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rasy's review
3.0
I’ll be honest: I’ve never read/watched Crazy Rich Asians nor Sex and The City before as they’re not my preferred theme. But if I were to give a comparison, based on my limited readings of their plot summary and video snippets from social media (sometimes weirdly recommended through YouTube — err, algorithm?), Sarong Party Girls is kind of like the merge of the two but set in Singapore instead of America.
Needless to say, I really glad I gave this book a go. It feels like I’m entering an entirely new world. The book invites you to experience Jazzy’s life through her narration; a determined and opinionated woman with a fixed, tunnelled worldview, and her group of party girlfriends which she’d known from school. These girls are all set on a similar goal, which is to get an “ang moh” husband. The book is as fast-paced as the night, with a lot of plots and characters intermingled in clubbing scenes with “atas” men involving the not-so clandestine affairs and tales of debaucheries of husbands, familial relationship in a Singaporean household, “ah beng” encounters, work politics for women in the workplace, friendships... and then more clubbing with “atas” men. For most of the book, I find myself wanting to slap Jazzy for her stubborn, and often, less of a feminist opinions and antics, making it hard to side with her. Think this is the first book where I agree to the stance of the side characters, namely Sharon and Sher, more than the narrator.
But that’s the best part as this book begs the question: If this is what you are exposed to all your life, and you wanted a change from the toxicity of your upbringing that condemns women of having big dreams, could you actually blame Jazzy (and her girlfriends to an extent) for trying to achieve their goals through their means — even if it’s non-feminist? And are all men just the same?
The climax (no pun intended) (or shall I say, turning point?) of this book can be found in the last 50-pages or so, which in my opinion, is quite underwhelming. This disappointed me as I was really starting to empathise with Jazzy at the time and was looking forward to more of her character development. I also find Sharon an interesting character and wish her character is explored more. The Singlish, on the other hand, may slowed the reading but does not deter me from understanding and being hooked on the plot. I also understand that the use of the language may play a part in making the scenes more realistic. All in all, I give this book a 3.5/5.
Needless to say, I really glad I gave this book a go. It feels like I’m entering an entirely new world. The book invites you to experience Jazzy’s life through her narration; a determined and opinionated woman with a fixed, tunnelled worldview, and her group of party girlfriends which she’d known from school. These girls are all set on a similar goal, which is to get an “ang moh” husband. The book is as fast-paced as the night, with a lot of plots and characters intermingled in clubbing scenes with “atas” men involving the not-so clandestine affairs and tales of debaucheries of husbands, familial relationship in a Singaporean household, “ah beng” encounters, work politics for women in the workplace, friendships... and then more clubbing with “atas” men. For most of the book, I find myself wanting to slap Jazzy for her stubborn, and often, less of a feminist opinions and antics, making it hard to side with her. Think this is the first book where I agree to the stance of the side characters, namely Sharon and Sher, more than the narrator.
But that’s the best part as this book begs the question: If this is what you are exposed to all your life, and you wanted a change from the toxicity of your upbringing that condemns women of having big dreams, could you actually blame Jazzy (and her girlfriends to an extent) for trying to achieve their goals through their means — even if it’s non-feminist? And are all men just the same?
The climax (no pun intended) (or shall I say, turning point?) of this book can be found in the last 50-pages or so, which in my opinion, is quite underwhelming. This disappointed me as I was really starting to empathise with Jazzy at the time and was looking forward to more of her character development. I also find Sharon an interesting character and wish her character is explored more. The Singlish, on the other hand, may slowed the reading but does not deter me from understanding and being hooked on the plot. I also understand that the use of the language may play a part in making the scenes more realistic. All in all, I give this book a 3.5/5.
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