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 horror movie actress. Circe, Szu’s friend, looks back on these relationships 17 years later.
Were my expectations too high? Probably. I normally don’t choose books based on glowing recommendations. But I wanted to kick off my year of reading 100 Singaporean novels with a bang. And “Ponti” seemed the perfect choice, especially with Ian McEwan, one of my favorite authors, calling it “Remarkable”. What could go wrong?
A lot, it turns out.
Starting with the plot (or rather the lack of a plot). There is no clear message or purpose, which could have been fine if I had been able to connect with the characters. It started off well with the very accurate descriptions of adolescence: the despair of not fitting in, the dreams of being a film star, the happiness of connecting with another adolescent. But after that, everything felt flat.
The characters, despite being polar opposites in so many ways, all end up in similar gloomy journeys. No solutions, no growth, just gloom. At times, I wondered if the book was leading to all three of them jumping off a cliff.
What made me continue reading was that the book kept giving the impression more was to come. For example, one character starts receiving mysterious drawings in the mail. “Aha,” I thought, “Now we are getting into it.” Tension! And then no. There is no explanation for these drawings. They just… exist. Lots of potential storylines that don’t seem to have been explored.
Another reason I continued reading the book was the language. The author uses very colourful and beautiful language. Sure, there are clichés, but how many adolescents don’t use them at such a young age? They initially didn’t bother me.
Also, as English isn’t my first language, I love reading books that make me expand my vocabulary. And she uses lots of not-so-common words for me. So, it was a rewarding challenge to read the book and look up the words I didn’t know. It even helped me with my Singlish!
But after a while, I felt the use of not-so-common words was forced. Take the word “mulleted,” described by the Oxford English Dictionary as obsolete and only recorded in the 1600s. It is great to revive old words and use a more colourful language, but sometimes a simpler, more direct word choice would have been better.
Takeaway:
“Ponti” is a beautifully written book, but weighed down by a lack of plot and unrelatable characters. If you are looking to expand your vocabulary and don’t mind pushing through a slow, directionless story, this might work for you.