1 out of 4 stars
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This is a review of the book Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator by Penny Singham. The book narrates the real story of a Malaysian bureaucrat. It also shares information about Malaysia’s history, culture, ethnic groups, and its challenges. The intended audiences of the book are the ones who would like to know more about the various aspects of Malaysia. The book’s content is suitable for all audiences.
The story is about one Dr. Ratnam, who held the position of Deputy Director at Chief Medical Health Office in Sembilang, Malaysia. It elucidates the times in which Dr. Ratnam lived, and the challenges he faced in Malaysia because of his ethnic background. As Dr. Ratnam’s daughter Oormila grows up to be an adult, she faces a dangerous situation that threatens her life. The reader is motivated to find out what that threat is and whether Oormila was successful in overcoming it.
It is great to note the author’s eagerness to share several aspects of Malaysia through this book. The book narrates about Malaysia’s culture, history, geography, living conditions, its connections with its neighbors, etc. The story is accompanied with several photos from the lives of Dr. Ratnam’s family. I enjoyed reading about how immigrants from India contributed to the Malaysian economy, and how the British colonial rule helped to establish Malaysia’s identity. The story creates awareness about some mystical evils that plague Malaysia currently. Towards the end, the story picks up some steam kindling the reader’s curiosity on what would happen to Oormila when she faces a grave threat to her life.
Unfortunately, the book does not register as an interesting read due to several reasons. First of all, it is not clear whether the author had made up their mind on whether they want this book to be a detailed guide to Malaysia, or as Dr. Ratnam’s family story. Throughout the book, there are long-winding narrations about Malaysia. There is no movement in the story till Chapter 12 while there are only 15 chapters in the book. Although the author’s vocabulary is reasonably good, the writing style is pretty bad. The sentences are too long and complicated. In one instance, a sentence spanned 14 lines! The book has not been proofread. There are several grammatical and mechanical errors, including redundant words, missing words, wrong words, punctuation errors, spelling mistakes, and capitalization errors. The caption under each of the photos is on a separate line after the photo rather than appearing beneath the photo. Because of all these reasons, there is every possibility that the reader would just not complete reading the book.
Overall, I did not find the book to be an interesting read, mostly because of the writing style. While the author has aspired to share all the information about Malaysia, the storyline has not been organized properly. There are several grammatical, mechanical, and formatting errors in the book. Although the book is suitable for all audiences, I really doubt if anyone would be interested in reading this book in full. I thought of giving this book 2 out of 4 stars based on the detailed information on Malaysia. Because of the bad writing style and several mechanical errors, I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars.
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Daisies and Dragon Slayers In The Equator
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