Magic realism, land reclamation, a story of nation-building. It's hard to think how the elements can come together to make a story, but Rachel Heng's epic narrative blends everything into a gripping tale. In a small fishing village in the 1940s, Ah Boon follows his father to sea for the first time. He's not cut out for fishing but he braves the sea in hope to gain recognition from his father. That day, they chance upon a mysterious island that his father and elder brother, despite being …
English
[Review] Like Spilled Water
I picked up this book by Jennie Liu because I was intrigued by the title Like Spilled Water, and I immediately thought of the Chinese saying 嫁出去的女儿，泼出去的水, literally translated as “a married daughter is like spilled water”. I wasn’t wrong. The story centres around Na, a vocational school student in China’s countryside, when her life is suddenly turned upside down by her younger brother’s death. She travels to the city, where her parents live an extremely frugal life while pouring all their …