A review by misspalah
The Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

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.