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Nuel Ukah wrote: ↑22 Oct 2019, 01:12

Ferdinand_otieno wrote: ↑01 Oct 2019, 23:59 The book has a lot of favorite moments from action, humour,espionage and romantic scenes. What parts or scenes from the story were your favorite and which parts were your least favorite?

For me, the most favorite part of the story was col. Johnny Cook's kidnapping and his entire experience in the Malay jungle. How he grew to be one of them. My least favorite part of the story was keeping track of all the organisations and their abbreviated forms like the BMA, MSS,MCP, MI6, and CIS.It felt like a chore attached to the story.
What about you?

My favorite parts were the parts they spoke Malayan language...

Nickolas Farmakis wrote: ↑22 Oct 2019, 08:51 My least favorite part of the book was the vulgar words in the book, but my favorite part of the book was Johnny's escape from the jungle.

e-tasana-williams wrote: ↑21 Oct 2019, 17:58 My favorite aspect of the book is the portrayal of the local and expat communities in Malaya at the time. It’s easy to envision a monolithic culture when I think of that part of the world, but it makes sense that there would be Chinese, Indian, Dutch, German, Japanese and other groups there in the mid- and late-40s. Just imagining all the food choices...mmm!

My least favorite part, similar to other readers here, is the abundance of characters. Perhaps if they were introduced more gradually it would have felt like a more natural flow. The way it is, I felt like I needed a chart containing all of the characters and their relation to each other.

naomisorge wrote: ↑25 Oct 2019, 13:43 My favorite part was, as many people have said, the descriptions of the jungle. It made me want to do a jungle trek of my own!

My least favorite aspect was that I thought there was much too much dialogue--I think Kater could have gotten away with more description and inner dialogue from different characters, instead of dialogue such as repeating "just the ticket" over and over and over again.

Phikim wrote: ↑05 Oct 2019, 15:47 Sincerely speaking, Greg Kater has done a wonderful and thorough job. There are so many factors to consider as favourite in this book and to mention but a few is sense of humour. For instance, one time Johnny Crook borrows a car and a driver from Major Algie Browning. The author says, "that it was an old two-door Alvis which struggled and groaned as they navigate the rugged thirty-five mile from the village of Tapah." Another instance is when he describes a Chinaman chief and his speed of talking. He says, " his words came out like a machine gun."

Apart from humour, I love the softened of the language and grammar used by Greg. He's made it possible for any reader to crack the nut without much struggles. Any reader can readily comprehend vividly and instantaneously this read.

The least favourite is the use of numerous characters. Sometimes you have to ignore others because the more you add a new one, the more you become more confused. However, this doesn't deter a reader from more sweeter things in the book.

naomisorge wrote: ↑25 Oct 2019, 13:43 My favorite part was, as many people have said, the descriptions of the jungle. It made me want to do a jungle trek of my own!

My least favorite aspect was that I thought there was much too much dialogue--I think Kater could have gotten away with more description and inner dialogue from different characters, instead of dialogue such as repeating "just the ticket" over and over and over again.

DC Brown wrote: ↑06 Oct 2019, 22:20 I enjoy the scenery and the weather. Because of the excellent descriptions you feel like you're there. I did not like all the detail about the attempted uprising. How many weapons and what kind and who had them seemed like trivial information and, yes, the alphabet soup of organizations was distracting.