From the author of The Gift of Rain, another interesting historical novel. The prologue is set in South Africa in 1947 but the action is in Panang, Malaysia in 1921 in Part I. There Somerset Maugham with his same -sex companion travels the globe collecting stories about Sat yen-Sen and surreptitiously collecting information for MI -6, the British foreign intelligence agency. It was hardly a secret even at the time to those in the know by the time of his death. The stories are told in part by the married hostess of the group who gather in Panang, Malaysia.
Part Two is set in Panang in 1910, narrated by the same wife/teacher of a local lawyer who provides an interesting perspective on Dr. Sat yen Sen and the China of the era. But there is a lot of time shifting and a lot of discussion and speculation about marital infidelity that made it even more difficult than in The Gift Of Rain to keep the characters straight. The murder of a supposed rapist becomes even more complex when new revelations are found in the epilogue after the narrator has moved to South Africa. The symbolism of the House of Doors seems a bit weak to me. The two constants in the book are the life of the rebel Sat yen Sen who after many failures finally overthrew the Chinese empire of the day, and the life of Somerset Maugham with his homosexual partner as they wander the globe.
Not as good as The Gift of Rain, in my opinion, but still an interesting read. If I had to choose one or the other, I would choose The Gift of Rain.
6/10
Thanks, Book Browse.
The Passionate Reader 