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livsliterarynook's review
4.0
The Heartsick Diaspora is a collection of short stories that focuses on exploring the Singaporean and Malaysian Chinese diaspora in cities around the world. The book covers themes of culture, identity, social divisions, family, loss and more.
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Each individual story had strong themes and a good storyline which made for a strong overall collection. The stories were also set across a range of time periods from WWII to more present day which I really liked. I think sometimes short story collections can be dominated by one or two more interesting stories, however, for the most part I found all of these stories to be moving and well-written.
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Personal favourites were The Coffin Maker and Rap of the Tiger Mother. In The Coffin Maker one man searches for his sister who has been taken as a comfort woman during WWII. In this story, he talks about the loss of his sister, but also about finding love. This is a clever story that looks at history, colonial relationships, love and family in more subtle ways. In the Tiger Mother, this is all about one single mum's experience of raising her son and the battle between mothers to ensure their child is seen as the best in the school. This one had more humour to it as it explored ideas of motherhood, and attitudes to education and schooling.
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Overall I really enjoyed these short stories as they felt lyrical, emotive and I felt deeply absorbed in each setting despite how short they were.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Each individual story had strong themes and a good storyline which made for a strong overall collection. The stories were also set across a range of time periods from WWII to more present day which I really liked. I think sometimes short story collections can be dominated by one or two more interesting stories, however, for the most part I found all of these stories to be moving and well-written.
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Personal favourites were The Coffin Maker and Rap of the Tiger Mother. In The Coffin Maker one man searches for his sister who has been taken as a comfort woman during WWII. In this story, he talks about the loss of his sister, but also about finding love. This is a clever story that looks at history, colonial relationships, love and family in more subtle ways. In the Tiger Mother, this is all about one single mum's experience of raising her son and the battle between mothers to ensure their child is seen as the best in the school. This one had more humour to it as it explored ideas of motherhood, and attitudes to education and schooling.
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Overall I really enjoyed these short stories as they felt lyrical, emotive and I felt deeply absorbed in each setting despite how short they were.
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