In One Word: MoralA Beautiful Sentence: “If we are drowning in the sea, we could still swim, or there would be clothes who could help pull us to shore, but if we are drowning in a sea of people, it’s like we’re buried deep in a muddy swamp, mun.” The Plot: A former village headman…
Category: Character-Driven Narratives
Inheritance by Balli Kaur Jaswal – Review
In One Word: RealityA Beautiful Sentence: “You never put sacred words where somebody could trample on them., his father had shouted.” The Plot: This story follows a Punjabi family living in Singapore during its transition to independence. They face challenges like mental health, societal expectations, and cultural shifts. Themes of identity, tradition, and belonging run…
The Riot Act By Sebastian Sim – Review
In One Word: FrighteningA Beautiful Sentence: “She wished she were using one of those landline phones from her parents’ generation, so that she could physically slam the receiver down the phone.” The Plot: The 2013 Little India riot in Singapore sets the stage for this story, which follows three women’s lives. One woman fears she…
Raffles Place Ragtime by Philip Jeyaretnam – Review
In One Word: PowerfulA Beautiful Sentence: “Looking out at the lighted squares of other flats, the rows of streetlights and the lights of the cars hurrying to their destinations, she knew that she lived her life in too much of a rush, too readily accepting the lash of the whip that sought to drive her…
Escape From Bussorah Street by A.K. Zai – Review
In One Word: OKA Beautiful Sentence: “They spoke it with their different accents, maybe because of how they spoke their own language, but when we neighbours chatted, we understood one another.” The Plot: Set in 1941 Singapore, this story follows twelve-year-old Zak, who dreams of becoming a sepak raga trainer despite his father’s insistence that…
Lieutenant Kurosawa’s Errand Boy by Warran Kalasegaran – Review
In One Word: HeartbreakingA Beautiful Sentence: “But I have more salt than my grandson has had rice.” The Plot: Set during Singapore’s Japanese Occupation, the story follows an eight-year-old Tamil boy who is separated from his father and forced to serve the Japanese military. Renamed Nanban, he learns their language, customs, and martial arts under…
Heartland by Daren V.L. Shiau – Review
In One Word: Mesmerizing.A Beautiful Sentence: “And once again, Singapore would be defined not by the people who belonged to it but by the person it belonged to.” The Plot: Wing Seng, a young Singaporean, navigates life transitions in the early 1990s, moving from school to National Service. He grapples with identity, relationships, and his…
Ponti by Sharlene Teo – Review
In One Word: Disappointing A Beautiful Sentence: “One day the shitty corporate mug I’m holding will be somebody’s antique,…” The Plot: The book follows three women, Szu, Circe, and Amisa, across different times in their lives, from adolescence to adulthood. Szu is a teenager trying to build a relationship with her mother, Amisa, a former…