Last Quadrant

by Meira Chand

English doctor Eva Kraig has spent her life making a home for abandoned children. Twenty years ago, she herself had adopted the illegitimate. half-American daughter of Kyo, an orphan who had grown up in the home and then turned to prostitution. Now Eva may lose her beloved Akiko, for Kyo - ravaged by time and drink - has returned to claim her grown daughter in the hope that Akiko will support her.As the winds intensify, so do the private struggles of the characters. When the storm abruptly switches course, trapping everyone inside the orphanage, Akiko finds herself stranded with her adoptive mother, the natural mother she has never known and a troubled young American who has fallen in love with her.In the brief calm of the typhoon's eye, the group leaves the battered orphanage to guide the staff and children to the comparative safety of a wealthy English couple's concrete house. There they must wait out the violence of the last quadrant - the wildest part of the storm. As the refugees draw together in a fight for survival, their perceptions of themselves and each other take on new dimensions - and the terrible night becomes a turning point for each of them.

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Meira Chand is of Indian-Swiss parentage and was born and educated in London at Putney High School. She studied art at St. Martin’s School of Art and later specialised in textile design at Hammersmith Art School. In 1962 she left England to settle in Japan with her Indian husband. Although she spent several years in India in the early 1970s, she afterwards returned again to live in Japan. In 1997 she moved to Singapore, where she currently lives.

The themes of Meira Chand’s novels explore the search for identity and belonging. Five of her novels, The Gossamer Fly, Last Quadrant, The Bonsai Tree, The Painted Cage and A Choice of Evils, are all set in Japan. Contemporary India is the location of House of the Sun that, in 1990, was adapted for the stage in London where it had a successful run at Theatre Royal Stratford East. Also set in India, but in Calcutta during the early days of the Raj, A Far Horizon considers the notorious story of the Black Hole of Calcutta. Her new novel, A Different Sky takes place against the backdrop of colonial pre-Independence Singapore. The book examines an era that includes the Second World War and the subsequent Japanese occupation of Singapore, and also the rise of post-war nationalism in Malaya.

Meira Chand is an associate member of the Centre for the Arts, National University of Singapore and has been Chairperson for the Commonwealth Writers Prize for the region of South East Asia and South Pacific. She is involved in several programmes in Singapore to encourage and mentor young writers and to raise awareness in the country to the pleasures of reading. She was most recently writer in residence at Mansfield College, Oxford and also at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Australia.

Reviews

[C.A. Simonsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An orphanage setting in Kobe, Japan. Just as the reader becomes acquainted with the story's primary characters and their personal struggles, a typhoon and tsunami wallop the city.

Reading Last Quadrant, I was reminded of Hugh MacLennan's Barometer Rising, published some forty years earlier. In both novels, the narrative is suddenly interrupted by physical catastrophe. In both cases, the reader is left wondering: Who will be injured? Who might be killed? How will the natural disaster (or man-made disaster) affect the characters' feelings and futures?

Overall, a worthwhile read.

[Clara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've finally completed the fifth book in this year, 'Last Quadrant' by Meira Chand. It was originally written in 1981 (my version has been updated) and it has got an elegant and descriptive way of writing. Meira chand's way of writing makes me able to enter the book's world, of writing makes me able to enter the book's world, which is simply wonderful. Before I tell you about my opinions, I shall. write to you a brief summary of the whole book.

This 233 pages novel sets in Kobe, at a small town where houses and an orphanage are. The story is seperated into three parts:

1. Kyo: This is the introduction part, where the main characters are shown through their daily lifes. (Pg 1 - Pg 93)

2. The storm: This is the middle part, where the typhoon arrives. Most of the main characters are together for shelter in the orphanage. (Pg 97 - 169)

3. The last quadrant: This is the final part, and also the final part of the typhoon. Due to the situation, the characters are forced to run to Geraldine and Maud's (two of the MCs) house. (Pg 173 - Pg 233)

Therefore, the story is mainly about the MCs internal battles during the typhoon.

"The terrible night becomes a turning point for each of the them."

Allow me to introduce to you the main characters.

1. Eva= One of the workers in the orphanage; Akiko's adoptive mother. In my opinion, she doesn't have a real character arc. She is just the "wise mother".

2. Akiko= One of the workers in the orphanage; Kyo's daughter and Eva's adoptive daughter. She is with Daniel at the end of the story.
Character arc:
1.Wondering who her mum is.
2. feeling disgusted at her prostitute mother, Kyo.
3.Remembers her dead mother with love, not hatred.

3.Kyo: Akiko's mother, ravaged by time, drink, and sex. She dies by getting crushed (somehow) or getting drowned by the flood. Like Era, she doesn't have a clear arc.

4. Daniel = Eva's Americian nephew who came to Japan to heal after a car accident. He falls in love with Akiko, and takes her back to Usa at the end.
Character arc:
1.Blaming himself for his friend's death during the accident.
2. Becoming healthier and stopped Self-blaming

5. Arthur= A man who lives in the town. To be honest, I've forgotten lots about him. He seems to have a relationship with kyo before she turned to prostitution.
character arc:
1. hates children
2. accepts children

6.Geraldine = Maud's daughter. She oftens ignores Maud's desperate calls, which angers me.
Character arc =
1. thinking old Maud as a burden
2. Missing Maud

7.Maud: An old woman who misses her mama and husbund very much. She dies by sucide at the end part.
Character arc =
1.staying in the past.
2.Going to where her loved ones are; being in peace.

8. Sister Elaine = One of the workers of the orphanage; from a church in Ireland.
Characacter arc:
1. questions whether the Lord is with her or not.
2. accepts Lord's way of doing.

The novel has a large amount of named characters, including the children in the orphanage, but I did not try to remember them. Some of the kids hare a simple character arcs (example: Kenichi is a quiet and hostile new kid. But he later is a bright and open boy).
I shall share with you my favourite lines=

1. " 'Akiko, Sometimes I like to hope you think of me'. She hacked it to bits with cries." -- Akito, upon kyo's death (pg 220)

2. "But she was falling." "But it did not matter, for she knew he would catch her. Already she saw him open his arms."
-- Maud's last moments (pg 223)

3. " 'You must not remember her with hate, Akiko. Life gave her the wrong hand, it wasn't her fault completely.' "
--Eva to Aiko (pg 230)

This book felt like one of the most meaningful novel I've ever read. According to google, the primary message behind 'Last Quadrant' is "internal transformation occurs when one is forced to confront their deepest selves during a crisis".

I feel sad that both Kyo and Maud die without having a heathy transformation, I've got nothing bad to talk about. I'll rate it 4.5 for it was rather slow at first.

[XR · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Last Quadrant is about the social circles of British expatriates in modern day Japan, and how these existing social boundaries shift and interact when a typhoon occurs.

Chand brings Japan to life with her vivid, lush writing that makes some scenes feel as if they were unfolding on a television screen. There are also plenty of nuggets of historical and cultural information that will delight readers in search of historical versimilitude. Chand also introduces a multifaceted cast of characters to illustrate the layers of nuance even within the expatriate community. It was quite an effort for me to familiarize myself with the number of characters introduced in Part 1, but I was glad I made the effort when the pace picked up in the later parts. Chand is skilled at clearly signposting where the story is going in a way that stands out even through the layers of descriptive detail. The plot is also tightly constructed, which kept me turning the pages quickly.

I would recommend this book for anyone interested in immersing themselves in a specific slice of history, as well as those interested in exploring how the natural world interacts with our social and cultural structures.

Disclaimer: I read and reviewed this book for a session where our writing group invited Meira for a discussion/Q&A.

[Alun]

wud like to read and re-read