Li Lan is a young girl in postcolonial Malaya on the verge of becoming a woman, expecting marriage to an eligible young man. What she doesn't expect is to be wooed by a ghost, a young man from a prestigious family who has recently died and seeks her as his ghost bride in order to avenge his own death. Li Lan, however, has different desires, with her heart focused on the cousin of the dead man. When her hopes seem dashed because of financial obligations requiring she go through with the ghost marriage, Li Lan accidentally overdoses on opium, sending her into a half-life/half-death comatose state in which she travels the Valley of the Dead searching for answers to some of her most perplexing and curious ideas, unsure if she will be able to return to her body and her life.
The Ghost Bride is a wonderful tale that I am so glad found me after I read the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy as it filled in a lot of cultural knowledge gaps that the trilogy revealed to me. To be clear, The Ghost Bride is NOTHING like Crazy Rich Asians. Instead, the historical context of Li Lan's story of slippage between the world of the living and the world of the dead creates a rich backdrop to explore the intersections between faith, culture, the effects of colonialism, imagination, desire, and empowered choice. I found Li Lan to be a remarkably autonomous character despite her setting in which arranged marriages were more the norm. She is a spitfire who thinks and acts in ways to promote her own interests, while trying to protect those she loves.
I have to say that I read this on Audible and it was delightful to hear the author reading her own work. It's such a treat to know how the author meant to convey some ideas as I was able to hear it straight from her own mouth.
I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this book. Of course, anyone who knows me knows that historical fiction is my favorite genre. This book is remarkable and original. I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes historical fiction and is interested in Malayan (Malaysian) history and culture.
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