Yangse Choo's book The Night Tiger takes place in 1930s Malaysia. It is the story of Ji Lin, a girl who is an apprentice dressmaker. She moonlights as a dancer in order to earn money to pay off her mother's Mahjong debts. One of Ji Lin's dance partners has a finger inside a jar in the pocket of his jacket. She can feel the jar while they are dancing and takes it from him. Later she finds that a finger is in the container. The book is also the story of Ren, a houseboy, who promised his master that he would find the finger his master lost years ago and bury it with him before 49 days after his death. If the finger is not buried within that time frame then his master's soul will wander the earth forever.
I love Chinese fiction but I was bored with this book. Chinese mythology seemed to take over the plot and the action was slow. There were two different points of view telling the story. It took me awhile to figure that out because the legends, oral storytelling, and myths that were discussed by both of the main characters were more prominent than any plot action. I feel that it was overkill. Eventually the lives of Ren and Ji Lin overlap but this slow boat to China dragged on and on.
Since I believe that the plot premise was a good one, I will rate the book 1 star out of 5. Unfortunately, the idea for the plot did not pan out in the writing.
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