The entire story is narrated in first person/past simple then, when Li Lan must make her decision between Er Lang and Tian Bai, it changes to present tense, and the only thing she says is what she intends to do. I’ll start from the ending, which I think is the biggest problem of the entire novel, because it’s completely underwhelming. The writing style is good, although sometimes there are too many, not very inspired similes, but the real problem lies with the narration. Contact with this ghost also makes Li Lan aware that his family hides a great deal of secrets and internal strife - an information that is vital to her, since she’s betrothed to the ghost’s cousin, Tian Bai… and since the ghost claims Tian Bai murdered him. Needless to say, Li Lan isn’t enthusiastic about this idea, but the ghost not only torments her, but steals her life force every time he visits her in a dream, making her more and more weak.

To appease this unruly spirit, she’s supposed to marry him even though he’s dead, and so be a widow in his household. The premises are creepy enough: the protagonist is haunted by the ghost of a recently deceased man, whose family wants her to be his ghost bride. It’s certainly an interesting context, with lot of superstitions, ghosts and demons floating in the background - enough to keep the reader entertained for the first half of the book.

The twist, for a Western reader like me, comes from the folklore and setting used: the Peranakan culture, the culture of Chinese people living in the Malaysia area (the book is set in Malacca). It’s a Heterosexual Classic™ in the sense that the protagonist, Li Lan, in the end must choose between two suitors and two lives: a human, ordinary life with Tian Bai, or an adventurous, mysterious life with Er Lang, a supernatural creature (not going to spoil which kind… just know it’s awesome).

I really wanted to like this book more, and it’s a pity it didn’t deliver for me. The interesting bits of Chinese-Malay folklore aren’t enough to sustain a narration in which the protagonist is constantly locked outside of events.

The ghost bride book review