Reviews

The Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

bookwrm526's review

adventurous emotional informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

pallavi_sharma87's review

4.0

4.5 star
Su Lin has lost her dream job, the secretary at Police shack to a dumb English girl named "Dolly Darling". Because a new associate from Crown (who thinks so!) Bernard Hemsworth deems it security risk for a local girl to work at a British colony's police department. Not only here, Bald Bernie (Bernard) has poked his nose in many such places and is hated by almost everyone.

The story changes when Su Lin and Dolly finds Bald Bernie dead in police departments' archive room. Who hated him that bad to have him killed?

Set in the backdrop of raising Indian nationalism, illegal diamonds, smuggling and Japanese propaganda, the story twists and turns in a way that the reader keeps guessing the climax. There were so many elements in it that revolved around a few murders. So can't call this a murder mystery, strictly speaking, yet immensely enjoyable.
Happy Reading!!

cherbear's review

4.0

***1/2

misspalah's review

hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

There are trees that are far more dangerous than the paper bark tree. The banyan, for instance. The colonials love it for its shade and for its aerial roots, so perfect for hanging Christmas decorations from. According to Mr Meganck, banyans grow from fig seeds that establish themselves on the treetops before launching roots that compete with the host tree for nutrients and eventually strangle it to death from the top down, even as they admire its size and enjoy its shade. Rather like our colonial rulers were doing to us.

• The paper bark tree mystery by Ovidia Yu

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Colonialism is never simple - so seeing the oversimplification of it in the book was frustrating. BUT if we are judging how Su Lin see the world and placed the blame entirely on her, we are also a tiny bit of being irrational. She was educated by the missionary ladies which at that time almost exclusively white considering the time and the place of it. She was raised to view and believe that white men can solved , lead and handled all things. However, she starting to see that it was not all true. She was being sidelined and removed from her position simply because she’s not white. She finally realised that this colonial government has always imposed a double standard on their subject. I know it was supposed to be a murder mystery but i think i was more focused on the racial divides itself - considering Europeans and Singaporeans co-existing but the other one was definitely in the upper echelons. Then, the war propaganda by Japan and its China’s invasion is spilling over to singapore. The Japanese claimed they wanted restore back what its rightful for Asian Countries from the British but forgot to mention that they are intending to do the same thing. The book foreshadowing Pre-World War 2 by highlighting the involvement of Indians with Japanese army. The fact that the author created character named Chirag Bose (which i assumed based on Shubas Chandra Bose) couldnt be more apt as he is stern nationalist,  has been preaching Indians to take back their motherland and branded as Terrorist by British is just way too coincidental. Thus the story proceeded with many of Su Lin’s friends whose Indians are being suspected and arrested by the British officer under the suspicion of aiding and abetting terrorist. The racism towards Indian was apparent and it was made clear how these colonisers viewed them. Up to the point, Prashanti , Su Lin’s friend felt she should just go back to India instead of staying here. Overall, it was a decent murder mystery story. I was just not invested enough in it. We have triple murder that linked together but both Su Lin and Captain Le Foy could not made sense the connection until the very last minute. I now truly believe that murder mystery is not my genre hence why i find it hard to enjoy the book. 

elusivesue's review

adventurous informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

jvilches's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

3.5

purlewe's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

4.25

Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu (#3 in the Crown Colony mysteries) Su Lin has been working in the Detective Shack but then Bernie takes over and she loses her job to a pretty white woman who seems more interested in her looks than in filing. Then Bernie is found dead. All of this is in the days leading up to WWII, The Japanese invasion of China, and India's fight for Independence. I don't want to give too much away except there is very little LeFoy in this book (I really like him) and there is of course a good reason but it makes for a lot of sleuthing on Su Lin's part. 

bphguyen's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

archytas's review against another edition

informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

In the Q&A published at the end of this book, Yu mentions she is keen to get this series into the war years, and I must admit, so increasingly am I: if for no other reason that that you feel the weight of what is coming, undermining the hopefulness of this series. Having said that, I enjoyed the background of this one - the entanglement of many characters with India, the class tensions in British 'sahibs', and the exploration - however quick - of the world of working white women. The mystery plots are not really the focus of Yu's writing, and here is perhaps subserviant to a broader plot involving the Indian independence movement, which at times ties clumsily into the murder.  Yu's writing is not puzzle-centric, and this is a series carried by the way it evokes a world, which she does very well.

alic59books's review against another edition

informative mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5