c3rem0nials's reviews
33 reviews

Death of a Perm Sec by Wong Souk Yee

challenging

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

interesting enough for me to keep reading but ultimately i was left with a very "so what is it all for?" feeling at the end of the book. 

The Stories Women Journalists Tell by Reta Lee

informative medium-paced

this collection has it's merits, women in the corporate field definitely deserve a space to talk and share passionately about their experiences of their primary source of work. journo as a field also tethers between the creative and corporate, and has so many different ethical considerations that come with the job. the book definitely starts off a bit slow, with the first few essays being brief discussions/concerns about sexism/misogyny in the field, but picks up with "a name of all costs" by meliza t. selva. it's definitely my favorite piece in the entire book -- her experience as a storyteller really shines through in her essay, and there is something so deeply enamouring about being honest about what being a journalist comes with. the hunger, the drive, having to choose between being human or being a reporter, when tragic and irreversible events become content for your career. i also really liked "the motel editor" by caitlin liu, who talks at length about her experiences with class, and what it means to have moved up economic classes with an immigrant nuclear family behind her, and how all of those things influence her practice as an editor. the book is definitely most accurately described as "medium", as it definitely lacks theme or segments, and the pace is something you just kind of have to follow. overall, still a very solid and insightful read on what it means to be a female, seasian journalist. i had fun reading about regional topics, and finding out more about things i hadn't realised were large happenings as well. 

The Accidental Malay by Karina Robles Bahrin
Did not finish book.

wattpad ahh novel. 

edit/more comprehensive thoughts: not a very likeable character or more accurately a character i found difficult to see her point of view. discussions of sociopolitical topics are sanitised, with a very poor and cisgendered understanding of what it means to negate identity in the malaysian landscape. basically just CRA, but jasmine is already rich and everyone else just dances around her inherent otheredness. it's so blah. i couldn't bring myself to care. malay/muslims malaysians stay pressed abt this book tho cos u guys need some deserved criticism being the majority in a country with islamic supremacy. while i do think the culture criticism was poorly done the author deserves a place to criticise malay/muslim identity (albeit again not in the best way). it's a read if u want something light, no frills, reality tv translated into a book. but not for any ounce of social commentary or clever satire

Ponti by Sharlene Teo

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

i've read this book before. it is so hard not to DEVOUR this book, i spent my whole day with this book by my side. this book was my EEAO before it happened. a really haunting exploration of the generational trauma between szu and amisa, the awkward and homoerotic friendship between szu and circe... it's one of the few singlit titles where singapore is truly a backdrop. it doesnt aim to capture the singaporean experience. the grief and complexity of these women really define the book. a really bold debut. 

A Bad Girl's Book of Animals by Wong May

challenging emotional funny mysterious slow-paced

wong may's poetry is really one of a kind... ann ang really put it into perspective when she says the spaces are the intentional silences, her poems are poems that resist the page itself. her words dance around very freely, and it is shrouded in so much mystery and wonder. it can be "confusing" in the way poetry can leave you dumbfounded and at a loss on how to respond sometimes, but overall it's the kind of read that you need to allow to wash over you like a good shower. i can't help but appreciate this body of work. 

Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah

this used to be my favorite book as a kid, and i think for obvious reasons - the writing is easily digestible, fairly easy to follow (though very meandery in nature, there is no real plot to follow and is at times a character study). set in the primetime of the y2k era, as expected there are a lot of issues that are/were considered acceptable to say (ie amal and her friends tendency to be SO internally misogynistic, the casual fatphobia perpetuated by a lot of the characters, and more)... while the book succeeds in i suppose what would be trying to make muslims more complex, it also ends up making everyone a caricature. its a disservice to the diversity of personalities and people that identify as muslims in the book. also didn't understand why amal constantly feels like there is no larger muslim community beyond her family. i deeply empathise with her immediate social situations like school, but it was so reductive and insular in perspective. i guess it was intentional with her being a teenager but this girl clearly does not know other muslims besides her family and her old religious school. randa abdel fattah is a fairly entertaining writer, but i guess if you're into flawed characters and non linear stories this novel would be it. 

After The Inquiry by Jolene Tan

informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

Thought this was a very quick, digestible read in spite of its content -- exploring the messy systems of the Singapore government was not something I expected to be invested in. Jolene's writing is accessible and I enjoyed the viewpoint of a civil servant, who is so far gone into his job that he values his career over anything remotely human. The rating is less for quality, and more for just the general feeling, I suppose. I did think that the flow was a bit too... serene, for lack of better word. The plot twist was unexpected, but immediately fell flat with the decision to just delete the video of the russian roulette . Everything from there just felt like it immediately when on a low note, and the ending felt a bit lackluster. I wish the negative overtones were just more felt, though I did not expect Teck to find any humanity or learn from the experience. 

Singa-Pura-Pura by Nazry Bahrawi

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Had higher hopes for this book, some stories were definitely stronger than others. I really liked the choice to open and end the book with Nor's stories, it was effective in driving home the distant, but heavy and hovering feeling of what seems to be dystopian and speculative -- yet so familiar all the same. Some stories needed a bit more refining, but the specfic scene, let alone Malay specfic, is so young still, so I can't say much about quality. 

Making Kin: Ecofeminist Essays from Singapore by Angelia Poon, Esther Vincent

informative medium-paced

3.75

i read this with a good amount of admiration for the contributors to this book... i think my favorite essay had to be diana rahim's, whose personal family history of oil making intertwined perfectly with the subject of ecofeminism. especially in singapore, where our relationships with land and hearing marginalised communities on the subject of ecology is often unheard of. i appreciated that most of these contributors are brown, queer marginalised genders but i think the book would have benefitted more with a wider range of perspectives (ie indigenous communities). 

Demian by Hermann Hesse by Hermann Hesse
Did not finish book.

I really liked the writing, but my god this book was so incredibly slow. Could not for the life of me get into this book.