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A review by bboduffy
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw
5.0
I asked my Singaporean coworker to recommend some books that captured the Malaysian contemporary lit genre and cultural experience. The character-centered plot of this Tash Aw novel seemed like a great starting place.
It was far darker than I'd anticipated, with a tonality evocative of [a:Haruki Murakami|3354|Haruki Murakami|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1470611596p2/3354.jpg]. It shared similarities with Western novels in this genre, introspection, loneliness, social performance - but the internal monologues of the characters differed in ways that are difficult to articulate. The description of work ethic - almost merciless - and the motivations for material gain stood out.
I've always imagined the U.S. to be the embodiment of capitalism with our economy of Disneyfication, but the pursuit of luxury goods and luxury experiences was a key driver throughout this text. It reminded me of [b:The White Tiger|1768603|The White Tiger|Aravind Adiga|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347754998s/1768603.jpg|1766737], another book she had recommended. In that book, the narrator was also highly fixated on these external indicators of wealth.
Guess I'll just have to read more novels from these regions to see if it is a sampling bias and/or what other themes emerge in the APAC contemporary lit space.
It was far darker than I'd anticipated, with a tonality evocative of [a:Haruki Murakami|3354|Haruki Murakami|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1470611596p2/3354.jpg]. It shared similarities with Western novels in this genre, introspection, loneliness, social performance - but the internal monologues of the characters differed in ways that are difficult to articulate. The description of work ethic - almost merciless - and the motivations for material gain stood out.
I've always imagined the U.S. to be the embodiment of capitalism with our economy of Disneyfication, but the pursuit of luxury goods and luxury experiences was a key driver throughout this text. It reminded me of [b:The White Tiger|1768603|The White Tiger|Aravind Adiga|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1347754998s/1768603.jpg|1766737], another book she had recommended. In that book, the narrator was also highly fixated on these external indicators of wealth.
Guess I'll just have to read more novels from these regions to see if it is a sampling bias and/or what other themes emerge in the APAC contemporary lit space.