Book reviews for Novels set in Asian culture

[Rictasmorticia]

I have recently read two excellent books and am interested in any recommendations for further reading for books set in Asian culture.

The first book was Before the Coffee gets Cold. A basement cafe in Japan has a magical chair where customers can travel back to a specific time. There are lots of rules before patrons can sit on the chair, one of which is that time is very limited. They only get to make the discovery between being served their coffee and before it gets cold. The characters we meet in the novel are all looking for answers. It is a very moving book.

The second is the Healing Seasons of Pottery. A young Korean woman looses her job. At a loose end, she wanders the streets and comes across a cafe that does pottery lessons. The people she meets throughout the year each have their own stories to tell. Through them she makes a voyage of self discovery. A gentle read with a happy outcome.

Ty. Just ordered Before the coffee from Borrowbox. Sounds intriguing.

I didn't like Before the Coffee Gets Cold because of the unbelievable decision one of the female characters makes, I thought that was obviously written by a man. However, I know the book is very popular, as are the sequels.

I would recommend the following Japanese literature if you want gentle novels about human relationships:
Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto
Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yōko Ogawa
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

The Gift Of Rain or The Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng both beautifully written

Build Your House Around My Body by Violet Kupersmith, set mostly in Saigon, is an astonishing and often challenging novel but I definitely recommend it.

Crying in H Mart is a memoir of being in Korean American, and the relationship between mother and daughter.

Amy Tan's books The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God's Wife and The Bonesetter's Daughter are all very good.

Obviously there's Wild Swans by Jung Chang. It's huge by it's regarded as a classic for a reason. Three generations of Chinese women through the 20th century.

South Asian or South East Asian?

South Asian - The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. She writes beautifully

Thank you for all of these

I didn't have time to post more earlier but this one was great: White Mulberry by Rosa Kwon Easton. Korean girl in 1930s Japan.

I came here to recommend Build Your House Around My Body and see someone has recommended it too - very unusual, I loved it and recommend it widely.

Love your taste @HeadyLamarr because Wild Swans was my favourite book in my teens/twenties and I must have read it 5 times.

Michiko Ayoama - What You Are Looking For Is In The Library is a particularly lovely book. Outside the 'iyashikei' genre I can recommend The Little House by Kyoko Nakajima, The Artist in the Floating World by Kazou Ishiguro & Deep River by Shusaku Endo (Endo is very good, but can be a bit bleak in places).

Thank you for all these suggestions.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, gripping family saga set in Korea and Japan
South by Tash Aw, coming of age story set in Malaysia
Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad, intertwining stories, partly historical and partly futuristic

Thank you so much. I have just ordered this from the library. This thread has opened me up to many new authors.

What decision was it. I am intrigued.

Highly recommend The house of doors by Tan Twan Eng - it’s set in 1920s British Malaya. I also liked The Vegetarian by Hang Kan.

Pachinko was by far the best book I read last year.

The decision to become pregnant, knowing it would kill her. It's nonsense, we're suppose to read it as romantic and tragic but what woman would seriously chose to do that, both to themselves and their putative child? It's a male fantasy.

Thanks. I had not thought of that

’Abroad on Japan’ - very readable (true) book about an English man teaching in Chinese schools, and his experiences, culture shocks, and everyday life.

Really enjoyable book.