comment on style

Tan Twan Eng writes in modern-day English though there are many foreign words and phrases that make some details difficult to understand. For example, in Chapter 14, Magnus visits Ling at the cabin she is using on his property. She offers him a “gin pahit.” He responds by saying that is a “lekker” offer. It seems obvious that “pahit” is some sort of beverage. Since Ling uses that word, it could be Malayan in origin. Magnus uses the Dutch word to respond. General meanings for both of these words can be discerned by their contexts, but the English-speaking reader can only be certain by checking the foreign words and phrases. In most scenes, there are only a scattering of words and phrases that are not English.