The Majesties

Frankly, I went into this book knowing very little about it as I hadn’t heard of it much before. I purchased to read it simply because it was something to do with murder and Indonesia. I have barely read anything set in Indonesia, so I thought a murder thriller would be the safest and easiest way to get into reading books set in that country. And I wasn’t disappointed. This is the story of Chinese Indonesian families who are rich, very rich! In an attempt to erase the whole clan, Estella, murders everyone except her sister, Gwendolyn, who manages to survive. The book is a first person narration of the surviving member, Gwendolyn, recounting all the incidents in her family’s history that led to the murder. She travels to the days of her childhood mollycoddled by her grandmother, her mother, her sister and cousins with love and the best riches of the world. She goes back to her college days when she saw her sister drift away from her for a boy while she focused on learning about insects and detesting her sister’s lover. She returns to the hey-days of her family, the crumbling 1997 Asian Economic Crisis and the violence meted out to Chinese Indonesians, their rebirth with the New Democratic order, the idea of her business and her never ending fascination for insects. Certainly, the book triumphed my expectations with its smooth writing that had me poring over it from one page to another without the will to put it down. I learnt a lot about the socio-political situation of Indonesia, it’s history, and the intersections that work in social negotiations. It was the kind of book you would want to sit with and not want to stop until you reach the end. The characters seemed real, indeed, each dealing with their own set of struggles and flaws. The author’s writing transported me into the big houses, the posh offices and the countries I found the characters in. If you liked Crazy Rich Asians and Gone Girl; I promise you, you would like this book and its effortless writing. I am looking forward to reading more by Tiffany Tsao!

I loved Tsao's Oddfit series, so had to pick up a copy of The Majesties, and I was hooked from the first line, which reminded me so much of one of my favorite books, We Have Always Lived in the Castle. This book has the same dark, slow reveal -- a jaunty descent into madness. Tsao unfolds the story expertly, balancing three different timelines at once. Expertly crafted, fun to read.

An interesting story but felt at times quite weak and a bit slow. I did enjoy it but sometimes felt like an effort to read.

A somewhat interesting read, but the plot was at times hard to follow and the characters were confusing. Fans of Crazy Rich Asians might find this to be a letdown. I will be comparing the two a lot in this review because there are many similarities such as: large extended families, money and industry, wealth and travel, Chinese not in China. One similarity that did not pan out was the author has a lot of tertiary characters who are under-developed rather than being whimsical party guests. There is, additionally, a huge piece of history missing about how the Chinese ended up in Indonesia in the level of the industry portrayed in the book.Though it is a breezy read, due to the secondary focus on insects the language can be hard to follow. Overall not bad though. Estella and Gwendolyn are sisters who have the misfortune of being born to a corrupt family, who seem to be lurking in every corner. They search for "redemption" only to find it an empty promise. Instead of hilarity and romance, murder and exile ensue. It was almost like the author read "Crazy Rich Asians" and was like, "Ha, not in Indonesia." I do not know enough about Chinese in Indonesia from my own research or the book to corroborate this sentiment. Moreover, the writing did not make me emotionally invested enough to do any deep research.A final point was the second to last chapter, I was confused because maybe Gwendolyn and Estella are the same person a-la "Fight club"? But then I read back older scenes and that didn't seem to make sense, but then some times it did. I don't know, feel free to correct me anyone on this.

Found this in a list of the best thrillers of 2020....it’s not a thriller, more a whydunit, since one knows from the beginning that narrator Gwendolyn’s sister has poisoned her entire extended family. Interesting exploration of the roles of the Chinese tycoon families in Indonesia, but there also seemed to be a number of missed opportunities (I was intrigued by the idea of the Majesties and would have like more, and to have seen how a different writer handled, but clever idea). Not bad for a quarantine read.

It’s different form Crazy Rich Asians. Very detailed story of an extra rich Indonesian family told through the lens of two sisters. The double flash backs sometimes confused me but the reveals of each layers drew me back in. As a Chinese Indonesian, I recommend reading this book to get a glimpse of what it means to be one during the turn of the century.