Tash Aw’s most recent novel, The South, is the first of a quartet of novels about the Lims, a middle-class Malaysian Chinese family, set in 1997. This city family inherits a rundown farm in the rural south in an unnamed town near Singapore. The onetime flourishing land is a shadow of its former glory as the land suffers from drought, possibly from global warming. Diseased trees and devastating heat have destroyed the property. The Lims live in a flimsy farmhouse, a far cry from their air-conditioned city house.
The father, Jack, is in danger of losing his job teaching at the local college. The mother, Sui, inherits this property from the grandfather but acquiesces to her husband while trying to maintain the family of five, but the family is changing, and the children on the brink of adulthood are developing and branching out in new directions. Jay, the 16-year-old protagonist, is the youngest son with two slightly older sisters, Yin and Lina. In summer, he is sent out to work the land and finds himself attracted to the handsome 19-year-old Chuan, the son of the farm manager and his opposite in so many ways. They are compelled to share the same bedroom in the farmhouse, but despite their differences in class and education, sparks fly. They manage to bond by getting away to the closest rural town for Cantopop techno music, drinking, dancing, and clubbing.
The future of the farm is a burden to the father, Jack, who sees it as a vast money pit and a point of contention for the family as they try to break free of each other and break out on their own. There are moments of pure beauty and squalor, and gem-like prose that conjures languid heat and the stirring passion of two boys tearing off their clothes in the dark shade of a tamarind grove. Jay, the narrator, dreams of success and saving the farm and the livelihood of those who matter to him.
It will be interesting to see how the story develops for the Lim family in the coming books. Will Chuan and Jay be able to walk hand in hand in the big city? Will racism end for Malaysian Chinese? Can the Lim family bounce back from their setbacks? The epic saga will continue to unfold in future novels. Tash Aw is a Taiwan-born Malaysian Chinese writer educated in the United Kingdom and living in Paris. His previous writing includes the critically acclaimed novels Harmony Silk Factory and Five Star Billionaire, and a memoir, Strangers on a Pier, published in 2021. His writing has been translated into more than 20 languages.
