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clairamell 's review for:
Ministry of Moral Panic
by Amanda Lee Koe
I will attempt to mention every single story in this review. I felt like the anthology started off really strongly, kind of waned in the middle, and got better again towards the end. My favourites are probably Flamingo Valley, Carousel & Fort, Pawn, and Laundromat. Flamingo Valley nearly made me cry. Carousel & Fort is the kind of story I would love to pick apart and analyse in Literature class. (Also a literal "death of the artist"!!!!! Symbolism!!!!) Pawn is a story about the power dynamics between men and women, the rich (or in this case, middle-class) and poor, Singaporeans and foreign workers. (Another great Lit class discussion: who has really "won" in the end? Who has power and who has lost it?) Laundromat was unexpectedly wholesome and sweet and also made me want to cry. (I do think it would have been find without the presence of another creepy perverted character though.) I am throwing an honourable mention to Every Park On This Island, because it made me feel emotional, I just felt like there was... something missing from it. I don't know. Then there are those that had really good premises, but the ending just fell flat, like King of Caldecott Hill, Fourteen Entries from the Diary of Maria Hertogh, and Chick. I find that in these stories the author tends to get kind of abstract/metaphorical in the ending lines, and just makes some conclusion and ends it, which kind of makes me feel like the whole story has been building up to nothing. I get that King of Caldecott Hill was supposed to reflect the nature of the ambiguous endings of Chinese drama serials, but it just felt really unfinished. Maria Hertogh wasn't bad, but it seemed a bit of a missed opportunity to go deeper. Chick I'm conflicted on because I found it to be the most relatable and compelling, and that opening story was amazing, but I just didn't vibe with the direction it went in. Alice, You Must Be The Fulcrum is something I feel like I don't have the life experience to truly understand or appreciate it yet, so maybe I'll come back to it when I'm 30. (Someone explain the peeing line to me please.) Siren is apparently the controversial one because most people find it to be bad or confusing or meaningless... I personally found it very fun to read lol. Very much plays onto shock factor in stripping the dignity of the Merlion but that makes it entertaining. I hope people actually got offended by this one. I would love to see the look on their faces. Two Ways To Do This is one of the stronger stories as well, and I love the way it was formatted - two alternate endings bridged by the (rather forgettable) Love Is No Big Truth. I did not realise that the title appeared twice on the content page so it was a pleasant surprise when I turned the page and saw it again. Nonetheless I still don't really understand how the "two ways" plays into the themes of the story. Maybe I'm just too dumb but I would love to discuss it with someone. Speaking of Love Is No Big Truth, it comes almost exactly halfway through the anthology and I consider it the point that separates the first half of the anthology from the second. Like I said, it's rather forgettable, but it acts just fine as an interlude. Choosing to end off with The Ballad of Arlene & Nelly was definitely A Choice. I was excited to read the wlw-centric story but I felt like the characters fell rather flat. Arlene's only personality trait is being obsessed with Nelly to an almost toxic point, and we're never really shown how the two got together, so it feels a little unbelievable when Nelly goes from "Can you just be happy for my marriage" to being with Arlene. (I realise this may be on me since I expected cute sappy lesbian romance not The Harsh Realities Of Adult Life.) I also wish the question-and-answer format had... a point? Like it was revealed to be someone asking the questions at the end. On the other hand the ending unexpectedly moved me. I have mixed feelings on this one. I think I will ruminate on it for a while.
A common theme seems to be about love, or beauty, and the corruption of that love or beauty. Something that could have been or was beautiful and wonderful, but because of circumstance or happenstance, ended up being tainted. Raw is definitely the word I would use to describe it. The author seems determined to paint a realistic image of (unmistakably Singaporean) everyday life, the good and the bad, and all the ugly parts we don't usually want to think about. I find all the stories have a very sexual aspect to them - not necessarily like "sex" sex (though there are a good many about lust) - but rather a very strong sense of... yearning? Desire?
Amanda Lee Koe uses a lot of big words that I had to search up while reading but that is okay I enjoyed learning new things. However, I occasionally find her metaphors to be a bit... off-putting? Lines like "she smelled of sea spray in a more fundamental way than sea spray itself" are questionable at best. Sometimes the phrasing makes me confused upon first reading and I have to reread the sentence but that's just me nitpicking. Her writing style is pretty good overall. Pieces like Every Park, Alice, and Chick almost have that detached voice to it, sort of like that grunge Tumblr-style writing if you know what I mean. I also enjoy the feeling of anonymity that some of her stories have - not using names and simply referring to people by their titles. It's like peering into a small vignette of a stranger's life.
Sidetracking a little. You know what this book needs? Mini story covers. Like a little sketched cover for every short story, featuring a certain scene/item from said story, with the title in thin all-caps font written across it. Flamingo Valley: close-up of two people's bare feet dancing, a record player and a guitar in the background. Carousel & Fort: the carousel in the foreground, on fire, with the fort in the back. Alice: the Singapore Flyer. Laundromat: a sketch of the Laundromat itself, seen through a CCTV camera, the room lit up only by the karaoke screen. Et cetera. I just really want to see art for this book okay.
Anyway the hype around this book is real, guys. I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to spice up their reading diet because this book definitely stands out from the rest. I would encourage every Singaporean teenager to read it because it's fascinating read worthy of discussion and also because I need someone to talk to about it.
A common theme seems to be about love, or beauty, and the corruption of that love or beauty. Something that could have been or was beautiful and wonderful, but because of circumstance or happenstance, ended up being tainted. Raw is definitely the word I would use to describe it. The author seems determined to paint a realistic image of (unmistakably Singaporean) everyday life, the good and the bad, and all the ugly parts we don't usually want to think about. I find all the stories have a very sexual aspect to them - not necessarily like "sex" sex (though there are a good many about lust) - but rather a very strong sense of... yearning? Desire?
Amanda Lee Koe uses a lot of big words that I had to search up while reading but that is okay I enjoyed learning new things. However, I occasionally find her metaphors to be a bit... off-putting? Lines like "she smelled of sea spray in a more fundamental way than sea spray itself" are questionable at best. Sometimes the phrasing makes me confused upon first reading and I have to reread the sentence but that's just me nitpicking. Her writing style is pretty good overall. Pieces like Every Park, Alice, and Chick almost have that detached voice to it, sort of like that grunge Tumblr-style writing if you know what I mean. I also enjoy the feeling of anonymity that some of her stories have - not using names and simply referring to people by their titles. It's like peering into a small vignette of a stranger's life.
Sidetracking a little. You know what this book needs? Mini story covers. Like a little sketched cover for every short story, featuring a certain scene/item from said story, with the title in thin all-caps font written across it. Flamingo Valley: close-up of two people's bare feet dancing, a record player and a guitar in the background. Carousel & Fort: the carousel in the foreground, on fire, with the fort in the back. Alice: the Singapore Flyer. Laundromat: a sketch of the Laundromat itself, seen through a CCTV camera, the room lit up only by the karaoke screen. Et cetera. I just really want to see art for this book okay.
Anyway the hype around this book is real, guys. I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to spice up their reading diet because this book definitely stands out from the rest. I would encourage every Singaporean teenager to read it because it's fascinating read worthy of discussion and also because I need someone to talk to about it.