In April, the two MCG book groups held their annual joint meeting to discuss Tash Aw’s The South. Largely inspired by the author’s own life and family, the novel is the first of a quartet. Its main character is Jay, an urban Chinese Malaysian boy who visits the run-down farm inherited by his mother. The novel is set during the summer of 1997, the year of the Asian financial crisis and a year-long drought. Over the course of the summer, Jay subtly morphs from being an awkward, insecure and observing outsider into a young man more at ease with his body, enjoying the physicality of labouring on the farm, swimming in the lake and living his much anticipated first sexual experience. In contrast, his family, which avoids discussing emotions or difficult matters, seems to slowly disintegrate, with the drought and the financial crisis exposing the family’s fragility- economic, emotional, and relational.

Tash Aw narrates The South in a mix of Jay’s first-person narration and third-person narration from Jay’s, his mother Sui’s and the farm manager Fong’s perspective, jumping between different moments during that summer, and each character’s memories. 

The group discussed how this choppy and confusing narration takes the readers out of their comfort zone, creating a parallel with Jay’s own inner confusion. We noted how it also broadens the story beyond Jay, taking the reader inside the struggles of his mother and of Fong, whose life is tied to the farm. The reader is constantly moving between empathy and observation. 

The discussion highlighted how the failing farm mirrors the parents’ sense of hopelessness as they navigate between job loss, lack of future and financial instability. The group was struck by how this contrasts with the vitality of the boys, their forays into the night market and the city’s night life. The group noted the boys’ different prospects and outlook on life, emphasising the likely transient nature of their love.

Our discussion also delved on the subtle portrait of Jay’s mother Sui who displayed impressive agency to extract herself from her rural poor background and ‘marry up’, only to go through post-partem depression and find herself totally dependent on her husband. 

After much deliberation the group rated the book 6/10 .

Review by Christina Gerstgrasser