(Drivebycuriosity) - Lawrence Osborne belongs to my favorite authors. I love his novels "Hunter in the Dark" (set in Cambodia) and "The Glass Kingdom" (set in Bangkok). Both are dark tales are about drifters and their experiences in tropical Asia.
Osborne`s newest novel "On Java Road" (published August 2022 amazon) is mostly set in contemporary Hong Kong, told in first person by a tabloid journalist, an expat from England. The narrator is friend to a crazy rich Asian playboy. Both are somewhat related with a young woman, born into a very reach local family. The woman had become a radical activist and a leader in the violent protests against the takeover by the Communist Chinese government.
The novel reminds me bit of Every Waugh´s "Brideshead Revisited". But the complex plot and the characters did not work for me. I disliked the parasitic journalist, his spoiled friend and the radical woman. "She hated communism even though in her own way she was on the left". I did not much care what might have happened to them. It seems that the author sympathizes a bit with the protesters, downplaying their aggression and vandalism. But Osborne`s novel follow often unpleasant people who behave naive and eratical, maybe he wants to show society a mirror.
I still enjoyed Osborne´s elegant & analytical style. He has the talent to create a very dense atmosphere and transport his readers to almost mystical places. His descriptions of Hong Kong`s culture, geography, architecture, weather and people - spiced with a bit philosophy - are pure pleasure to read. I can understand that the British are pissed that they had to give up their former colony on Chinese ground.
I look forward to read more by Osborne.
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