"The hidden true life and the open false one trying to co-exist peacefully"
By sally tarbox on 10 April 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
A readable but forgettable novel set in 1980s Singapore. When Yin Ling - beautiful but poor, and betrothed to one of the most eligible men in the country - meets an outspoken American professor, she is torn... Indebted to her fiance for his financial support of her ailing mother and an elderly family servant, she feels trapped into marriage:

"The radiant god of love, high up in the vast blue sky, was stretching out his arms to her, but he had to reckon with his rivals, dark and serious-faced, because their realms of interest were not love but hard cash, property and status, duty to mothers and servants and sheer survival on a cold, hard planet - and a colder, harder bit of that planet called Singapore."

Set against the conformist society of Singapore, we follow Yin Ling's life over a few years... And never far away is the servant, Ah Heng Cheh, who has been with the family all her life and now, nearing the end, is trying to choose a home for the god she brought over from China. Many of Yin Ling's and Ben's furtive dates are taken with the servant in tow, seeking the elusive home. I thought this aspect all went on a bit, and Ben was frankly unbelievable. Yin Ling's poems also didn't help the narrative - I thought they were pretty dire and was not convinced that Ben would have committed them all to memory!

OK but nothing special. ( )

FOLLOWING THE WRONG GOD HOME is not an edge of the seat and flick the pages feverishly to the end sort of story, it is more of a gentle pull you in and so immerse you in the events that you don’t realise that you’ve been hooked kind of story. And that is what happened to me. I first ‘met’ Catherine Lim last year when I read The Song of Silver Frond which was set in Singapore in the 1940s. FOLLOWING THE WRONG GOD HOME is set in the 1980s and looks at the differences between rich and poor, modern and traditional, east and west and how the different characters are influenced by these things. Yin Ling is a bit of a fool for taking the easy way out and getting married, and when she finally had the guts to follow her own heart it was so much more traumatic for all concerned – including herself. On a side note I didn’t like Yin Ling’s poetry – just didn’t get it which might make me a fool too for admitting that. Mostly the characters were very good for what they represented, although I just didn’t feel drawn to Ben as a character – to me the whole romance didn’t feel real. Yin Ling’s relationship with her husband Vince had more believability and came alive on the pages much better. Vince was the link into the Singaporean politics of the day and Catherine Lim was able to subtly have politics influence the outcome of the story at many different levels. The ending was a complete shock, came right out of left field – but now I have had time to reflect it was actually the perfect ending. Overall FOLLOWING THE WRONG GOD HOME is a really good story, with great descriptions and insights into life in Singapore which is as the book was a blend between modern and traditional, rich and poor, influences of both the east and the west.

What a fantastic, heartfelt book- I enjoyed every page. The ending left me stunned. This book was very different to other books of the same genre. Ms Lim writes beautifully about Singapore- I really thought I was back there. ( )

http://malaysianatheist.blogspot.com ( )