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Certainty
Madeleine Thien's stunning debut novel hauntingly retells a crucial moment in history, through two unforgettable love stories.
Gail Lim, a producer of radio documentaries, is haunted by the mystery of her father's Asian past. As a child, Gail's father, Matthew Lim, lived in a Malaysian village occupied by the Japanese. He and his beloved Ani wandered the jungle fringe under the terrifying shadow of war. The war shattered their families, splitting the two apart until a brief reunion years later. Matthew's profound connection to Ani and the life-changing secrets they shared cast a shadow that, later still, Matthew's wife, Clara, desperately sought to understand. Gail's journey to unravel the mystery of her parents' lives takes her to Amsterdam, where she unearths more about this mysterious other woman. But as Gail approaches the truth, Ani's story will bring Gail face-to-face, with the untold mysteries of her own life.
Vivid, poignant, and written in understated yet powerful prose, Certainty is a novel about the legacies of loss, the dislocations of war, and the timeless redemption afforded by love.
Gail Lim, a producer of radio documentaries, is haunted by the mystery of her father's Asian past. As a child, Gail's father, Matthew Lim, lived in a Malaysian village occupied by the Japanese. He and his beloved Ani wandered the jungle fringe under the terrifying shadow of war. The war shattered their families, splitting the two apart until a brief reunion years later. Matthew's profound connection to Ani and the life-changing secrets they shared cast a shadow that, later still, Matthew's wife, Clara, desperately sought to understand. Gail's journey to unravel the mystery of her parents' lives takes her to Amsterdam, where she unearths more about this mysterious other woman. But as Gail approaches the truth, Ani's story will bring Gail face-to-face, with the untold mysteries of her own life.
Vivid, poignant, and written in understated yet powerful prose, Certainty is a novel about the legacies of loss, the dislocations of war, and the timeless redemption afforded by love.
311 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
17 people are currently reading
1327 people want to read
About the author
Madeleine Thien
37 books803 followersMadeleine Thien was born in Vancouver. She is the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001), and three novels, Certainty (2006); Dogs at the Perimeter (2011), shortlisted for Berlin’s International Literature Prize and winner of the Frankfurt Book Fair’s 2015 Liberaturpreis; and Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016), about musicians studying Western classical music at the Shanghai Conservatory in the 1960s, and about the legacy of the 1989 Tiananmen demonstrations. Her books and stories are published in Canada, the U.S., the U.K. and Australia, and have been translated into 25 languages.
Do Not Say We Have Nothing won the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2016 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and an Edward Stanford Prize; and was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize 2017. The novel was named a New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2016 and longlisted for a Carnegie Medal.
Do Not Say We Have Nothing won the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the 2016 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and an Edward Stanford Prize; and was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize, the 2017 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction, and The Folio Prize 2017. The novel was named a New York Times Critics’ Top Book of 2016 and longlisted for a Carnegie Medal.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews
June 3, 2018
Madeleine Thien first came to my attention when her brilliant third novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing was shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker prize. This one is her debut novel, which shows that most of the key ingredients that made it so special were there from the start.
This book is also ambitious and wide ranging - its events span five decades and four continents, from the north of Borneo during the Second World war through to modern Canada.
Once again Thien weaves a complex tapestry of the personal and the political - a moving family story that touches on many other elements and ideas.
We start with a doctor Ansel, grieving for his wife Gail who has died young a year earlier, and a dinner party he attends, given by her parents Matthew and Clara, which allows Thien to introduce many of the characters.
Each section of the book focuses on a different character. The second takes us to Matthew's childhood in Japanese occupied Sandakan in what is now the Malaysian part of Borneo. He and his friend Ani hide from Allied bombs in the jungle. When the Japanese leave, his father, who runs a rubber plantation, is killed because he has collaborated with them to avoid the prison camp where Ani's father died. Matthew and his mother are forced to flee.
I won't even attempt to summarise the rest of the plot, which touches on subjects as diverse as photography, tuberculosis, sound recording, cryptography and fractals, and takes us through Java, Hong Kong, Australia, Holland and eastern Europe. The central love stories are moving and the whole thing is very cleverly structured.
A debut novel that is well worth reading.
This book is also ambitious and wide ranging - its events span five decades and four continents, from the north of Borneo during the Second World war through to modern Canada.
Once again Thien weaves a complex tapestry of the personal and the political - a moving family story that touches on many other elements and ideas.
We start with a doctor Ansel, grieving for his wife Gail who has died young a year earlier, and a dinner party he attends, given by her parents Matthew and Clara, which allows Thien to introduce many of the characters.
Each section of the book focuses on a different character. The second takes us to Matthew's childhood in Japanese occupied Sandakan in what is now the Malaysian part of Borneo. He and his friend Ani hide from Allied bombs in the jungle. When the Japanese leave, his father, who runs a rubber plantation, is killed because he has collaborated with them to avoid the prison camp where Ani's father died. Matthew and his mother are forced to flee.
I won't even attempt to summarise the rest of the plot, which touches on subjects as diverse as photography, tuberculosis, sound recording, cryptography and fractals, and takes us through Java, Hong Kong, Australia, Holland and eastern Europe. The central love stories are moving and the whole thing is very cleverly structured.
A debut novel that is well worth reading.
December 11, 2025
En diferentes tiempos y lugares, “Certezas” narra la vida de cinco personas. Cuando niños, durante la ocupación japonesa que tuvo lugar durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial, Ani y Mathew vivían en Borneo, experimentando día a día las peores atrocidades que los seres humanos pueden hacerse los unos a los otros. La pérdida, la violencia y la muerte asolan cada parcela de su mundo. Años después, Mathew emigrará a Australia y allí conocerá a Clara, una estudiante proveniente de China. No tardarán mucho en enamorarse y tener una hija a la que llamarán Gail. Con el paso de las décadas y ya afincados en Canadá, deberán enfrentarse a la pérdida de esta hija, compartiendo su sufrimiento con el marido de esta, Ansel. La muerte y el duelo se convierten en el nexo de unión de todos estos momentos desordenados.
A través de las páginas de esta novela, la autora nos llevará de viaje por diferentes países: Malasia, Indonesia, Canadá o los Países Bajos, mientras seguimos la vida de estos cinco personajes y como sus destinos se cruzan en el camino. “Certezas” de Madeleine Thien no es una obra sencilla, ya que además de los temas duros que toca, centrados en la violencia y la muerte, y el posterior trauma que estas dejan en las personas que siguen adelante, también su forma de ser narrada la hace algo liosa, o al menos eso me ha parecido a mí. Cada capítulo sigue la visión de un personaje, pero lo hace sin ningún orden cronológico, ni estructura definida, y a veces da la sensación, sobre todo al principio, que todo es una especie de mezcla de recuerdos separados los unos de los otros, casi como si una persona se sentara delante tuya y te fuese contando los primeros recuerdos de su vida que le vinieran a la mente. Sin embargo, conforme la historia va avanzando el lector es capaz de ir creando el puzle casi completo de la historia de estos personajes y como se relacionan entre ellos.
La verdad es que esta forma tan peculiar de narrar los hechos hizo que me costara conectar con la historia y con los personajes en los primeros capítulos, especialmente por ese cambio constante del pasado al futuro. Quizás hubiera disfrutado más de una historia que se centrase en esa época de la ocupación japonesa en aquellos lugares de Asia sobre los que estoy menos acostumbrado a leer como Malasia o Indonesia, lo cual me parecía muy atrayente, y por eso la parte de la vida actual en Canadá se me hizo menos llamativa, pese a que habla de la muerte desde otra perspectiva, y no deja de ser interesante. Quizá, al ser la autora hija de emigrantes, padre malasio y madre china, me esperaba encontrar en la trama que tiene lugar en Occidente algo de choque cultural, un tema que siempre me atrapa, pero no ocurrió.
Curiosamente el personaje del que menos sabemos durante la gran parte de la novela es el que consiguió captar mi atención, y se trata de Ani, una niña que compartió amistad con Mathew cuando eran pequeños y que queda huérfana durante esta convulsa época. Desde las primeras páginas puedes ver la fortaleza de Ani, también su sabiduría y su resiliencia. Debo admitir que estuve todo el tiempo deseando saber más de ella y, para mi gusto, la autora tardó demasiado en darnos más detalles sobre este personaje. Finalmente lo hace, pero creo que la historia hubiera ganado mucho si Ani y, tal vez, Mathew hubieran sido el centro de la misma, y así haber indagado más en sus sentimientos y en sus vivencias, dejando al resto de personajes en un segundo plano. O al menos esa es la sensación que me ha dejado.
Por este desorden a la hora de contar la historia y que las partes que más me gustaron de la obra no tuvieran el protagonismo principal de la historia, quizás la obra se me ha quedado a medio camino. Me ha gustado, especialmente lo bien escrita que está y lo profunda que es, incluso he tomado nota de muchas reflexiones que hacen los personajes, pero la he finalizado con la sensación de que tenía todos los ingredientes para ser uno de esos libros que me afectan, que se meten dentro de mí y ya no me abandonan, pero siento que va a conseguir quedarse en mi recuerdo como un buen libro, muy bien escrito, que me gustó, pero que no terminó de rematar. Eso sí, tengo muchas ganas de seguir leyendo la obra de la autora, porque la cosa pinta bien.
A través de las páginas de esta novela, la autora nos llevará de viaje por diferentes países: Malasia, Indonesia, Canadá o los Países Bajos, mientras seguimos la vida de estos cinco personajes y como sus destinos se cruzan en el camino. “Certezas” de Madeleine Thien no es una obra sencilla, ya que además de los temas duros que toca, centrados en la violencia y la muerte, y el posterior trauma que estas dejan en las personas que siguen adelante, también su forma de ser narrada la hace algo liosa, o al menos eso me ha parecido a mí. Cada capítulo sigue la visión de un personaje, pero lo hace sin ningún orden cronológico, ni estructura definida, y a veces da la sensación, sobre todo al principio, que todo es una especie de mezcla de recuerdos separados los unos de los otros, casi como si una persona se sentara delante tuya y te fuese contando los primeros recuerdos de su vida que le vinieran a la mente. Sin embargo, conforme la historia va avanzando el lector es capaz de ir creando el puzle casi completo de la historia de estos personajes y como se relacionan entre ellos.
La verdad es que esta forma tan peculiar de narrar los hechos hizo que me costara conectar con la historia y con los personajes en los primeros capítulos, especialmente por ese cambio constante del pasado al futuro. Quizás hubiera disfrutado más de una historia que se centrase en esa época de la ocupación japonesa en aquellos lugares de Asia sobre los que estoy menos acostumbrado a leer como Malasia o Indonesia, lo cual me parecía muy atrayente, y por eso la parte de la vida actual en Canadá se me hizo menos llamativa, pese a que habla de la muerte desde otra perspectiva, y no deja de ser interesante. Quizá, al ser la autora hija de emigrantes, padre malasio y madre china, me esperaba encontrar en la trama que tiene lugar en Occidente algo de choque cultural, un tema que siempre me atrapa, pero no ocurrió.
Curiosamente el personaje del que menos sabemos durante la gran parte de la novela es el que consiguió captar mi atención, y se trata de Ani, una niña que compartió amistad con Mathew cuando eran pequeños y que queda huérfana durante esta convulsa época. Desde las primeras páginas puedes ver la fortaleza de Ani, también su sabiduría y su resiliencia. Debo admitir que estuve todo el tiempo deseando saber más de ella y, para mi gusto, la autora tardó demasiado en darnos más detalles sobre este personaje. Finalmente lo hace, pero creo que la historia hubiera ganado mucho si Ani y, tal vez, Mathew hubieran sido el centro de la misma, y así haber indagado más en sus sentimientos y en sus vivencias, dejando al resto de personajes en un segundo plano. O al menos esa es la sensación que me ha dejado.
Por este desorden a la hora de contar la historia y que las partes que más me gustaron de la obra no tuvieran el protagonismo principal de la historia, quizás la obra se me ha quedado a medio camino. Me ha gustado, especialmente lo bien escrita que está y lo profunda que es, incluso he tomado nota de muchas reflexiones que hacen los personajes, pero la he finalizado con la sensación de que tenía todos los ingredientes para ser uno de esos libros que me afectan, que se meten dentro de mí y ya no me abandonan, pero siento que va a conseguir quedarse en mi recuerdo como un buen libro, muy bien escrito, que me gustó, pero que no terminó de rematar. Eso sí, tengo muchas ganas de seguir leyendo la obra de la autora, porque la cosa pinta bien.
November 23, 2008
If I wasn't so obsessed with keeping my books in such pristine condition, I would have read this book with a highlighter in hand, ready to set apart those passages that demonstrate the written word as a true art form. There were many, some that moved me to tears, which hasn't happened since I read The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, one of my favourite books of all time.
Thien clearly has enormous talent; as stated on the back of the book, Thien has a flair for imagery, and I wholeheartedly agree. This book is incredibly sad but meaningfully so, and I believe it's a testament to how people can somehow find a way to move on after the most tragic events. At the same time Thien manages to describe the most mundane events to the point where they become extraordinary and beautiful in their regularity.
I can definitely understand why this book won the Amazon/Books for Everybody First Novel Award. Thien is a talent that should be recognized for years to come, and I'm proud this book has been added to the Can Lit roster.
Thien clearly has enormous talent; as stated on the back of the book, Thien has a flair for imagery, and I wholeheartedly agree. This book is incredibly sad but meaningfully so, and I believe it's a testament to how people can somehow find a way to move on after the most tragic events. At the same time Thien manages to describe the most mundane events to the point where they become extraordinary and beautiful in their regularity.
I can definitely understand why this book won the Amazon/Books for Everybody First Novel Award. Thien is a talent that should be recognized for years to come, and I'm proud this book has been added to the Can Lit roster.
June 5, 2017
I was at the 2017 Baileys shortlist group reading in London, ahead of the winning book announcement. I overheard the comment that the reading style, body language, and general interaction of the authors with their fellow finalists, and their audience, is a good marker for the writing style that each brings to their craft.
That's certainly true of Madeleine Thien who is such a gentle, giving and sincere person. Certainty , her first novel is a gentle, rather sad, story. It's one centred around loving relationships, whose sadnesses are the consequence of ill fated circumstances rather than human selfishness.
Some of the themes that have brought Thien to a wider audience in Do Not Say We Have Nothing are also explored here. Canada, Thien' s own adopted country of residence, is geographically and spiritually far removed from the Far East in which much of Certainty is set.
Thien writes movingly about one's familial country of origin and of cultural identity; the playgrounds of childhood memories. The human displacement brought about by war and regime change is a sorrowful experience that millions of forced migrants continue to experience today.
Thien borrows from Nietzsche: "The ability to forget is what brings us peace" (85)
Certainty is an uncomplicated, wistful novel that doesn't have the greater ambition and sweep of the authors later works. It's a good introduction into the subject matter of global diasporas.
That's certainly true of Madeleine Thien who is such a gentle, giving and sincere person. Certainty , her first novel is a gentle, rather sad, story. It's one centred around loving relationships, whose sadnesses are the consequence of ill fated circumstances rather than human selfishness.
Some of the themes that have brought Thien to a wider audience in Do Not Say We Have Nothing are also explored here. Canada, Thien' s own adopted country of residence, is geographically and spiritually far removed from the Far East in which much of Certainty is set.
Thien writes movingly about one's familial country of origin and of cultural identity; the playgrounds of childhood memories. The human displacement brought about by war and regime change is a sorrowful experience that millions of forced migrants continue to experience today.
Thien borrows from Nietzsche: "The ability to forget is what brings us peace" (85)
Certainty is an uncomplicated, wistful novel that doesn't have the greater ambition and sweep of the authors later works. It's a good introduction into the subject matter of global diasporas.
February 21, 2017
Do Not Say We Have Nothing is the best novel I've ever read, so I was interested (and a little nervous) to read this, Thien's debut novel. I loved it so much too! Of course it's not the masterpiece that DNSWHN is, but Thien sensitively explores many of the same themes here: grief, war, and displacement tearing families and psyches asunder, an intercontinental love triangle, a near-indecipherable diary. DNSWHN was no fluke. I'm calling it: Thien is my favorite novelist.
July 23, 2024
Is this book really a debut? I haven’t read such a well written heart breaking book in a while! Read the book in one sitting as I couldn’t put it down. Who knew trying out a chapter or two would lead to reading the entire book!
Certainty by Madeleine Thien has been on my shelves for years now. I seriously do not understand why I did not pick it up as soon as I got the book!
I would definitely say this historical fiction based on two generations’ love stories. One generation is based during the times of a Malaysian village occupied by the Japanese which I would say was quite triggering to read.
I would say the plot is handled well till the end. It stands out from the rest of similar stories I have read before and I would definitely say this book is so much better than the new historical war fiction books that are popular.
The story is about a woman who’s looking into her Asian father’s life which leads her to face the difficult times ultimately resulting in shattering families, dislocation and loss.
The writing is beautiful and made me quite emotional throughout.
Such an underrated gem.
Certainty by Madeleine Thien has been on my shelves for years now. I seriously do not understand why I did not pick it up as soon as I got the book!
I would definitely say this historical fiction based on two generations’ love stories. One generation is based during the times of a Malaysian village occupied by the Japanese which I would say was quite triggering to read.
I would say the plot is handled well till the end. It stands out from the rest of similar stories I have read before and I would definitely say this book is so much better than the new historical war fiction books that are popular.
The story is about a woman who’s looking into her Asian father’s life which leads her to face the difficult times ultimately resulting in shattering families, dislocation and loss.
The writing is beautiful and made me quite emotional throughout.
Such an underrated gem.
June 9, 2020
اليقين......مادلين ثين
ت\مصطفى ناصر
غريب أن تكون مثل هذا العمل رواية أولى لصاحبتها، ذلك التدفق في السرد والتوصيف، مع إلمام بالغ بأعماق البشر، وهموم واضحة جدا بين ثنايا السطور، كل هذا نادرا ما يتوفر في عمل (أول) بمثل هذا الرهافة والدقة، وللحق فإن اقتران الأدب النسوي (الجيد) وكندا شيء محير، فأصبحت هذه الدولة الباردة منبع للكتابة النسوية الجيدة، سواء كانت لسكان أصليين أو مهاجرين إليها.
هذه ثاني مرة أقرأ للكاتبة من أصل ماليزي، وتجربتي الأولى معها كانت من خلال روايتها الشهيرة( لا تقولوا أننا لا نملك شيئا) وكانت تجربة عظيمة لروائية جعلت من الشتات والاغتراب أبطال ومحور لأحداث روائية جذابة، تستطيع أن تناقش فيها قضايا الإنسان الكبرى، وقد ضمنت لها تجربتها الحياتية الصدق الكافي وسرعة الوصول للقاريء، لأنها تكتب بلا تكلف و تعرض أفكارها ببساطة ووضوح.
المهم أننا أمام رواية من 9 فصول، كل فصل مستقل بنفسه، مكوّنا مع باقي الفصول شبكة قوية متصلة، وعندما تنتهي منها ستعرف أن كل فصل يمثابة جزء في الكيان الروائي الذي أرادته الكاتبة أن تكون، 9 فصول يبدو واضح منها انشغال الكاتبة الأكبربالتاريخ، ويبدو هذا مفهوما حين نعرف خلفيتها التاريخية، كفتاة من أسرة صينية مهاجرة من ماليزيا، أسرة عاصرت أهم التحولات في شرق العالم من ثورات ثقافية وديكتاتورية حكم الفرد، فتكتب كأنها تهدي إبداعها لتلك الأسرة البسيطة، ولاسيما أبيها، والذي يبدوا حضوره واضحا بقوة في أدبها.
الرواية جيدة، بحس الاغتراب الداخلي والاهتمام بتقلبات الزمن وتأثيرها على الشخصيات ومراقبة التحولات التي تطولها، وترجمتها ممتازة وبليغة.
ت\مصطفى ناصر
غريب أن تكون مثل هذا العمل رواية أولى لصاحبتها، ذلك التدفق في السرد والتوصيف، مع إلمام بالغ بأعماق البشر، وهموم واضحة جدا بين ثنايا السطور، كل هذا نادرا ما يتوفر في عمل (أول) بمثل هذا الرهافة والدقة، وللحق فإن اقتران الأدب النسوي (الجيد) وكندا شيء محير، فأصبحت هذه الدولة الباردة منبع للكتابة النسوية الجيدة، سواء كانت لسكان أصليين أو مهاجرين إليها.
هذه ثاني مرة أقرأ للكاتبة من أصل ماليزي، وتجربتي الأولى معها كانت من خلال روايتها الشهيرة( لا تقولوا أننا لا نملك شيئا) وكانت تجربة عظيمة لروائية جعلت من الشتات والاغتراب أبطال ومحور لأحداث روائية جذابة، تستطيع أن تناقش فيها قضايا الإنسان الكبرى، وقد ضمنت لها تجربتها الحياتية الصدق الكافي وسرعة الوصول للقاريء، لأنها تكتب بلا تكلف و تعرض أفكارها ببساطة ووضوح.
المهم أننا أمام رواية من 9 فصول، كل فصل مستقل بنفسه، مكوّنا مع باقي الفصول شبكة قوية متصلة، وعندما تنتهي منها ستعرف أن كل فصل يمثابة جزء في الكيان الروائي الذي أرادته الكاتبة أن تكون، 9 فصول يبدو واضح منها انشغال الكاتبة الأكبربالتاريخ، ويبدو هذا مفهوما حين نعرف خلفيتها التاريخية، كفتاة من أسرة صينية مهاجرة من ماليزيا، أسرة عاصرت أهم التحولات في شرق العالم من ثورات ثقافية وديكتاتورية حكم الفرد، فتكتب كأنها تهدي إبداعها لتلك الأسرة البسيطة، ولاسيما أبيها، والذي يبدوا حضوره واضحا بقوة في أدبها.
الرواية جيدة، بحس الاغتراب الداخلي والاهتمام بتقلبات الزمن وتأثيرها على الشخصيات ومراقبة التحولات التي تطولها، وترجمتها ممتازة وبليغة.
October 3, 2017
3.5 stars. The main problem with this book is that it’s overly ambitious. It jumps from character to character, present to past, and country to country to tie together storylines about love, trauma, and unwieldy memories. As a consequence, most of the characters end up flat and forgettable. But the thing that makes this book special is the main “present” storyline, which examines the loss of a young woman with understated, incredible beauty. One of the best portraits of grief I’ve ever read. And as in all of Thien’s books, you can trust that the writing will be fluid, elegant, and chip away at the pieces of your heart. Not a perfect book, but still lovely.
March 7, 2025
crazy to read dnswhn then dogs at the perimeter then the books of record then certainty… something abt the very clear searching crystallization of the themes thien is interested in starting from her debut is so dear and touching idk
February 2, 2021
What a debut novel. Wonderful writing and plot
Was pretty easy to follow along with all the main characters as they weaved their way through the years and various story lines. It could have been me, put at times I had to re-read a paragraph or two to see which character was talking and what time frame it was.
I really enjoyed Gail's point of view throughout the book and especially when she went over to Holland to meet up with Sipke and the multitude of wives and husbands marriages and their lives together.
Obviously the war-time stories were well researched and heat-breaking to read about; and yet more world history I did not know about - or perhaps even forgot.
Recommended for those who like historical fiction and want to discover a wonderful Canadian author.
Was pretty easy to follow along with all the main characters as they weaved their way through the years and various story lines. It could have been me, put at times I had to re-read a paragraph or two to see which character was talking and what time frame it was.
I really enjoyed Gail's point of view throughout the book and especially when she went over to Holland to meet up with Sipke and the multitude of wives and husbands marriages and their lives together.
Obviously the war-time stories were well researched and heat-breaking to read about; and yet more world history I did not know about - or perhaps even forgot.
Recommended for those who like historical fiction and want to discover a wonderful Canadian author.
December 1, 2017
I have not always been thrilled by the list put out by the CBC of the Top 100 Canadian Books. I mean, I'll read the whole thing if it kills me, but the list itself was far to heavily weighted towards books that had come out in the five years before it was compiled. And so, many of the books on it have left me a little baffled as to why they're there, other than that they're recent, and it probably pleased the publishers.
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
Note: The rest of this review has been withheld due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook
April 17, 2020
"So many things, he thinks that we carry all our lives, in the hope that what we know will finally redeem us, that we will find something that abides, even know, in the indefinite, the uncertain, hereafter." - Certainty (2006), by Madeleine Thien
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My first read in 2020 is what I would describe as a book of heartbreakingly beautiful quotes. Years ago, I read Thien's relatively well-known Man Booker-shortlisted "Do Not Say We Say Nothing" (2016) and was astonished by how masterful and effortless she is in weaving her characters' traumatic experiences resulted from the infamous Cultural Revolution. In Thien's debut novel "Certainty" which is mostly set in two historical eras, i.e. the Japanese Occupation of Borneo and Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation, the author seems to be asking the question: In the face of hardships, is there anything certain in one's life? Can one's sense of certainty be reclaimed years after it's long gone due to one's excruciating experiences living within the uncertainty of political turmoil? However, the eroding sense of uncertainty in the old generation ultimately propels the new, young, and curious generation to rediscover and relieve their parents' buried painful wartime memories. It is definitely not easy to summarise the issues and sentiments illustrated in this novel. What cannot be denied is that it is an epic tour de force. Crossing four continents (Borneo, Indonesia, Canada, and Netherlands), I would highly recommend it to those who like intergenerational, intercultural, as well as wartime narratives.
______
My first read in 2020 is what I would describe as a book of heartbreakingly beautiful quotes. Years ago, I read Thien's relatively well-known Man Booker-shortlisted "Do Not Say We Say Nothing" (2016) and was astonished by how masterful and effortless she is in weaving her characters' traumatic experiences resulted from the infamous Cultural Revolution. In Thien's debut novel "Certainty" which is mostly set in two historical eras, i.e. the Japanese Occupation of Borneo and Indonesian-Malaysian confrontation, the author seems to be asking the question: In the face of hardships, is there anything certain in one's life? Can one's sense of certainty be reclaimed years after it's long gone due to one's excruciating experiences living within the uncertainty of political turmoil? However, the eroding sense of uncertainty in the old generation ultimately propels the new, young, and curious generation to rediscover and relieve their parents' buried painful wartime memories. It is definitely not easy to summarise the issues and sentiments illustrated in this novel. What cannot be denied is that it is an epic tour de force. Crossing four continents (Borneo, Indonesia, Canada, and Netherlands), I would highly recommend it to those who like intergenerational, intercultural, as well as wartime narratives.
July 3, 2016
After all the discussion about this book on the CBC Goodreads page, as well as other sites I finally got a chance to read it! The novel is beautifully written, tells a compelling story about the war in North Borneo, as well as side side stories about immigration, radio documentaries, and a few love stories. My issue was that I felt very removed from all of the characters because the narrative voice kept changing voices. Despite the love stories I was somewhat unmoved, and that bothered me. I found the story of the conditions under Japanese control compelling, but the details did not feel complete. A story of a coded diary, another of another character of Dutch descent all made things more scattered and took away from the main story.
May 27, 2008
Ah - award winning Can Lit. Yawn. If it is multi-ethnic, multi-generational, is written poetically and is dull as dishwater - bring on the Canadian Writing Awards! Of course I love Canadian writing but this is SO completely Can Lit pleasing and not interesting at all. The only bits I liked were the ones set in Strathcona because I recognized the neighborhood.
January 8, 2018
I adore this book. Although I've just finished it I already know I'll read it again. Thien again works her masterful storytelling and unearthly grasp of both the art of writing and the complexity of human emotion with seamless grace and fluidity. Her stories are complicated, but her characters are breathtakingly vulnerable and accessible. Genius.
August 3, 2021
Het is lastig onder woorden te brengen, maar het heeft me ontzettend geraakt. Ik denk dat het vooral komt doordat het gaat om leven met het afwezige aanwezig. Leven terwijl verdriet je on-levend maakt. En dat allemaal heel gelaagd, heel mooi. Het trekt je niet bij de enkels naar de bodem, maar laat je juist je ogen opslaan als je ergens in het midden dreef.
September 1, 2019
Sau khi đọc "Đừng nói chúng ta không lợi quyền" thích quá nên lôi cuốn này ra đọc nè. Madeleine Thien thích kể về sự đứt gãy của cuộc sống bởi chiến tranh và bóng ma của quá khứ, câu chuyện kéo dài từ Đông sang Tây với những xáo trộn về văn hóa và nội tâm nhân vật. Sẽ đọc những cuốn còn lại của cô.
August 26, 2025
This is one of the most impressive novels I have read in a long time.
Thien takes us to unfamiliar places, starting with Vancouver, Canada, where the novel is rooted: Borneo, Indonesia, and northern Holland. She also takes us to historical moments we can't be expected to know about: the Japanese occupation of British North Borneo in World War II, Jakarta at the time of Sukarno's fall. Thien clearly did a lot of research in order to write this (as is confirmed in the acknowledgments at the end), but her treatment of the history is never heavy-handed.
The characters have complex connections among themselves, deep love for one another, and unending grief. A lot of their thoughts and feelings about time - the way the past and future live in the present - are subtle, hard to understand sometimes, but very thought-provoking. She does a very convincing job in imagining and writing vividly about the impressions and emotions of her characters. Most importantly, she makes us care about them.
Thien takes us to unfamiliar places, starting with Vancouver, Canada, where the novel is rooted: Borneo, Indonesia, and northern Holland. She also takes us to historical moments we can't be expected to know about: the Japanese occupation of British North Borneo in World War II, Jakarta at the time of Sukarno's fall. Thien clearly did a lot of research in order to write this (as is confirmed in the acknowledgments at the end), but her treatment of the history is never heavy-handed.
The characters have complex connections among themselves, deep love for one another, and unending grief. A lot of their thoughts and feelings about time - the way the past and future live in the present - are subtle, hard to understand sometimes, but very thought-provoking. She does a very convincing job in imagining and writing vividly about the impressions and emotions of her characters. Most importantly, she makes us care about them.
October 19, 2018
This is the first full novel that Madeleine Thien wrote but the third of hers that I've read. Her books are each based around traumatic events set in Asian history but are written so poetically that the event becomes just the background setting for a beautiful story. The traumatic event for this book takes place during and after Japanese occupation of Malaysia and Indonesia. Thien, also, writes very complicated stories that go back and forth from past and present and involve multiple characters but she is able to keep it cohesive and has the strands all converge in the end. The thing that attracts me to her books, however, is her magnificent poetic prose. For example, how many ways, do you suppose, can someone say that a light rain is falling in Vancouver. I'm sure there must be hundreds if not thousands of ways to say it but how many people would say "In Vancouver, there are many varieties of rain,but the most common, he believes, is the kind that tries to convince you it isn't there, the kind that is so thin it makes the windshield squeak". I know of only one and that is Madeleine Thien. This is the type of phrasing that stops me in my tracks and makes me reread it over and over again. Yet this is only one sentence in a book full of similar examples. Her writing is amazing!
July 27, 2007
At its most essential, Canadian writer Madeleine Thien's resonant, richly textured first novel, Certainty, explores questions of how possible it is to know another person, even a person we love, and how to live with that uncertainty.
Beginning in present-day Vancouver with Ansel, a physician wracked with grief and guilt after the untimely death of his 39-year-old partner, Gail, Certainty unfolds through overlapping narratives that follow twining streams of memory to North Borneo during the brutal Japanese occupation of the 1940s to Jakarta in the 1960s, to the Netherlands and back to Vancouver. Thien's characters are people with pasts complicated—or, in some cases, nearly annihilated—by war and its dislocations and, in the second generation, by the reverberations of war. There are holes in these characters' lives—mysteries, secrets, infidelities—and with each change in view, one hole is mended while another tears open. Many seek to understand their lives and connect with others through the beautiful ambiguities of art, others through the sureties of science.
You can read the rest of my review of this book here:
http://www.waterbridgereview.org/0320...
Beginning in present-day Vancouver with Ansel, a physician wracked with grief and guilt after the untimely death of his 39-year-old partner, Gail, Certainty unfolds through overlapping narratives that follow twining streams of memory to North Borneo during the brutal Japanese occupation of the 1940s to Jakarta in the 1960s, to the Netherlands and back to Vancouver. Thien's characters are people with pasts complicated—or, in some cases, nearly annihilated—by war and its dislocations and, in the second generation, by the reverberations of war. There are holes in these characters' lives—mysteries, secrets, infidelities—and with each change in view, one hole is mended while another tears open. Many seek to understand their lives and connect with others through the beautiful ambiguities of art, others through the sureties of science.
You can read the rest of my review of this book here:
http://www.waterbridgereview.org/0320...
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May 2, 2024i wish i had read this during a less busy period of my life. thien's novels span decades and continents and contain a dozen characters, so even at the best of times (like in her most recent and best work, Do Not Say We Have Nothing), razor sharp focus is needed to parse through the story. still, this was impactful, and it was interesting to see how the main themes of her bibliography (family ties, grief, lost chances, immigration, war, history and art) are present in her debut, some of them not even in an embryonic form, but fully fledged, written with the confidence and ability of an already established author. my one criticism is it's much more difficult to jump around the mass of characters here compared to her later work. still, she makes most of them work, crafting people the reader can empathize with in the span of (at times) a few sentences. the prose, as always, is perfect. i'll definitely have to reread this in the future.
September 28, 2015
Re-read this Aug 26-27, 2015. Such beautiful writing on every page. And the threads of story woven and interwoven are complex and richly textured. And in addition, the tone is so poetic and lush.
Favorite passages:
There is the understanding that she is no longer here, that it was sudden and irrevocable, but this understanding is one moment spread over a thousand hours, a continuous thought that tries to forget itself. And then, when that fails, to bargain, to change everything, to fall asleep and go back to another point in time.
In her own life, Clara has witnessed acts of selflessness, of empathy, whose motivations she does not doubt. She knows that a single act, a choice, can transform all that came before.
When she first met him more than forty years ago, they had been drawn to one another because of their differences. One the surface, they had been north and south, light and dark. Back then, he had carried a hollow within himself, a grief that he could not share. To each other, they had seemed the way out, the path that leads along the river, finally opening on to the sea.
He remembers the gentleness of his mother's hand in his hair, how when she stepped back from him, the imprint remained, a weight, a memory against his skin.
Inside the crater, no wind blew. Outside, on solid ground, there were strips of shade and light, but in her the light turned strange, almost liquid. there were no plants, nothing that grew. The bottom of the crater curved up like a boat, a hollow in which he and Ani could rest. In here, he, too, became something else, his body so insubstantial it seemed a memory of itself. Only by removing himself completely from the crater, by climbing carefully back over the lip could he become whole once more.
In the decades that followed, he returned only twice, both times thinking that he could find a reason, a person who could bind them together, contain his memories, finally.
X
X
She seemed to want change, within herself, between them, and she believed all things were possible. She said that the past is not static, our memories fold and bend, we change with every step taken into the future.
She believes in the present moment, that a decision made now can shift the balance, the every act realigns the past. Imagine it this way, she had told Matthew. It is like walking across a vast field as the sun rises, burns and slowly falls. The shadows around us change depending on which direction we walk, what steps we choose to take.
He said that in Tawau, those memories had begun to fade. He did not know how such a thing was possible, but the past had become like a book submerged in water, the ink running across the lines, all the detail lost.
She shut her ears to the disbelief in his voice, to her own grief. She told him that they were alike, two pieces of the same puzzle, but in the end, if you laid them down beside each other, you'd see an empty space, the jagged edges. And in this space, she knew there was no oxygen, no relief. It was a place they had made together when they were children. They had filled it with all the things they wanted to forget, a landscape of craters and bodies. She said that their feelings for one another had blinded them to the truth, what lay between them was too far-reaching, too vast. They could not hold it or push it down.
He kisses her, and she knows, somehow, that he is asking for help, for an end to the sadness they are causing one another. Asking because, after all these years together, it is the only thing that might save them.
He and Ani had moved easily between Dutch, English and Indonesian; they had many languages within their reach....He believes that the human body has some other means of communicating, some way that is yet to be categorized by science, or by language itself.
They both had to have the truth between them, to understand what had been lost, to know how to go forward.
The space between them grew, expanding out, until she seemed as insubstantial, as ghostly as the dust in the light. She stepped away, releasing his hand so gently that he almost missed the moment when it slipped from his.
She listened to their voices, this knitting together, felt as if she were balanced within, a soul sheltered between the past and the present.
When they parted, he left as if he would be seeing them again, shaking Wideh's hand, then putting his lips to the boy's hair. She knew that what she and Matthew had shared in childhood had carried them safely through, a net where all other lines had been torn away. All these years, the net had held. His eyes rested on Ani's face. They said goodbye to one another, and then he stepped away from them. She saw what he had given her, the one thing her parents had been unable to do, prepare her for this parting, this letting go.
For a moment, the future comes to her, as vivid and clear as a memory fading. The highway rises onto a plateau, the land falls away.
x
He said to Gail that sometimes the past could not be made right, not every experience could be made to fit. "I left Sandakan believing that I had to push pieces of my life away. I thought the worst thing would be to lose a sense of balance, to fall. This is how it seemed to me. But I was wrong to hold." He hesitated, but something in her expression pushed him to continue. "I never told you how your mother saved me."
So many thing, he thinks, that we carry all our lives, in the hope that what we know will finally redeem us, that we will find something that abides, even now, in the indefinite, the uncertain, hereafter.
Favorite passages:
There is the understanding that she is no longer here, that it was sudden and irrevocable, but this understanding is one moment spread over a thousand hours, a continuous thought that tries to forget itself. And then, when that fails, to bargain, to change everything, to fall asleep and go back to another point in time.
In her own life, Clara has witnessed acts of selflessness, of empathy, whose motivations she does not doubt. She knows that a single act, a choice, can transform all that came before.
When she first met him more than forty years ago, they had been drawn to one another because of their differences. One the surface, they had been north and south, light and dark. Back then, he had carried a hollow within himself, a grief that he could not share. To each other, they had seemed the way out, the path that leads along the river, finally opening on to the sea.
He remembers the gentleness of his mother's hand in his hair, how when she stepped back from him, the imprint remained, a weight, a memory against his skin.
Inside the crater, no wind blew. Outside, on solid ground, there were strips of shade and light, but in her the light turned strange, almost liquid. there were no plants, nothing that grew. The bottom of the crater curved up like a boat, a hollow in which he and Ani could rest. In here, he, too, became something else, his body so insubstantial it seemed a memory of itself. Only by removing himself completely from the crater, by climbing carefully back over the lip could he become whole once more.
In the decades that followed, he returned only twice, both times thinking that he could find a reason, a person who could bind them together, contain his memories, finally.
X
X
She seemed to want change, within herself, between them, and she believed all things were possible. She said that the past is not static, our memories fold and bend, we change with every step taken into the future.
She believes in the present moment, that a decision made now can shift the balance, the every act realigns the past. Imagine it this way, she had told Matthew. It is like walking across a vast field as the sun rises, burns and slowly falls. The shadows around us change depending on which direction we walk, what steps we choose to take.
He said that in Tawau, those memories had begun to fade. He did not know how such a thing was possible, but the past had become like a book submerged in water, the ink running across the lines, all the detail lost.
She shut her ears to the disbelief in his voice, to her own grief. She told him that they were alike, two pieces of the same puzzle, but in the end, if you laid them down beside each other, you'd see an empty space, the jagged edges. And in this space, she knew there was no oxygen, no relief. It was a place they had made together when they were children. They had filled it with all the things they wanted to forget, a landscape of craters and bodies. She said that their feelings for one another had blinded them to the truth, what lay between them was too far-reaching, too vast. They could not hold it or push it down.
He kisses her, and she knows, somehow, that he is asking for help, for an end to the sadness they are causing one another. Asking because, after all these years together, it is the only thing that might save them.
He and Ani had moved easily between Dutch, English and Indonesian; they had many languages within their reach....He believes that the human body has some other means of communicating, some way that is yet to be categorized by science, or by language itself.
They both had to have the truth between them, to understand what had been lost, to know how to go forward.
The space between them grew, expanding out, until she seemed as insubstantial, as ghostly as the dust in the light. She stepped away, releasing his hand so gently that he almost missed the moment when it slipped from his.
She listened to their voices, this knitting together, felt as if she were balanced within, a soul sheltered between the past and the present.
When they parted, he left as if he would be seeing them again, shaking Wideh's hand, then putting his lips to the boy's hair. She knew that what she and Matthew had shared in childhood had carried them safely through, a net where all other lines had been torn away. All these years, the net had held. His eyes rested on Ani's face. They said goodbye to one another, and then he stepped away from them. She saw what he had given her, the one thing her parents had been unable to do, prepare her for this parting, this letting go.
For a moment, the future comes to her, as vivid and clear as a memory fading. The highway rises onto a plateau, the land falls away.
x
He said to Gail that sometimes the past could not be made right, not every experience could be made to fit. "I left Sandakan believing that I had to push pieces of my life away. I thought the worst thing would be to lose a sense of balance, to fall. This is how it seemed to me. But I was wrong to hold." He hesitated, but something in her expression pushed him to continue. "I never told you how your mother saved me."
So many thing, he thinks, that we carry all our lives, in the hope that what we know will finally redeem us, that we will find something that abides, even now, in the indefinite, the uncertain, hereafter.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2019
اليقين
رواية بديعة أمتعتني طوال الوقت.
هي قصص متشابكة تتابع منذ الطفولة حتى الرحيل شخصيتي آني وماثيو الذين كانا ضحايا وحشية وآلام الحرب، ورغم انتهاء الحرب تأخذنا الرواية لنرى كيف يستمر الماضي معنا طويلا وعميقا، مؤثرا في حياتنا وعلاقتنا ويقيننا وتعاطينا مع الحب. وعبر شبكة تمتد جانبيا من العلاقات والأشخاص وتجارب الرحيل (أو الهروب) تغتني الرواية بقصص المحيط الكامل لهاتين الشخصيتين لترسم حياتهما كاملة. وهي أيضا تتحدث عن الموت والفقد، وعن ذلك السفر نحو محاولة معرفة أنفسنا عبر فهم الآخرين.
تسرد مادلين القصة عبر وجهات نظر متعددة وتقريبا تمنح جميع الشخصيات فرصة في السرد، دون أن تقع في التكرار، بل بذكاء يستمر في دفع القصة للأمام من زوايا متعددة. ورغم أن الرواية تبدأ من نهايتها، ورغم معرفتك تقريبا بما حدث تاليا لكن القصة في كشفها التدريجي عن خباياها تحتفظ بالتشويق والمتعة حتى النهاية.
أحببت مادلين هنا، وأتطلع لقراءة عملها المترجم الآخر (لا تقولوا إننا لا نملك شيئا).
الترجمة ممتازة.
رواية بديعة أمتعتني طوال الوقت.
هي قصص متشابكة تتابع منذ الطفولة حتى الرحيل شخصيتي آني وماثيو الذين كانا ضحايا وحشية وآلام الحرب، ورغم انتهاء الحرب تأخذنا الرواية لنرى كيف يستمر الماضي معنا طويلا وعميقا، مؤثرا في حياتنا وعلاقتنا ويقيننا وتعاطينا مع الحب. وعبر شبكة تمتد جانبيا من العلاقات والأشخاص وتجارب الرحيل (أو الهروب) تغتني الرواية بقصص المحيط الكامل لهاتين الشخصيتين لترسم حياتهما كاملة. وهي أيضا تتحدث عن الموت والفقد، وعن ذلك السفر نحو محاولة معرفة أنفسنا عبر فهم الآخرين.
تسرد مادلين القصة عبر وجهات نظر متعددة وتقريبا تمنح جميع الشخصيات فرصة في السرد، دون أن تقع في التكرار، بل بذكاء يستمر في دفع القصة للأمام من زوايا متعددة. ورغم أن الرواية تبدأ من نهايتها، ورغم معرفتك تقريبا بما حدث تاليا لكن القصة في كشفها التدريجي عن خباياها تحتفظ بالتشويق والمتعة حتى النهاية.
أحببت مادلين هنا، وأتطلع لقراءة عملها المترجم الآخر (لا تقولوا إننا لا نملك شيئا).
الترجمة ممتازة.
April 20, 2020
Certainty is Thien's debut novel and it was one I couldn't put down. The writing is fluid and beautiful. Her characters are richly developed and they each have their story to tell. The novel goes back and forth in time which adds to the element of discovery with every page. I can definitely see why Thien won the Giller. She is a very talented writer and a voice I would love to hear for years to come.
June 1, 2020
The two storylines, occuring at different times, converge beautifully in this novel. It makes you think of how constant but inevitable (and sucky) uncertainties are, especially when there is loss involved.
October 16, 2024
"So many things, he thinks, that we carry all our lives, in the hope that what we know will finally redeem us, that we will find something that abides, even now, in the indefinite, the uncertain, hereafter."
July 26, 2017
This book grew on me slowly.
November 20, 2017
I felt the pace got too meandering and too slow, and the main characters were emotionally disconnected from each other
October 14, 2020
I enjoy Madeleine Thein I like her style .
June 4, 2022
Loved this - beautifully written and moving, and epic in scope if not in length.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 115 reviews