i grab the fabric and pull it over my sweet head.

[extemporally]

Oh my gosh, it feels like I have been putting off this bookpost for the longest time. Let's start now, yeah?

Singapore Shifting Boundaries: Social Change in the 21st Century, edited by William S.W. Lim, Sharon Siddique, & Tan Dan Feng.

"The book aims to depic the richly textured and nuanced fabric of social life in Singapore in the early 21st century, as Singaporeans live in a blur of shifting boundaries where past, present and future co-exist." This book was written by artists, activists, and commentators - and I would say that it felt a bit all over the place as a result, and I especially didn't like how the book was divided into sections (identity, narratives, negotiating artistic expression, and shaping social narratives) that didn't seem to make sense to me. I felt a more thematic (identity, language, culture, ethnicity, sexuality, etc) or genre-based (poems, essays, commentaries, novels) might have worked?

But I feel like this is a bit nitpicky, because ultimately the strength of an anthology doesn't rest on how it's been organised, but the strength of its contributors. And there was a lot to love, particularly from the creative contributors. Alfian bin Sa'at's political satire, as always, is A++:

10) Once a 'community problem' is diagnosed, the newspaper will give it wide coverage, publishing commentaries by forum letter writers, their own columnists, academics, religious leaders, and MP's, both working and retired. The solution is always defined according to the logic of 'change comes from within', where the issue is not one of flawed government policies, but of deficient cultural values. Thus Malays are exhorted to 'ubah sikap' (change attitude) or undergo 'revolusi minda' (mental revolution). For the past fifty years.

And, from the section entitled Malay TV Drama Conventions:

4) You can go blind by crying.

5) Miscarriages often occur when someone falls down the stairs.

6) The boss of a company sits at his desk, usually writing longhand notes. There is no computer on his desk. There are many ring files at the cabinet behind him. To show how important he is in the company, when he leaves his office, he tells his secretary, 'Kalau orang telefon, bilang saya keluar sekejap.' (If anyone calls, tell him I'm not in.)

(There is something I want to say here, about how I love Alfian Sa'at's eloquent anger about racial relations in Singapore and his raised (verbal) fist against the Chinese hegemony ('Sinopore'), how he's propelled by this urge to narrate the Malay experience - or, 'a' Malay experience - and the way even though I can only read the stuff he writes in English he has such an intrinsic love of the Malay lexicon.)

Or Haresh Sharma's take on Singapore-Malaysia bilateral relations:

PAUSE. SILENCE. SINGAPOREAN MAN COUGHS. PAUSE. HE COUGHS AGAIN.

S: You have water?

M: Hah?

S: Water. Coughing.

M: It's not funny.

S: Hah?

M: Singapore. Malaysia. Water. It's not funny. It's very sensitive ok. Very sensitive. SENSITIVE!!

S: I know it's sensitive.

M: There was an agreement you know. And we broke it!

S: No, WE did!

M: No, WE did!!

S: WE did!

M: WE did!!

... maybe you have to live this a little but I found it uproariously hilarious. ;___;

And, in my ongoing love for ♥KENNETH PAUL TAN♥--

While Narcissus is obessessed with his image in the pool, Echo - unable to gain his attention and affection - is reduced to a whisper. The many Singaporeans who have been seduced by the state and are entrhralled by its vivid achievements are like Echo. The popular assertion that Singaporeans are politically apathetic, if true, is largely based on their preparedness to relinquish much of their autonomy (chiefly the responsibility for participating in general decisions that will affect their own lives) to a state that promises security, efficiency, and comfort, and that has in many ways delivered on them. Losing themselves in the state, these Singaporeans become content obediently to repeat - or to "Echo" - the pronouncements of the state that have come to constitute Singaporean common sense, creating a mindset so strong that it effectively devalues alternative and independent thinking. Ironically, the state - much like Narcissus - treats these Singaporean Echoes with contempt, regarding them as materialistic, selfish, short-sighted, ignorant, lacking in civility, and unready for less state control over even the minutiae of their lives. There are, of course, strong hints of sadism-masochism in the relationship between Narcissus and Echo.

Fuck did you just talk about Greek mythology and the Singaporean state and also S & M. Of course you did. ♥___________♥

This was a very, very good book. Two bits I disagreed with, though, were:

I can only conclude this article inconclusively. Singapore is a migrant community and without a pre-colonial past. Together with continuous mindless disregard of traditions and our post-colonial present in the last few decades, the clear image of Singapore's identity and rootedness cannot be easily distinguished as our own.

Um. Singapore does. not. lack. a. pre-colonial past. How many times??? We have one, we have one, come on, the Majapahit empire and the fact that for a while there, Singapore's history was the history of the Malay peninsular all point to the political expediency of obscuring such a past!

Also

In the age of speak-mandarin political correctness, everything Hokkien seems derogatory. Sure, these terms have been used in blatantly racist ways yesterday, today, and likely tomorrow.

... maybe, then, it's time to own up to the fact that these terms are racist; that it would be impossible to even conceive of them being used in non-racist ways given the connotations they're rooted in, yeah? Also the whole playing off of one oppression (majority vs minority race) against another (Mandarin versus dialect) is just - really really old. And skeevy. Also, the use of the term political correctness is in my head an immediate go-to FUCK YOU.

Mostly, though, this was a good book. It filled me with so much affection for the people who love thinking about Singapore and ways to make it better.

The Boy Next Door, by Irene Sabatini.

Short review, for I am tired! I liked this a lot - I find that stories of how people grow up in different countries ridiculously fascinating, and I liked Lindiwe a lot with her nascent feminism and her racial anecdotes (that time the RSPCA superintendent visited their home with allegations of animal abuse - because black people mistreat animals, hey, right? - and saw their two really happy & well-fed dogs and said, "The other ones, the ones being mistreated," god) and the long and winding path Zimbabwean history took - and. I really enjoyed Ian too, even despite the potential skeeviness of the initial set-up of their relationship? I didn't love this novel, but it's well-worth a read.

Irene Sabatini also has a Lindiwe & Ian section on her website, which is adorable. It seems that this is just her debut novel, too. I'm looking forward to the next book!

The Frenzy, by Francesca Lia Block | Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian | The Spirit Catches You And Then You Fall Down, by Anne Fadiman | Saraswati Park, by Anjali Joseph | Eston, by Stella Kon | Rape: A Love Story, by Joyce Carol Oates | Rice Bowl, by Suchen Christine Lim | The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell | Renaissance Singapore? Economy, Culture, and Politics, edited by Kenneth Paul Tan | Miss Seetoh in the World, by Catherine Lim | Free Food for Millionaires, by Min Jin Lee | Jointly & Severably, by Eleanor Wong | Wills & Secession, by Eleanor Wong | Mergers & Accusations, by Eleanor Wong | GASPP: A Gay Anthology of Singaporean Poetry & Prose, edited by Ng Yi-Sheng | Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier | Gone Case, by Dave Chua | Sex and the City, by Candace Bushnell | The Waters & the Wild, by Francesca Lia Block | Growing Up: Getting Along in the Sixties, by Tisa Ng | Oreo, by Fran Ross | Caucasia, by Danzy Senna | Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class, by Owen Jones | Racism: A Very Short Introduction | Modern China: A Very Short Introduction, by Rana Mitter | Feminism: A Very Short Introduction, by Margaret Waters | A Game of Thrones, by George R. R. Martin | Tam Lin, by Pamela Dean | Sons of the Yellow Emperor, by Lynn Pan | Scapegoat: Why We Are Failing Disabled People, by Katharine Quarmby | Tipping The Velvet, by Sarah Waters | Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro | The Lantern Bearers, by Rosemary Sutcliff | The Silver Branch, by Rosemary Sutcliff | The Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff | The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli | Brick Lane, by Monica Ali | The Savage Detectives, by Robert Bolano | Homage to Catalonia, by George Orwell | Cat On A Hot-Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams | Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern, by Joshua Zeitz | Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, by Jeanette Winterson | The Moon By Night, by Madeleine L'Engle | To Live, by Yu Hua | Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer | The Next Competitor, by K.P. Kincaid | Raffles Place Ragtime, by Phillip Jeyaretnam | Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy, by Frances Mayes | Mao's Last Dancer, by Li Cunxin | Marie, Dancing, by Carolyn Meyer | Man Walks Into A Room, by Nicole Krauss | How To Be Good, by Nick Hornby