2025 Booker Longlist: The South by Tash Aw

Next up for our panel is Tash Aw’s novel, The South. Four of our panelists read this book and our final panelist is making her way through the book (post will be updated once she had finished). Once again we have some mixed reviews.

Tash Aw is a Malaysian-born, internationally acclaimed author known for his rich storytelling and elegant prose. Born in Taipei and raised in Kuala Lumpur, his work often explores themes of identity, migration, and the complexities of modern Asia. Tash burst onto the literary scene with his award-winning debut The Harmony Silk Factory, and has since continued to captivate readers with novels like Map of the Invisible World and Five Star Billionaire, which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Beyond fiction, Tash is a thoughtful essayist and commentator, contributing to publications like The New Yorker and Granta. He currently divides his time between London and Asia,

Book Synopsis from Booker website: When his grandfather dies, a boy named Jay travels south with his family to the property he left them, a once flourishing farm that has fallen into disrepair. The trees are diseased, the fields parched from months of drought. 

Still, Jay’s father, Jack, sends him out to work the land, or whatever land is left. Over the course of these hot, dense days, Jay finds himself drawn to Chuan, the son of the farm’s manager, different from him in every way except for one. 

Out in the fields, and on the streets into town, the charge between the boys intensifies. Inside the house, the other family members confront their own regrets, and begin to drift apart. Like the land around them, they are powerless to resist the global forces that threaten to render their lives obsolete. 

At once sweeping and intimate, The South is a story of what happens when private and public lives collide. It is the first in a quartet of novels that form Tash Aw’s masterful portrait of a family navigating a period of great change – a reimagined epic for our times.  

Lisa’s Thoughts:  Wow, I thought this was beautiful. This book painted a vivid picture of the particularities of living on a failing farm in rural Malaysia in the 90s, and at the same time, reminded me of what it felt like emotionally to be a teenager in suburban Connecticut in the 90s. I saw something in Jay (and myself) that I think my children may not have had the opportunity to experience — the wideness and aimlessness and uncertainty of a large swath of unstructured time, coupled with the freedom to roam and explore. As I reflect, also, suburban Connecticut and rural Malaysia in the 90s are in fact connected by the same forces of globalization, overuse of natural resources, and impending global warming. Tash Aw manages to capture both the intense internal experience of a teen and the overwhelming context of a world shifting under our feet.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 19/20

Nicole’s Thoughts: 

Every year at Booker time I expect 13 bangers, or even 10 bangers … everybody doesn’t have to agree with me. But every year I’m disappointed, and usually end up with maybe 2 that blow me away – yet the next year I’m hopeful again …. Welcome to book 4 in the disappointment series.

I love Malaysia and was recently in Singapore so the setting should have been perfect. The writing was average, the characters indistinguishable from one another, there was virtually no story and absolutely no atmosphere. I kept trying to remember where it was set even though I was literally physically next door to the place it was set.

I enjoyed the last 5% of the book, but the rest was boring and I am absolutely uninspired to continue the quartet. I would have been more interested in reading the author’s Instacart order history.

p.s. Just read Lisa’s review and definitely feel like I’m wrong LOL.

Writing quality: 3/5
Originality: 1/5
Character development: 1/4
Plot development: 1/4
Overall enjoyment: 0/2
Total: 6/20

Anita’s Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book more than I admired it. It’s a slow build, but I thought the momentum was there, and I’ll definitely continue on with the series. At its heart, it is a story of family tensions – – the kind of tension that isn’t above the surface, but that roils below in a steady terrible simmer. This type of storytelling is up my alley, but there’s nothing about this particular book that screams shortlist to me.

Writing quality: 3/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 15/20

Jen’s Thoughts: Count me on the side of readers who enjoyed this book. I didn’t find it boring in the least but rather felt transported to a time and place that felt familiar and comforting (although I did not grow up anywhere near the novel’s setting). The pace of the novel is pretty slow but the quiet moments are beautiful and elegantly capture the both the relationship between the teenagers and their emotions. Importantly, while The South is in many ways a coming of age story, and one focused on teenage relationships (friendship, family and love), it’s more than that. It is a story that also captures societal and economic tensions in a subtle and retrained way. The contrast between the protagonists freedom and light-hearted summer experiences and the economic troubles of both his family and community are blended in an interesting way. Where Love Forms came across as lecture-like in some sections, The South informs readers about its cultural setting in a much more restrained but fairly impressive way.

Writing quality: 5/5
Originality: 3/5
Character development: 4/4
Plot development: 3/4
Overall enjoyment: 2/2
Total: 17/20

Rankings

1. Audition: 17.88
2. The South: 14.25
2. Flashlight: 14.2
3. One Boat: 13
4. Love forms: 10.5

Have you read it?  What do you think? Drop the link to your review in the comments or add your thoughts. Want to try it for yourself? You can purchase your copy here: The South.