It started off with a group of surveyers who went to a historical site with the purpose to build a hotel in its stead. The story slowly revealed the history behind the marvellous building which was based on unconditional pure love which is untainted by lust and sexual desires.
The proses and the plots were well written. Thoe Saung has a fantastic ability to pull the reader in, luring out our curiosity and interest in the story. He did not plainly write about love or history, but he presented his research on phenomena of light, color, painting and Burmese traditional architecture, spicing up with royal affairs and politics of the old days.
Spoiler alert
Something in my mind about the love that Nan Nwe (Lead character) had... At first, I thought he was foolish to love and let his possessions be gone. Afterall, the lady did not love him, even for a bit. It was a heartache to see the unreciprocated love. All he had was the purest and most selfless kind of love. I was disappointed by the fact that he forgot about the world and the people who loved him.
To think again, from Buddhism perspectives, it was the karmic energy that he carried from his past lives. And it was the wrong wishing of Yamin Thuzar that she devoted (parami) in her previous lives, she became the famous prostitute in the whole kingdom. Instead of looking for escape from such life, she assumed it was a necessary step to end sufferings as a whole in the cycle of life and death.
Honestly, I did not fancy the ideas about curse on those who had sexual desire for Yamin Thuzar. The love of Nan Nwe for her way too great that he couldn’t have loving kindness for others. But that’s kinda close to reality...
In short, it is a lesson to learn about the cause and effect of Karmic energy from our previous lives. No matter how much we claim we have great love, we could not have unconditional loving kindness to every living things, unlike the Buddha, our teacher and the one who attain enlightenment.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Compared with previous books, this seems to be a bit thick but as usual, the story is very interesting and could see how the author put so much effort in creating it. Like it. :D
You know there are books that touch your heart and every word makes you feel something u can’t even describe. This book is more than that. I was disappointed even after one third of the book. I thought, again, the author make another book about romance. But then, it’s not just romance. It’s love. The later part, especially the ending grip my heart, shook it and almost took it away. The writing makes me feel all sort of things. When I close the book after the last word, I found myself struggling in pain and tears on cheek, unable to recover from the shock and pain.
I’m not poetic. Everything I said above does not even cover half of what I felt after reading this book.