A review by ingridostby
Ponti by Sharlene Teo

4.0

The last page made me cry, which made this all seem worth it. The beginning was incredibly strong, I laughed out loud. I read here that the first portion was what won her an award, and then she expanded it as part of a book deal, which led to second portion of the book feeling like a different tone. I thought much of this was a beautiful reflection on how we grow up and away from our families and friends and how we want to get it back but often don't, how we harden as we age, how we often aren't what we set out to be when we're younger and how everything can get lost especially among a quickly changing landscape like Singapore during the time the book is set. I thought Teo's world-building was beautiful. I felt for these characters, and that pulled me through to the end despite the parts of the book that slowed, or the parts in the story I couldn't quite justify. I don't think every novel needs to be everything and mean everything, and I think from the start this book set out to be a story of friends who grew close and apart and a mother who could never find her way, generational issues that bleed through everything no matter how much you try to get away from them — and it never departed from that. I found that all reassuring. I resonated with modern-day Circe and her recent separation from her now-ex and her nostalgia of and resentment toward her past, I resonated with teenage Szu and her bad home life and embarrassment/love for
and hurt from her mother, and frustrations with friends when they're just being them and it drives you nuts, but you think you love them anyway, but maybe you don't. I thought this book put into words what many don't, or can't.