The Obscure Reading Group discussion

The Gift of Rain by Tan Twan Eng has been selected as the Obscure Reading Group's October selection. In the coming weeks, those who wish to participate will be finding a copy to read for our discussion beginning on Oct. 1st.

This thread is for any pre-discussion thoughts readers may have (e.g. background material on the author, the book's setting, time, and place, etc.). At some point I will bring up logistics as well -- dividing the book into two or three weeks of discussion threads, for instance (I believe it is around 450 pp., though GR page counts aren't always accurate and I don't have a copy in my hands yet).

Thanks to all who participated in the polling process. If you were on the sideline for the voting, but this book intrigues you, you're welcome to jump in for our October roundtable as well!

P.S. If you wish to see the final poll result, simply click "Polls" in the menu to the right on the ORG's homepage.

Great, looking forward to it!

All the books looked so good I had a difficult time voting. Now I have several new books for my TBR stack.
Ordering my copy of The Gift of Rain today!

Thanks, Ken--I'm excited about this one, and should have my copy in about a week.

And I agree with Jannifer--lots of good choices I hope to get to sometime!

Thanks!

Sounds great!

That’s the one I picked altho the other ones sounded intriguing too

Thanks Ken, I like the sound of The Gift of Rain. Copy on order.

I like the sound of rain. And gifts.

Haha

Ha! Nice one, Ken.

I picked up a copy at my local library.

I started reading it bc I saw it’s lengthy and I’m one of those busy people. Very nice!

I purchased a used copy on eBay and it arrived on Friday. I will start reading this evening.

Frantically trying to finish a few of my current reads in order to be able to focus on this one when it arrives. Looking forward to it. :)

I’m planning to get it from Overdrive this week and the library allows 3 weeks.

I dont know who put this book up for a vote but you picked a gem. Thank you!

I agree with Barbara. I picked up the book and just read the first few pages and stopped because I want to finish another book first. But those pages really hooked me! I keep thinking about the characters, so I'm looking forward to diving into this soon.

I have read the author’s The Garden of Evening Mists which I loved and thought was beautifully written. That’s why I voted for this one, actually.

I echo the comments above. It is excellent and I am only 1 chapter in.