Mister Yam

Want an entertaining read, that's going to make you ask yourself questions you never thought you would, and stay with you long after you've finished?

Then this one is for you. Recommended.

I'm not sure what I expected, but I got a lot more out of it than I thought. If you found the right group, this could potentially be a great choice for a book club.

Read this with friends as you will want to discuss the fascinating characters and the odd plot which stays with you well after you have finished reading.

I didn't expect a literary novel with some philosophical aspects (they're somewhat uncommon), but I did enjoy it. There's some mystery mixed in too, and looked forward to getting back to it in between reading sessions. Recommended.

Thanks very much for the free review copy!!

If you've been following me for some time, you know I have a soft spot for "wacky" books. If a book is weird and about nothing, chances are I'll like it. Mister Yam is the debut novel of the Malaysian author Yeng Tan which pretended to be about nothing before hitting me straight in the feels. Thanks for the pain, Yeng!

Mister Yam is a young engineer from San Francisco whose life is... alright? Sure, he's a cog in the machine who depends on his routine too much and occasionally gets weighed down by thoughts of loneliness, but he has a job, he can afford great food (and boy, can he eat) and he coasts through life by generally not thinking about any of it too much. He works, he eats, he sleeps. One day, a friend of his disappears and Mister Yam decides to leave his life behind to search for him using:
- a sheep with wings
- an exceptionally bald man
- a story about some guy called Boris
- a Polaroid of a purple house
- an ex-Mormon seller of antiques
- a Montanan concierge
- his own dreams

But Mister Yam's search for his friend essentially becomes a search for himself. The life that he leaves behind may be superficially cozy but it's also deeply oppressive and depressing. And the mystery of his friend's disappearance allows him to travel, meet new people, and think about something beyond the quicksand of white on black code day in day out.

Yeng Tan's writing is a stunning experience for all of your senses and his story is an absolute rollercoaster. Before you even get the chance to recover from the last chapter, you're thrown head first into a new brain-twisting event. I loved the philosophical discussions Mister Yam had with himself and other characters, and I found that the parts of the story that weren't (seemingly) random insanity were profound and touching.

Huge thank you to NetGalley, BooksGoSocial and Yeng Tan for the advanced reader copy.

Mister Yam - a twentysomething year old man disillusioned with corporate work in San Francisco - would find his life forever changed after an inexplicable phone call with a strange woman and an invitation to a musical show.

Thus begins a series of events that would take Mister Yam chasing nameless figures across the country; solving a mystery only he can explain.

I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to put down as it drew me in immediately and before I knew it I was in the middle of the book!

I quite enjoyed this book. I chose to read it because its description reminded me of Murakami. For the best and for the worst this is not Murakami. I quite enjoyed most of the parts where it differs and presented to me its own style, instead of trying to be what is not. The ending of the novel wasn't particularly what I had expected but I still enjoyed the journey. I gave it 4 stars and would love to read more from the author.