Scan barcode
sharonbakar's review
3.0
The title piece Sambal without Anchovies, a well-told and moving story of family relationships, love and loss, and a family and nasi lemak business.
My favourite story of all was The Gift and I could have wept for the girl who scrimps and saves to buy her mother a gift ... only to have everything go most horribly wrong. Smoking Can Kill is extremely clever because here smoking does kill, but in the most bizarrely round-about way.
Kok Yee does horror very well - I loved Moving which was an unusual twist on the usual haunted house story, while An Untrue Love story has quite a conventional plot for a local horror story (remember - I grew up with New Thrill, Malaysia's trashy horror newspaper in the 1980's!) but works very well because of the unconventional voice of its narrator who fills in the gaps of what didn't happen with her alternative view of events.
A Circus Interview was surreal and haunting, and reminded me of the stories of Etgar Keret.
I particularly enjoyed the stories where humour was blended with the horror Dead Cougar was a delight, and A Cemetery Story, a cheeky little take on the British Council's City Of Stories project, had me grinning.
Being able to create characters which are not only believable but who really intrigue us in so short a space is no mean feat. Mei who appears in both in Dinner and Cruel Mother is particularly well-realised and I'd be happy to spend more time in her company. The mother in Thieving Daughter is both demented and achingly lonely and we can't help but be fascinated by her. (It's actually quite strange that Kok Yee's female characters are often more convincing than the males!)
In some cases, I felt that while the concept of the story was simply excellent, the execution could have been a rather better.
The outer frame of the story The Hippocratic Oath - the anesthetist in the operating theatre considering how she has the life of the patient in her hands - is very well realised with plenty of attention to detail, but the characters in the inner story (the gangster and his wife) are comic-book stereotypes and we can't believe in them, or really feel his menace or her fear.
I wasn't terribly convinced by Embracing Your Shadow where a man is haunted by the memory of a woman he saw only once years before so that he is never able to make his marriage a success. It would actually be hard for any writer to make this seem possible, as we all know that in real life even the most physically appealing member of the opposite sex will generally cease to figure in our thoughts as soon as we move past them, and even the memories of old lovers fade in time. This woman does not seem to have much about her that distinguishes her from the mass for the reader, which makes the protagonist's obsession even harder to fathom.
As for the production of the book, love the creamy paper and the cover fold-ins. I'm not wild about the picture of the dead flowers which is greatly at odds with the title. (Mixed metaphors?)
There are some proofreading errors in the book- many more than there should be - and predictably (because Malaysians always find these hard) the most problematic areas are: sequence of tenses (when to use past simple and when to use past prefect); and the confusion between will and would for real and unreal conditions. But yes, I'm being picky as an ex-English teacher turned editor is, I think, allowed to be. The book needed another editing pass.
Kok Yee is a local writer very well-worth supporting and it will be really interesting to see his development. There are certainly plenty of anchovies in this spicy sambal.
My favourite story of all was The Gift and I could have wept for the girl who scrimps and saves to buy her mother a gift ... only to have everything go most horribly wrong. Smoking Can Kill is extremely clever because here smoking does kill, but in the most bizarrely round-about way.
Kok Yee does horror very well - I loved Moving which was an unusual twist on the usual haunted house story, while An Untrue Love story has quite a conventional plot for a local horror story (remember - I grew up with New Thrill, Malaysia's trashy horror newspaper in the 1980's!) but works very well because of the unconventional voice of its narrator who fills in the gaps of what didn't happen with her alternative view of events.
A Circus Interview was surreal and haunting, and reminded me of the stories of Etgar Keret.
I particularly enjoyed the stories where humour was blended with the horror Dead Cougar was a delight, and A Cemetery Story, a cheeky little take on the British Council's City Of Stories project, had me grinning.
Being able to create characters which are not only believable but who really intrigue us in so short a space is no mean feat. Mei who appears in both in Dinner and Cruel Mother is particularly well-realised and I'd be happy to spend more time in her company. The mother in Thieving Daughter is both demented and achingly lonely and we can't help but be fascinated by her. (It's actually quite strange that Kok Yee's female characters are often more convincing than the males!)
In some cases, I felt that while the concept of the story was simply excellent, the execution could have been a rather better.
The outer frame of the story The Hippocratic Oath - the anesthetist in the operating theatre considering how she has the life of the patient in her hands - is very well realised with plenty of attention to detail, but the characters in the inner story (the gangster and his wife) are comic-book stereotypes and we can't believe in them, or really feel his menace or her fear.
I wasn't terribly convinced by Embracing Your Shadow where a man is haunted by the memory of a woman he saw only once years before so that he is never able to make his marriage a success. It would actually be hard for any writer to make this seem possible, as we all know that in real life even the most physically appealing member of the opposite sex will generally cease to figure in our thoughts as soon as we move past them, and even the memories of old lovers fade in time. This woman does not seem to have much about her that distinguishes her from the mass for the reader, which makes the protagonist's obsession even harder to fathom.
As for the production of the book, love the creamy paper and the cover fold-ins. I'm not wild about the picture of the dead flowers which is greatly at odds with the title. (Mixed metaphors?)
There are some proofreading errors in the book- many more than there should be - and predictably (because Malaysians always find these hard) the most problematic areas are: sequence of tenses (when to use past simple and when to use past prefect); and the confusion between will and would for real and unreal conditions. But yes, I'm being picky as an ex-English teacher turned editor is, I think, allowed to be. The book needed another editing pass.
Kok Yee is a local writer very well-worth supporting and it will be really interesting to see his development. There are certainly plenty of anchovies in this spicy sambal.
mobyskine's review
4.0
Surreal and funny at some points. I agreed with the blurb at the back; few stories would really make a great short films. Totally.
lthe7th's review
4.0
For some time I kept putting off getting this book as I was more or less short on cash until I couldn't wait anymore. When I finally began reading, I think I was a bit disappointed that the stories were shorter than expected. It felt like I had just got sucked in and then, end. Fin. Whyyyyy
On the plus side, it means that the stories don't require you to warm up to it. You get in it fast and it keeps your attention until it ends. Most times shockingly as you didn't expect that twist. Although I think it's mostly the fact that you didn't expect the character to behave in such a way. And that I think it's its charm.
Sometimes I look for a connector between the stories but only two are connected. Everything else are standalones and they could very well be stories people exchange among themselves when they are at the mamak for a hangout session. Some were funny and some were just downright horrifying. Some I guess were supposed to be scary but at the end, it was a good end.
I keep repeating the word 'end' so many times haha but really I do think this collection of short stories are great for those who don't have the patience to wait for the juicy parts or need a quick story to pass time waiting in between daily activities. You can finish one story in one sitting and don't have to worry about your reading time being interrupted and and struggling to pick up an unfinished story halfway. The only thing is that you may finish stories so fast you can't stop going on to the next one and the next one and the next one...
On the plus side, it means that the stories don't require you to warm up to it. You get in it fast and it keeps your attention until it ends. Most times shockingly as you didn't expect that twist. Although I think it's mostly the fact that you didn't expect the character to behave in such a way. And that I think it's its charm.
Sometimes I look for a connector between the stories but only two are connected. Everything else are standalones and they could very well be stories people exchange among themselves when they are at the mamak for a hangout session. Some were funny and some were just downright horrifying. Some I guess were supposed to be scary but at the end, it was a good end.
I keep repeating the word 'end' so many times haha but really I do think this collection of short stories are great for those who don't have the patience to wait for the juicy parts or need a quick story to pass time waiting in between daily activities. You can finish one story in one sitting and don't have to worry about your reading time being interrupted and and struggling to pick up an unfinished story halfway. The only thing is that you may finish stories so fast you can't stop going on to the next one and the next one and the next one...
More...