For those of you that haven't or couldn't attend book club lately, we'll be publishing the previous months' discussion questions here. I hope eventually to post discussion questions for all of the books we've covered since I took over a couple of years ago and beyond, all the way to the beginning over a decade and a half ago. It will take a while. Until then, we will be posting discussion questions on a weekly basis. Here are the questions from October's title, The Night Tiger. We hope these questions spark discussions of your own.
The Night Tiger
by Yangsze Choo
Summary:
A sweeping historical novel about a dancehall girl and an orphan boy whose fates entangle over an old Chinese superstition about men who turn into tigers.
Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dancehall girl to help pay off her mother’s mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin plunges into a dark adventure: a mirror world of secrets and superstitions. Eleven-year-old Chinese houseboy Ren also has a secret, a promise he must fulfill to his dead master: to find his master’s severed finger and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever.
As the days tick relentlessly by, a series of unexplained deaths wrack the district, along with whispers of men who turn into tigers. Ji Lin and Ren’s increasingly dangerous paths crisscross through lush plantations, hospital storage rooms, and ghostly dreamscapes. Dazzling and propulsive, The Night Tiger is the intimate coming of age of a child and a young woman, each searching for their place in a society that would rather they stay invisible.
Discussion Questions
Official Questions
The novel’s title evokes the story of the were tiger, "a beast who, when he chooses, puts on a human skin and comes from the jungle into the village to prey on humans." What is the significance of that Malayan folktale in the novel? What does it represent for the different characters?
Discuss the structure of the novel, alternating between Ren’s and Ji Lin’s perspectives. How do their narrative styles and worldviews compare? Do you prefer one to the other? How would the novel have been different had it only been from one perspective?
Discuss Ren’s relationship with Dr. MacFarlane. Does Ren’s desire to bring the finger to his former master’s grave come from a place of love or fear? How is Ren’s life shaped by the masters for whom he works, and how does he determine his own fate?
As a surgeon in Batu Gajah, William Acton straddles two worlds, that of the locals and that of the foreigners. What is his relationship to the local people, specifically the young women he sleeps with? Do you think his impact on the community is ultimately positive or negative? What does this novel have to say about race and class more generally?
Ji Lin is a more talented student than her stepbrother, Shin, but because she is a girl, she isn’t allowed to continue on to medical school with him. How does this novel portray gender dynamics in colonial Malaya? How do Ji Lin, Lydia, and the other women in the novel either conform to or rebel against societal expectations? What parallels do you see with today’s world?
At the beginning of the novel, Ji Lin leads two different lives—one as a dressmaker’s apprentice and one as "Louise," a dance-hall instructor. What are the pros and cons of each role? Does she find a way to reconcile these two sides of herself by the end of the novel?
Ji Lin reflects, "When people talked about being lucky, perhaps they simply wanted to feel powerful, as though they could manipulate fate." Discuss the role of superstition in this novel, in which the supposed luck of certain numbers in Chinese tradition motivates many of the characters. What about in your own life? Do you consider yourself to be superstitious?
While speaking with Ji Lin about the other Confucian Virtues, Yi notes, "there’s something a bit wrong with each of us." How do each of these characters—Ji Lin(knowledge), Ren (humanity), Shin (integrity), Yi (righteousness), and William/Lydia (ritual)—stray from their namesake values? At the end of the novel, are they more"right" or "wrong"?
In Chinese culture, the five Confucian Virtues are considered a matched set. Ji Lin reflects: "I had the odd fancy that the five of us were yoked by some mysterious fate. Drawn together, yet unable to break free, the tension made a twisted pattern. We must either separate ourselves, or come together." Discuss the tension between independence and dependence for these characters.
In his conversations with Ji Lin, Yi hints that the Confucian Virtue Li, meaning order or ritual, has been disrupted. What are some examples from the novel of characters, relationships, and other elements that are seemingly out of order or unconventional?
Discuss Ji Lin’s relationships with the men in her life. How do her experiences at the dance hall shape her views of men, in particular Shin? At the end of the novel, she wonders, "Had I managed to catch up to Shin, or had he, by playing a cool and patient game, ensnared me instead?" What does she mean, and what do you think the answer is? Do you think Ji Lin and Shin will ultimately get married?
Why do you think Yi disappears from Ji Lin’s and Ren’s lives at the end of the novel? What previously unfinished business does he complete? Discuss how the supernatural twines through this novel. Do you believe that the dead can continue to communicate with the living, as Yi does?
Although Lydia is proven to be a murderer, she also works hard to improve the lives of Malayan women. Does her charity work at all redeem her in your eyes? Do you think she is in part a victim of her circumstances?
The novel ends with Ji Lin, Shin, Ren, Ah Long, and Rawlings all headed to Singapore. What do you think the future holds for them? Are you glad the ending leaves open the possibility of a sequel?
Unofficial Questions
Let’s first talk about the setting of 1930s Malaysia. What are some elements that stood out to you?
Jin Lin has dreams beyond the dressmaking and the dance hall but she’s stifled by the era. Let’s discuss some of the ways that she’s a modern girl stuck in the 1930s.
The story revolves around a severed finger. What were your first thoughts about this going into the book? How did it help present a unique and compelling story?
Oftentimes the book mentions that Ren feels a “tingle, like the twitch of cat whiskers, as though Yi is still with him.” What did you think about this? Do you believe he could feel Yi and a sense of danger that was to come?
Now let’s talk about the doctor William Acton. He’s a man clouded in mystery and later we find out he has a lust for the local girls. But at the time he shows kindness to Ren. What were you impressions of him? When people start to get murdered in the area, did you think he was the killer? Why or why not?
Much of the book centers around superstitions: mythical creatures, conversations with the dead and the Five Virtues of Confucius. Let’s discuss each of these areas:
Mythical creatures: The spirit tiger is belief that a soul could reincarnate as a tiger. At one point, many in the village believe the murders are a result of a spirt together and Ren himself, wonders if the tiger is his deceased former master. What did you think about this?
Conversations with the dead: In an unique twist, there’s seemingly the ability to talk with the dead. Jin Lin dreams of a train station and she talks to a little boy, Yi, who tells her his twin, Ren, is still alive. Ren also has conservations with the dead and even William dreams of a fated lake where his fiancé died. What did you make of all of this? Do you believe the intention was that they were really talking with the dead? Did Yi save Jin Lin and Shin at the end?
Another key aspect of the story was the Five Virtues of Confucius, which is also the name of the five key characters. Ren is benevolence, charity and humanity; Yi is righteousness; Li is ritual or order; Zhi is wisdom and Xin is faithfulness. How did Ren, Yi, Jin Lin, Shin and Lydia fall in line with these ideas? During a conversation with Yi, he tells Jin Lin that maybe they are all cursed and they should have born together in the same family, or even as the same person, not separated by time and place. Do you believe there was a curse and was it broken at the end?
Alright, let’s talk about that romance! What did you think about the forbidden love of Jin Lin and Shin? When did you start to notice they both had feelings for each other? Do you think they will end up getting married one day? Why or why not?
Throughout everything, there’s a murder mystery. Were you surprised that there were two killers: Koh Beng and Lydia?
Jin Lin and Shin survive an attempted murder by Koh Beng. We learn Lydia is also a murder. Ren accidentally serves William poisoned tea and he dies. Let’s discuss all of this. What happens next for Jin Lin, Shin, Ren and Lydia? Will they always be connected? If the author wrote a sequel, what would you like to see happen in it?
What do you think are some of the key themes of this story? In what ways did this serve as a fairy tale?
Unofficial questions provided by BookClubChat.com
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