#thehouseofdoors — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

2026-10-06

CW: Tan Twan Eng novels: spoilers

1/n
The Gift of Rain (2007) performed as an audiobook.

Finding that the author writes very memorably.

Previously listened to The House of Doors (2023) so The Gift Of Rain characters going & sitting under a Casuarina tree, a letter turning up & strong memories in the characters all evoke a sense of deja vu in me.

Again passionate cross-cultural relationships in a complex colonial situation.

#TheGiftOfRain #TheHouseOfDoors #TanTwanEng #Memory #Malaysia #Literature

#thegiftofrain #thehouseofdoors #memory #tantwaneng #malaysia #literature

skua @[email protected]

2024-12-11

Been listening to the well performed youtube audiobooks of #ShortStories that are collected in #WSomersetMaugham's #TheCasuarinaTree (1926).

Four stories listened to so far, not quite in order, and it looks clear that the violence of, and corrosive effects of, #Colonialism was common knowledge in Britain.

Before the Party
P. & O.
The Outstation
The Force of Circumstance
The Yellow Streak
The Letter

A novel #TheHouseOfDoors and #TheLetter are both based on a real event.

#shortstories #wsomersetmaugham #thecasuarinatree #colonialism #thehouseofdoors #theletter

skua @[email protected]

2024-10-16

a moth

"Don't harm it", he said, "They're the souls of the people we once loved come to visit us, to watch over us."
- Arthur (a character in #TheHouseOfDoors by #TanTwangEng)

#WhatHappensAfterYouDie

#tantwangeng #whathappensafteryoudie #thehouseofdoors

skua @[email protected]

2024-10-10

CW: Wars, death tolls, refugees 19th century

#TheHouseOfDoors novel has a main character, the narrator, Lesley.

She's in Penang in 1910 and speaks of some #ChineseHistory - the #TaipingRebellion. WP has 20-30 million deaths. But I've seen estimates x5 higher.
As well as the rebellion leader thinking he is the #BrotherOfJesus, the rebellion is lead by the #Hakka, who I've heard refered to as the #NomadClan, or "#GuestPeople who may have offended the Emperor". Whereas they had lead a rebellion!

#thehouseofdoors #chinesehistory #taipingrebellion #brotherofjesus #hakka #nomadclan

skua @[email protected]

2024-08-24

1/?We're listening to the #Audiobook of #TheHouseOfDoors again.
The Prologue specifically.

The reader/performer is doing different voices for each character.

The prologue is in the first person.
Lesley appears to find the postman highly sexually desirable.
She "followed him with my EYES", and "he dismounted from his bicycle (underlined) and PROPPED IT against its kickstand".

The postman going from the accent performed is a Jamaican-Irishman. Called Johan.
Continued ...

#audiobook #thehouseofdoors

skua @[email protected]

2024-08-16

#ElderlyRelative is listening to #AudioBook #TheHouseOfDoors by #TanTwanEng.

Hmmm.
Why would the reader/performer of the prologue say "Droenfontein".
Isn't it #Doornfontein?

So now I've got ongoing doubts about the performer's faithfulness to the book and the accuracy of any emphasis they make in their speech.

Don't know how much audiobook performers get paid. Maybe it isn't enough to get correct pronounciation happening for unfamilar words?

And where is their editor?

#ConsumingIn2024

#elderlyrelative #audiobook #thehouseofdoors #tantwaneng #doornfontein #consumingin2024

Cassandra House of Priam @[email protected]

2023-08-13

Commencing the marathon of reading the #Booker long list this year with #TanTwanEng's #TheHouseOfDoors. I was unsure about this seemingly traditional historical novel but was beguiled and left totally satisfied by the end. It's poetic pages hold multiple layers of reflection on love, marriage, betrayal and the nature of writing. @bookstodon
Read the Booker Prize 2023 longlist: an extract from The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng | The Booker Prizes
https://thebookerprizes.com/the-booker-library/features/read-the-booker-prize-2023-longlist-an-extract-from-the-house-of-doors

#booker #tantwaneng #thehouseofdoors