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dustyduck's review
4.0
Excellent. Some stories stronger than others but all give a fantastic sense of place and space.
lavelle_reads's review
4.0
Balik Kampung, edited by Verena Tay, is a series of anthologies featuring various neighbourhoods in Singapore. The volume I chose (3A) focuses on the northern districts, including places such as Marsiling, Seletar, and —everyone's favourite —Yishun.
Consisting of 10 stories, all by different authors, the diversity of Balik Kampung 3A makes it a rather fascinating read (though of course, some pieces were better than others). There are also little features on the author at the end of every story, expanding a little on their experiences living in these districts and their inspiration behind the piece.
The authors' familiarity with these places definitely shines through in their writing. The scenes described, and even specific circumstances, are largely drawn from their own lives. Some write to preserve an image of the neighbourhood as they remember it to be. Others write to capture the emotions they felt while living there. All in all, Balik Kampung is a commemoration of Singaporean life, and a look into what makes certain places "home".
Find my other reviews here: instagram.com/lavelle.reads
Consisting of 10 stories, all by different authors, the diversity of Balik Kampung 3A makes it a rather fascinating read (though of course, some pieces were better than others). There are also little features on the author at the end of every story, expanding a little on their experiences living in these districts and their inspiration behind the piece.
The authors' familiarity with these places definitely shines through in their writing. The scenes described, and even specific circumstances, are largely drawn from their own lives. Some write to preserve an image of the neighbourhood as they remember it to be. Others write to capture the emotions they felt while living there. All in all, Balik Kampung is a commemoration of Singaporean life, and a look into what makes certain places "home".
Find my other reviews here: instagram.com/lavelle.reads
judithhuang's review
4.0
The book fairies visited me and left this book. Really enjoyed this one, especially the first half of the book which contained a semifactual semi fictional Simon Tay essay about wild chickens in seletar, a balli Kaur jaswal story about an Indian family aspiring to move to the west and a Jeremy Tiang story about an escaped prisoner. The second half of the book was a little patchier but overall a great addition to singlit and our literature that contains a sense of place.
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