Official Review: Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator

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kwahu
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Official Review: Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator

Post by kwahu »

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator" by Penny Singham.]
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2 out of 4 stars
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Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator by Penny Singham is a historical fantasy novel that describes Malaysian history as well as her current state. Set in Malaysia, the story links to China, England, Japan, Australia, India, and others through its characters. The book depicts different cultural practices brought about by characters from diverse cultural backgrounds. This aspect is what grants the book the unique lustre it carries.

Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator revolve around the family of the main character, Dr. Ratnam an ex-surgeon nominated to be the Deputy Director of the Chief Medical Health office of Sembilang, Kuala Lumpur. Dr. Ratnam is a member of the immigrant families who arrived in Malaysia through legitimate employment by the British colonial government. Now that the British had gone granting independence to Malaysia, it became difficult for individuals who could not read and write in the Malay language to gain official employment and as a result, widespread racism prevailed in Malaysia. The story employs a ration of dark humour and depicts the predominant practice of witchcraft most of which surface when Dr. Ratnam's wife arranges for her daughter's marriage without her knowledge.

The themes discussed in the novel are culture, love, racism, murder and witchcraft. The theme of culture outshone all other themes since the author took substantial time to give an in-depth description of it. I suppose owing to the immigration of different races into Malaysia, the author had no choice but to paint a clear picture for the reader of the then "culture-infested" Malaysia which I believe he gave a good shot. Personally, I felt the book has two parts. The first part of the book has Dr. Ratnam as the protagonist whilst the protagonist in the second part is his daughter, Oormila. The book explains the effects of colonialism very well which includes but not limited to industrialization and cultural diversity. Malaysia (formerly Malaya) being the world's biggest producer of tin and rubber prompted the immigration of the Indians, Chinese, Japan and other races, many of whom came for business and employment in the rubber plantations.

The thing I disliked about the book is the poor editing that made it difficult to read. There were grammar and spelling errors, missing and wrongly used words. For instance, the author wrote: "that his mouth will be get glued," "with high slits on the both sides," "the saloon for their hair to be in styled in the latest trends," "saloon instead of salon," "Main instead of Mani (name of a person)"

Owing to the many errors I award the book 2 out of 4 stars. This is a great book and a good editing would have it scoring 4 stars. I recommend the book to scholars and historians.

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Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator
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kandscreeley
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Post by kandscreeley »

It's sad that this book has so many great themes and explains the effects of colonialism so well when it's so poorly edited. Even the example sentences you gave left me with a headache. I'd spend way too long puzzling over the true meaning of what the author was saying. Hopefully it can be edited, and then I would gladly look into reading it. Thanks.
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Caylie_Cat
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Post by Caylie_Cat »

It seems this book has a lot going for it, but could benefit from some intensive editorial scrutiny. The cross-cultural themes and historical information sounds very intriguing. Thanks for the great review!
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wendos
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Post by wendos »

I am intrigued by the cross-cultural themes discussed here. maybe the book could also have delved much on the other themes. It doesn't look good though that the book lacked professional editing.
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Post by evan1995muniz »

I do not generally like history type novels, it was always my worst subject in school as i could never remember anything (nor did i care but thats besides the point). It seems like a great concept of a story but it is not my type of read, thanks for the review though.
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