islands. The descriptions were good but not enough for me.
balancinghistorybooks's review against another edition
4.0
The White Pearl is Kate Furnivall’s fifth novel. It takes place in Palur, Malaya – ‘a town built by Englishmen for Englishmen’ which was built to ‘demonstrate to the natives how civilised people lived’ – and begins in November 1941. It focuses upon the character of Constance Hadley, the wife of wealthy rubber plantation owner Nigel. She is discontent with her life in Malaya and her far from happy marriage, points which Furnivall makes clear from the outset. Nigel is a stark character at times, and seems utterly terrified of Connie showing emotion or love towards him. She cannot even touch his arm without his body becoming rigid with fear. As a result of this, Connie is a far more compassionate character throughout than Nigel, who is heavily interested in politics and the affairs of the war, appears to be.
Connie’s son Teddy, a bright and inquisitive seven-year old, was born in Malaya and is far more used to life in the country than his mother, who still has difficulty adapting to the situation in which she finds herself. The differences between mother and son are apparent, from Teddy’s ‘superior command’ of the language, to the fact that ‘he wasn’t afraid of snakes the way she was, a gut-gripping terror that paralysed her’.
The opening sentence – ‘It was not the first time Connie had killed someone’ – is intriguing and launches the reader straight into the story. This relates to an incident in which Connie loses control of the car she is driving and kills a woman who haunts her dreams. Stark differences between the white families living in Malaya and the ‘natives’ have also been portrayed throughout The White Pearl. Connie faces no consequences with regard to her killing of the Malay woman, as the police are more than happy to just sweep it under the carpet and move on. Connie, on the other hand, is desperate to learn something about the woman she killed and about the children she has left without a mother. In consequence, the story does not just follow Connie and her husband and child, but also Maya and Razak Jumat, the twins of the woman she killed. She feels a compulsion to help them in order to eradicate the guilt she feels.
Other characters also feature throughout The White Pearl, and include the Hadleys’ house-boy Masur, stylish Flight Lieutenant Johnnie Blake, ‘moody’ Mr Fitzpayne, fellow colonial wife Harriet Court and Japanese trader Shohei Takehashi, with whom Connie conducts an affair. The novel is written with such compassion for Connie and the reader can see that Furnivall cares about her characters merely due to her portrayal of them. Connie’s thoughts are included in italics throughout, running concurrently with the narrative and dialogue.
The White Pearl of the novel’s title is a sailing yacht purchased for Connie by her husband as a wedding present. This yacht becomes an intrinsic part of the novel when the attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii are launched, an event which tears the family apart, forcing them to flee Malaya along with several friends.
Many parallels are created throughout, ranging from wealth to poverty and sad lives to privileged ones, to the great disparities between whites and the local people. The themes which Furnivall touches on include envy, fear, mistrust, guilt and deception, as well as the building up of outward facades which differ so greatly to what lies beneath them.
The White Pearl is told from a third person perspective. This allows us to get a feel of the characters straight away – we know what drives them and can further understand them and their actions in consequence. Furnivall’s descriptions work very well, particularly when she focuses upon the oppressive heat of Malaya, the evocative descriptions of places and suspended moments in the lives of her characters. She has made wonderful use of social and historical information, including such aspects as guidelines for the running of rubber plantations, labour strikes and the great chasms which exist within the narrow-minded society. Undertones of sinister goings-on – Chinese triads, prostitution and opium, for example – are also included. This ensures that the novel is historically grounded throughout. A sense of foreboding is created almost from the outset with sentences like ‘the jungle was stamping its feet’. Furnivall’s personification of the nature in Malaya allows the surroundings to become a character, and their overwhelming stance in the lives of the all involved is evoked very well. Such geographical precision really helps to set the scene.
The vocabulary used, particularly with regard to the phrases uttered by Nigel, fits well with the period. Furnivall has also included words from the local dialect which are shown in italics with English translations beside them. This technique works well and is not overdone.
The White Pearl is an absorbing novel, which reads almost like an adventure story in some places. The story itself is incredibly enjoyable but the unrealistic ending does unfortunately let the book down.
Connie’s son Teddy, a bright and inquisitive seven-year old, was born in Malaya and is far more used to life in the country than his mother, who still has difficulty adapting to the situation in which she finds herself. The differences between mother and son are apparent, from Teddy’s ‘superior command’ of the language, to the fact that ‘he wasn’t afraid of snakes the way she was, a gut-gripping terror that paralysed her’.
The opening sentence – ‘It was not the first time Connie had killed someone’ – is intriguing and launches the reader straight into the story. This relates to an incident in which Connie loses control of the car she is driving and kills a woman who haunts her dreams. Stark differences between the white families living in Malaya and the ‘natives’ have also been portrayed throughout The White Pearl. Connie faces no consequences with regard to her killing of the Malay woman, as the police are more than happy to just sweep it under the carpet and move on. Connie, on the other hand, is desperate to learn something about the woman she killed and about the children she has left without a mother. In consequence, the story does not just follow Connie and her husband and child, but also Maya and Razak Jumat, the twins of the woman she killed. She feels a compulsion to help them in order to eradicate the guilt she feels.
Other characters also feature throughout The White Pearl, and include the Hadleys’ house-boy Masur, stylish Flight Lieutenant Johnnie Blake, ‘moody’ Mr Fitzpayne, fellow colonial wife Harriet Court and Japanese trader Shohei Takehashi, with whom Connie conducts an affair. The novel is written with such compassion for Connie and the reader can see that Furnivall cares about her characters merely due to her portrayal of them. Connie’s thoughts are included in italics throughout, running concurrently with the narrative and dialogue.
The White Pearl of the novel’s title is a sailing yacht purchased for Connie by her husband as a wedding present. This yacht becomes an intrinsic part of the novel when the attacks on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii are launched, an event which tears the family apart, forcing them to flee Malaya along with several friends.
Many parallels are created throughout, ranging from wealth to poverty and sad lives to privileged ones, to the great disparities between whites and the local people. The themes which Furnivall touches on include envy, fear, mistrust, guilt and deception, as well as the building up of outward facades which differ so greatly to what lies beneath them.
The White Pearl is told from a third person perspective. This allows us to get a feel of the characters straight away – we know what drives them and can further understand them and their actions in consequence. Furnivall’s descriptions work very well, particularly when she focuses upon the oppressive heat of Malaya, the evocative descriptions of places and suspended moments in the lives of her characters. She has made wonderful use of social and historical information, including such aspects as guidelines for the running of rubber plantations, labour strikes and the great chasms which exist within the narrow-minded society. Undertones of sinister goings-on – Chinese triads, prostitution and opium, for example – are also included. This ensures that the novel is historically grounded throughout. A sense of foreboding is created almost from the outset with sentences like ‘the jungle was stamping its feet’. Furnivall’s personification of the nature in Malaya allows the surroundings to become a character, and their overwhelming stance in the lives of the all involved is evoked very well. Such geographical precision really helps to set the scene.
The vocabulary used, particularly with regard to the phrases uttered by Nigel, fits well with the period. Furnivall has also included words from the local dialect which are shown in italics with English translations beside them. This technique works well and is not overdone.
The White Pearl is an absorbing novel, which reads almost like an adventure story in some places. The story itself is incredibly enjoyable but the unrealistic ending does unfortunately let the book down.
More...