Tale of the dreamer's son

Samarasan (Evening Is the Whole Day) sets a fearless and complex family saga against the social and political upheaval of modern-day Malaysia. Cyril Dragon, still reeling from the ethnic violence of 1969, hears the voice of God and establishes the Muhibbah Centre for World Peace, a utopian community where all are equal, in the 1970s. He is soon joined by single mother Salmah and her six-year old son, Reza. Cyril and Salmah fall in love and have a son, Clarence Kannan Cheng-Ho Muhammad Yusuf Dragon, the novel's narrator, and the family dynamics become increasingly precarious. It's clear from Yusuf's cynical narration--Cyril's a "reluctant savior, asthmatic prophet"; Salmah had reached "the most despairing point of her life" before she met Cyril--that the Center for Peace will not last. When Cyril is arrested along with over 100 others in 1987 as part of the government's "National Weeding Program," 10-year-old Yusuf faces a rupture: "The old me began his slow death while the new one waited to be born." As the nonlinear timeline expands into the near future, Yusuf recounts his years as a teacher in the 1990s and describes living with his mother in 2023. The writing is dazzling and poetic; Yusuf's narration soars over place and time and renders the cast with astounding clarity. Fans of Min-Jin Lee, Viet Thanh Nguyen, and Laila Lalami will find much to admire. (Nov.)