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rachyrexaphous's review
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
dustyduck's review
4.0
Balik Kampung 2A is a strong entry within my favourite Singlit short-story series, anchored in the individual relationships forged with space.
Unlike other books in the Balik Kampung series centered on a particular region, stories here need not reference any individual neighbourhood, even as the reflexology parlours (Joshua Ip’s ‘Peace is a Foot Reflexology Parlour’) or police stations (Shelly Bryant’s ‘Enough’) are necessarily bound by their localities. This entry does not feel like a residual collection of stories unable to make it into the rest (‘Northern Shores’ or ‘Some East, More West’ of other volumes), but stand strongly by themselves. Verena Tay has mandated each contributor live in their neighbourhoods for more than a decade, but this has not excluded immigrants either. Here I am thinking of the occasional debate that pops up surrounding what constitutes Singlit – what if authors based here don’t hold a Singaporean passport? If they’ve grown up here but since left Singapore? This collection also affirms what seems to me the obvious answer – yes, and yes, they still write Singlit.
Sometimes, more ethnographic, intensely local Singaporean short stories return to familiar tropes – the neighbourhood kopitiam, hardy little businesses that defy shopping malls, a transit through Changi Airport, the oppressive, oppressive heat. Nothing inherently wrong with using these, which after all are commonalities. Here, these ‘quintessentially Singaporean’ occasions, bordering on the mundane, stand out in more unusual situations that tease out, or quite explicitly discuss, the various socioeconomic tensions beneath the surface. Take Bryan’s ‘Enough’ – Thai prostitutes, trafficked into Singapore, do not simply appear as battered victims or figures of social deviance. Literature articulates, reproduces an idea of a Singaporean community – given that Singlit has been more recently expanding and highly cognizant of the regime of lowly-paid migrant labour, cleaved by gender, and nationality, how might we expand this framework to better incorporate illegal labour too?
Likewise, stories that appear to speak to a bygone age – like Carena Chor’s The Tontine Leader – suggest that social institutions now past are not merely historical relics. Tontines – a kind of highly informal money-pooling lottery, social-insurance function generate highly personal pressures and weave a dense web of social obligations. Not all is lost in nostalgia. Sure, Cyril Wong is less convincing here presenting the lens of a young boy (‘The Mistake’) – but there is no doubt surrounding the traumatic aftermath the everyday pressures of poverty forcing people into breaking the law.
The chief difficulty within this collection, where some stories are noticeable weaker, then surrounds how to bookend these little vignettes, to weave them into a wider social fabric or rhythm of life. Take the more unsatisfying endings here (Sonny Lim trails off: “Ah Tee lingered just a moment longer. Then with a sigh of inexpressible disappointment, he turned around and walked back into the darkness of the shop.”; or consider the paralysis at the end of Sharon Lim’s ‘Amy’s Story’). There is a sense that for all the little tensions and discoveries, we must segue back into life. How do we contextualise these moments of interiority with the weeks, months, years that these estates hum along for?
Balik Kampung – ‘Return to Village’. Together with the other books in the series, ‘2A’ is thought-provoking, humanizing. It provides a sense of identity – yours, mine, ours?
Unlike other books in the Balik Kampung series centered on a particular region, stories here need not reference any individual neighbourhood, even as the reflexology parlours (Joshua Ip’s ‘Peace is a Foot Reflexology Parlour’) or police stations (Shelly Bryant’s ‘Enough’) are necessarily bound by their localities. This entry does not feel like a residual collection of stories unable to make it into the rest (‘Northern Shores’ or ‘Some East, More West’ of other volumes), but stand strongly by themselves. Verena Tay has mandated each contributor live in their neighbourhoods for more than a decade, but this has not excluded immigrants either. Here I am thinking of the occasional debate that pops up surrounding what constitutes Singlit – what if authors based here don’t hold a Singaporean passport? If they’ve grown up here but since left Singapore? This collection also affirms what seems to me the obvious answer – yes, and yes, they still write Singlit.
Sometimes, more ethnographic, intensely local Singaporean short stories return to familiar tropes – the neighbourhood kopitiam, hardy little businesses that defy shopping malls, a transit through Changi Airport, the oppressive, oppressive heat. Nothing inherently wrong with using these, which after all are commonalities. Here, these ‘quintessentially Singaporean’ occasions, bordering on the mundane, stand out in more unusual situations that tease out, or quite explicitly discuss, the various socioeconomic tensions beneath the surface. Take Bryan’s ‘Enough’ – Thai prostitutes, trafficked into Singapore, do not simply appear as battered victims or figures of social deviance. Literature articulates, reproduces an idea of a Singaporean community – given that Singlit has been more recently expanding and highly cognizant of the regime of lowly-paid migrant labour, cleaved by gender, and nationality, how might we expand this framework to better incorporate illegal labour too?
Likewise, stories that appear to speak to a bygone age – like Carena Chor’s The Tontine Leader – suggest that social institutions now past are not merely historical relics. Tontines – a kind of highly informal money-pooling lottery, social-insurance function generate highly personal pressures and weave a dense web of social obligations. Not all is lost in nostalgia. Sure, Cyril Wong is less convincing here presenting the lens of a young boy (‘The Mistake’) – but there is no doubt surrounding the traumatic aftermath the everyday pressures of poverty forcing people into breaking the law.
The chief difficulty within this collection, where some stories are noticeable weaker, then surrounds how to bookend these little vignettes, to weave them into a wider social fabric or rhythm of life. Take the more unsatisfying endings here (Sonny Lim trails off: “Ah Tee lingered just a moment longer. Then with a sigh of inexpressible disappointment, he turned around and walked back into the darkness of the shop.”; or consider the paralysis at the end of Sharon Lim’s ‘Amy’s Story’). There is a sense that for all the little tensions and discoveries, we must segue back into life. How do we contextualise these moments of interiority with the weeks, months, years that these estates hum along for?
Balik Kampung – ‘Return to Village’. Together with the other books in the series, ‘2A’ is thought-provoking, humanizing. It provides a sense of identity – yours, mine, ours?
thereadingmum's review
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Even in a country as small as Singapore, it amazes me how much you can be ignorant of despite growing up there and spending more than half your life there. However, that's probably true of most people. We traverse the same circles most of our lives. It's also fascinating to see my birth country from different perspectives and time frames. Many of the stories are well-written little gems of fiction. A few are mediocre but altogether a lovely collection. Highly recommended for its nostalgic factor for gen x and earlier.
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