2025 & 2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo.

Pages: 368 pages

Length: 1 month (August)

Participants: oshizu, Lorraine

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Good morning Oshizu. I look forward reading this book with you! I have the book until August 14th so I was thinking of starting it this weekend. Slowly ! I also saw that there is a few notes pages at the end of the book about Ghosts Marriages, Chinese notions of the afterlife etc etc. I thought I would start with them.

On another note. Are you OK with reading Some prefer nettles in October? If yes, I will ask for the buddy read. Thanks

Lorraine and oshizu, I'd like to join you in reading this. I was planning to read it for a challenge this quarter anyway, so why not read with friends? I have downloaded the audiobook on Hoopla, so I'm good to go. 😊

TerryJane wrote: "Lorraine and oshizu, I'd like to join you in reading this. I was planning to read it for a challenge this quarter anyway, so why not read with friends? I have downloaded the audiobook on Hoopla, so..."

You are welcome!

I really like this book. I like the way it is written, the story so far and the characters. Especially Amah. (view spoiler)[ I've read the notes before starting the book and it does help understand the goal of the Ghost Marriages and Chinese beliefs of the afterlife. I am really curious to find more about the Lim family darkest secrets... (hide spoiler)]

I have finished the book so I suggest you do not read the spoilers, just in case :-) This book is like a soap opera! I cannot believe all the things that is happening to Li Lan. At one point, you feel like saying to the author...that is enough...give her a break! (view spoiler)[ A dragon! There is Dragon in this book! Who can resist a Dragon? Not me. As I said, there are so many twists in this story that at time, for me, it was a bit too much! But hey, if you travel to the Plains of the Dead anything can happen! (hide spoiler)] I really liked this book and will read the other one she wrote ‘The night tiger’. Thank you Oshizu for suggesting it.

I have wanted to read this so long that I've ordered a copy and it should arrive next week. I just couldn't resist! Now I trust I'll have time to read it in August! :)

Lorraine, you've already finished this book! I'm still wading through Can Xue's Frontier which has been such a bewildering read that I can't read more than 2-3 chapters a day.
I look forward to reading your comments.

Welcome to our discussion, TerryJane and Lynn!

P.S. Yes, Lorraine, let's read Some Prefer Nettles together in August. Like The Makioka Sisters, this book is also set in Osaka. Can't wait to discuss the book with you!

Oshizu, I have asked for Some Prefer Nettles to be added to October buddy read.
I also suggested reading The night Tiger by Yangsze Choo in October.
I hope some of you will like the Ghost Bride enough to join me for her other book :-)

Thank you, Lorraine. I look forward to reading Some Prefer Nettles with you in October; however, I already read The Night Tiger last year and quite enjoyed it.

I'll be starting this book after completing another buddy read.

Lorraine, I'll join the buddy read for Some Prefer Nettles in October.

Faith, please let the Buddy Read mods know by posting a reply to Lorraine's Some Prefer Nettles suggestion in the Buddy Reads Sign-Up thread.

Here's the link to Lorraine's post:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Thanks so much for the link, I appreciate it.

I find the interplay of cultures and religions in this book an interesting aspect.

Started Part 2 - Wow.

(view spoiler)[Didn't see that coming. This exploration of the spirit world is fascinating. (hide spoiler)]

I just received my copy. Hope to start it tonight or tomorrow.

I finally started this one today. I am listening to the audio version, which is narrated by the author.

I enjoyed reading The Night Tiger in 2020, and look forward to reading another of her books.

I finished this last night, and while it had some really intriguing elements, I found it to be too busy, too much, for my taste. It was good, but not great. Three stars for me.

I have finished reading Par 1 earlier.
I've lived in Indonesia before have never visited Malaysia. So far, I'm enjoying seeing the convergence between overseas Chinese culture and the more local web of superstitions and customs.

Having read just the first 10 pages I must admit this is going to require my concentration to buy into this. Although, I trust Choo's writing will get my buy in... At least I hope so! :)

I finished this book yesterday and, on the whole, greatly enjoyed it.
I'm a long-time fan of classical Chinese tales of the supernatural from the Tang and Ming periods as well as Japanese Tokugawa-period fiction inspired by such Chinese predecessors, written by such authors as Ueda Akinari.
This tale is narrated by a young Malaysian woman of Chinese descent so seems to draw on some of the same Chinese literary (that is Buddhist) traditions.
(view spoiler)[
The cousins: Caught in the family antagonism between the two Lim cousins, Li Lan is initially attracted to Tian Bai while horrified by the prospect of becoming the ghost bride of his boorish (deceased) cousin.
Her family: What an odd family, with her father usually high on opium and her elderly Amah who also cared for her mother. Her scholarly father schooled her in classical literature and that's no doubt why she often compares her plight to a literary heroine, as in the one from Dream of the Red Chambers.
The journey: I was fascinated by Li Lan's travails as a semi-dead entity and how the snarky, mushroom-hatted man often showed up in the nick of time to rescue her.
The romance: Of course, she would choose Er Lang over Tian Bai. Both men guarantee the well-being of her family, but Tian Bai had only kissed her once or twice, never getting as far as Er Lang's allegedly talented "tongue action," lol. The author put much more energy into portraying Er Lang as an attractive prospect. Who wouldn't want to marry a devastatingly handsome celestial being who can transform into a dragon?
Plus, Er Lang risked his life for her while Tian Bai only ever gave her a used watch, haha. (hide spoiler)]

Sorry for the random, non-insightful comments. I did love this book!

oshizu wrote: "I finished this book yesterday and, on the whole, greatly enjoyed it.
I'm a long-time fan of classical Chinese tales of the supernatural from the Tang and Ming periods as well as Tokugawa-period fi..."

Great review Oshizu. I completely agree with you about Er Lang 😁

I hope to get into this one seriously tomorrow!

In response to Lynn (view spoiler)[
No rippling muscles but some serious tongue! LOL (hide spoiler)]

oshizu wrote: "In response to Lynn
No rippling muscles but some serious tongue! LOL"
OMG!

Erm, I might be guilty of a little exaggeration.
You be the judge, haha.

oshizu wrote: "Erm, I might be guilty of a little exaggeration.
You be the judge, haha."
:)

Through Chapter 13:
No tongue yet, oshizu! :)
While the mythology stuff isn't necessarily my thing, I do love Choo's writing and it is that that drew me in and keeps me there!
I can't figure out if (view spoiler)[she's actually dead or not. I assume not, but...it seems like she can act much like a ghost, so... I just hope the pompous ass doesn't get her! I hope she can figure some way out of that! It would be nice if something would happen to the second wife's daughter in the Lim household. I assume she actually poisoned the Lim son... Ugh. (hide spoiler)]

In response to Lynn
I saw in my feed today that you'd finished the book, so I guess you've already figured out that (view spoiler)[Li Lan was dying but not fully dead. (hide spoiler)]

You gave the book 5 stars! Be honest now, was it Er Lang? LOL

oshizu wrote: "In response to Lynn
I saw in my feed today that you'd finished the book, so I guess you've already figured out that [spoilers removed]"
I did figure that out. Very interesting and I think it was a large part of the suspense for me...would she (view spoiler)[end up back in her body or not? (hide spoiler)]

"You gave the book 5 stars! Be honest now, was it Er Lang? LOL"
Well...it could have been a factor! I mean, (view spoiler)[(page 346) as Li Lan looks at Tian Bai when he escorts her home after her rescue from the well...An unexpected tenderness filled me, even as my swollen mouth recalled me to another. Oh, yes, the tongue! I was thinking that happened in the well, but the first time was when he gave her qi in the cemetery! I thought as I read that quote, "Wow. That's some kiss when your mouth is still swollen!" LOL (hide spoiler)]

This book held quite a few surprises and I found myself easily immersed in Li Lan's adventures, which I attribute to Choo's writing skill!

I did suspect (view spoiler)[ Auntie Three of being Li Lan's mother. And I was happy that was true. It would have been awful for her to believe the other bitch was her biological mother!

I was shocked at Fan's betrayal, and yet, in a way, not all that surprised. She had certainly turned into a very different person than how I imagined her being at first.

I found it a bit strange that Tian Bai was not the least suspicious about Fan's possession of Li Lan's body and yet, why should he be? I mean, it's not every day that a different person is able to inhabit a different body, is it?!? (I hope not!)

I could see Li Lan's point about marrying into the Lim family. Ugh. Tian appeared to be a truly good person, and yet he was fairly meek and mild, IMO! I felt he could be easily overridden by Lim Tian Ching. And the Lim mother was definitely over-the-top crazy! I mean she tried to murder the girls! Li lan was definitely a good person overall. I understood her desire to see her mother, even if it was a risk. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, Choo's excellent writing made this a very enjoyable reading experience. It also makes me wonder just what all is beyond our own sensory world? Hmmm...

oshizu wrote: "I finished this book yesterday and, on the whole, greatly enjoyed it.
I'm a long-time fan of classical Chinese tales of the supernatural from the Tang and Ming periods as well as Japanese Tokugawa-..."
I appreciated Choo's NOTES section for some of this information...

(view spoiler)[Poor Li Lan. Her father was worse than useless and her poor Amah ('governess'-type to both her and her mother) is struggling to hold it all together!

I loved that Li Lan now knows her mother sacrificed her own life to save her daughter. Wow. That is the ultimate sacrifice, is it not?

Choo did make Er Lang more attractive in the literal physical sense (Except as a dragon. Is that really attractive? Though Li lan certainly thought so...those translucent scales could do it, I guess? LOL). Even the description of his hands and fingers as opposed to Tian Bai's "square hands" was attractive.

I could understand Li Lan's hesitation to remain in the physical world, especially given that her lifespan was going to be much longer than usual. It would probably be much more exciting to be Er Lang's wife than Tian Bai's. I gathered she was halfway considering marrying Tian Bai and then spending rather long times away from him (per his uncle's suggestion) and perhaps being with Er Lang during those times. Or did I just interpret that brief consideration on my own. (It could also be the influence of The Little Paris Bookshop which I am also currently reading...) Honestly, if not for the thought of spending the afterlife in the Lim household and possibly dealing with Lim Tian Ching again, I would seriously question her decision. But she definitely went with the most romantic one! :) (hide spoiler)]

Thanks for allowing me to join you!