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iillsss's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
4.0
athirah_idrus's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Brilliant writing, I admire the execution but I am not sure I can say the same thing about the intention.
The short stories in this collection do not seem to be connected. But upon further inspection, they do share a common denominator: all the stories were designed to maximize the shock value based on the themes chosen. The author seemed at ease shining the spotlight on the characters that typically reside on the periphery of society – the maid who found love at the unlikeliest place, the former king of tv series reliving his fame as his life turned shatters, a woman who did not fit the society’s definition of ‘beautiful’ who tried to buy the affections of a good-looking man – at the discomfort of the readers.
Despite the discomfort and feeling that I wanted to escape from the world that author created, I just couldn’t look away. There was a certain charm in her writing that held me in my seat, and I went along until the end of the ride. How is it that I found myself thoroughly enjoying the read, and at the same time feeling angry at the author for making me go through such an uncomfortable journey, for making me witness ugly scenes that do happen in real life, just maybe I’ve been blessed enough never having to interact with or experience them myself? This made Amanda an amazing writer to me.
Reading this made me realize how lucky I am that I can peek at the ugly parts of the world that I cannot stomach vicariously through the characters or the stories that I read, and have the luxury to choose to tune out them out should they bother me too much whenever I want. However, there are people in these very unfortunate circumstances in real life, either by luck or due to the consequences of poorly made decisions, especially those who weren’t lucky enough to be given options to choose otherwise.
My favorite stories from this collection are Love is No Big Truth, King of the Caldecott Hill and Fourteen Entries from the Diary of Maria Hertogh.
If you’re made of sterner stuff, then I recommend this.
The short stories in this collection do not seem to be connected. But upon further inspection, they do share a common denominator: all the stories were designed to maximize the shock value based on the themes chosen. The author seemed at ease shining the spotlight on the characters that typically reside on the periphery of society – the maid who found love at the unlikeliest place, the former king of tv series reliving his fame as his life turned shatters, a woman who did not fit the society’s definition of ‘beautiful’ who tried to buy the affections of a good-looking man – at the discomfort of the readers.
Despite the discomfort and feeling that I wanted to escape from the world that author created, I just couldn’t look away. There was a certain charm in her writing that held me in my seat, and I went along until the end of the ride. How is it that I found myself thoroughly enjoying the read, and at the same time feeling angry at the author for making me go through such an uncomfortable journey, for making me witness ugly scenes that do happen in real life, just maybe I’ve been blessed enough never having to interact with or experience them myself? This made Amanda an amazing writer to me.
Reading this made me realize how lucky I am that I can peek at the ugly parts of the world that I cannot stomach vicariously through the characters or the stories that I read, and have the luxury to choose to tune out them out should they bother me too much whenever I want. However, there are people in these very unfortunate circumstances in real life, either by luck or due to the consequences of poorly made decisions, especially those who weren’t lucky enough to be given options to choose otherwise.
My favorite stories from this collection are Love is No Big Truth, King of the Caldecott Hill and Fourteen Entries from the Diary of Maria Hertogh.
If you’re made of sterner stuff, then I recommend this.
itszosia's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Body shaming, Transphobia, Mental illness, Death, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Medical content, Lesbophobia, and Fatphobia
do_cholery's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Dementia and Abandonment
annabarbarabittner's review against another edition
5.0
Ministerstwo moralnej paniki to bardzo ciekawy i różnorodny zbiór opowiadań. Z pozoru ich myślą przewodnią jest miłość w jej różnorakich aspektach, ale można w tych tekstach odnaleźć o wiele więcej. Amanda Lee Koe zahacza o wiele tematów, takich jak emigracja, nieprzystosowanie, konwencje i mimo że wiele z tekstów osadzonych jest głęboko w singapurskim kontekście, to są one bardzo uniwersalne.
Jak to z opowiadaniami bywa - nie każde zapamiętam tak samo, nie każde poruszyło mnie na tym samym poziomie, ale uważam, że to równy zbiór i że teksty są bardzo różnorodne, nie tylko tematycznie, ale i stylistycznie. Autorka bada różne formy literackie - są tu krótkie zdania, krótkie rozdziały, ale i teksty bardziej rozbudowane, skoncentrowane na stylu i słowie, są powtarzające się motywy, powracający bohaterowie (Na dwa sposoby to mój ulubiony tekst). Widać, że Singapurka lubi eksperymentować, co bardzo mi się podoba.
Ciąg dalszy: http://przeczytalamksiazke.blogspot.com/2022/11/ministerstwo-moralnej-paniki-amanda-lee.html
Jak to z opowiadaniami bywa - nie każde zapamiętam tak samo, nie każde poruszyło mnie na tym samym poziomie, ale uważam, że to równy zbiór i że teksty są bardzo różnorodne, nie tylko tematycznie, ale i stylistycznie. Autorka bada różne formy literackie - są tu krótkie zdania, krótkie rozdziały, ale i teksty bardziej rozbudowane, skoncentrowane na stylu i słowie, są powtarzające się motywy, powracający bohaterowie (Na dwa sposoby to mój ulubiony tekst). Widać, że Singapurka lubi eksperymentować, co bardzo mi się podoba.
Ciąg dalszy: http://przeczytalamksiazke.blogspot.com/2022/11/ministerstwo-moralnej-paniki-amanda-lee.html
dbaguti's review against another edition
2.0
Ma lepsze momenty, ale poza tym płytko i kicz. Językowo na jedno kopyto, co nie wydaje się winą tłumacza. Plus za wątek (wątki) "przydawania się", ale przez brak pogłębienia są one albo psychologicznie niewiarygodne, albo imperialistyczne w swoim podejściu do postaci m.in. wiejskich służących w singapurskich domach. Pozornie zmysłowy język Koe to język, którym można pisać o samym sobie, ale przy tworzeniu narracji o innych prowadzi do błędów wymienionych wyżej: płytko i kicz. Szkoda.
xengisa's review against another edition
2.0
2.5 stars.
Not really a good rating because there were some stories I did like: Alice (I thought this was the standout, really, my girl Jenny was spitting facts and there was some semblance of complexity there... oh, and also, peeing! (What's with this, why the sudden inclusion of this? For the panic, I suppose.)) and Flamingo Valley.
Overall the tone of the narration is very detached, so much that the bluntness the descriptions come across as crude and too artificial, too forced, to me, I think. I'm sure there's supposed to be some uncomfortable truth behind these stories, but it just feels like a forced vomiting, aside from the two stories I mentioned above.
In particular I felt there were missed opportunities for Maria Hertogh, Laundromat, and Caldecott Hill. It's also possible that I'm just not reading deeply enough into the stories so I miss the point of the crudeness. I felt concerned, but mostly it was "Oh vagina, huh. Tits? Eh, okay." at some points but there was nothing strange about the morality of it. The tone paints it somehow black-and-white to me... That's strange, I think.
And this is strange to say but. It's... some of the stories are really.... caricatures of straight people. But instead of highlighting their features I felt their humanity was dimmed instead.
Not really a good rating because there were some stories I did like: Alice (I thought this was the standout, really, my girl Jenny was spitting facts and there was some semblance of complexity there... oh, and also, peeing! (What's with this, why the sudden inclusion of this? For the panic, I suppose.)) and Flamingo Valley.
Overall the tone of the narration is very detached, so much that the bluntness the descriptions come across as crude and too artificial, too forced, to me, I think. I'm sure there's supposed to be some uncomfortable truth behind these stories, but it just feels like a forced vomiting, aside from the two stories I mentioned above.
In particular I felt there were missed opportunities for Maria Hertogh, Laundromat, and Caldecott Hill. It's also possible that I'm just not reading deeply enough into the stories so I miss the point of the crudeness. I felt concerned, but mostly it was "Oh vagina, huh. Tits? Eh, okay." at some points but there was nothing strange about the morality of it. The tone paints it somehow black-and-white to me... That's strange, I think.
And this is strange to say but. It's... some of the stories are really.... caricatures of straight people. But instead of highlighting their features I felt their humanity was dimmed instead.