Pocket Reviews: Shezlez the Self-Proclaimed, Dying To Meet You & Minor Feelings
Pocket Reviews: Shezlez the Self-Proclaimed, Dying To Meet You & Minor Feelings
1 Sept 2020 Marc Nair
Shezlez The Self-Proclaimed Marko Vignjević Ethos Books (2020)
Shezlez the Self-Proclaimed is an unlikely offering from the Ethos stable. But what I like is their willingness to believe in the value and power of stories regardless where they’re from. The tale unfolds in a stark, almost functional manner. We are thrown into Shezlez’s rather spartan life as bereft of details as he is of his ancestors. Certain accoutrements of modernity such as the mobile phone are missing, yet the spirit that infuses the book is one that is decidedly present in our age. Shezlez, somewhat down on his luck, becomes politically (and romantically) awakened and by turns accidental and ambitious, plots to run for the mayoral elections in his city. What ensues is a tragicomedy of errors.
At heart, the novella is a cautionary tale that blends Kafkaesque absurdity with Eastern European politics. and is worth reading for its singular writing style and meandering emotive palette, unlike many Singapore novels that over-scaffold their plot structure.
Dying To Meet You Angjolie Mei Epigram Books (2020)
At first glance, this seems like a winning combination for a memoir: Singapore’s first female funeral director writes about her experiences in the industry. And for the most part, it certainly is, Mei’s frank, yet heartfelt style of writing is combined with a studied attention to details which, I imagine, is absolutely necessary in her line of work.
While some chapters do get bogged down by over-description (the chapter on embalming procedures clearly came from a place of great love and excitement to share), the general arc of the narrative doesn’t break new ground. Even the gender stereotyping and overcoming the odds in a male-dominated industry aren’t sustained or revelatory enough to generate interest beyond the subject matter. Mei, at points, seems to paint a loving, yet comprehensive advertorial for her services as an end of life celebrant. In the end, there are only so many variations upon the familiar theme that can be played, but the subject, as memoirs go, is a novel one, which bodes well for the life of the book.
Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning Cathy Park Hong One World (2020)
I first met Cathy Park Hong during the 2013 Singapore Writers Festival. I have a copy of Dance Dance Revolution, her second collection of poetry, on my bookshelf. Her poems are thinking poems, but not charged with race or politics. They were rather safe. So I was not expecting the explosive depth and power that Minor Feelings contained.
Hong has blown open the lid on Korean-American (and the Asian-American) psyche and implied positioning in American culture, charting, through a series of essays, a wider history of Asian Americans in the States. She weaves her own memories and stories through this. I particularly liked her adoption of Trinh T. Minh-ha’s idea to ‘speak nearby.’ Hong chooses to ‘write nearby,’ to leave representation open yet remain close to one’s subject. My favourite essays are, ‘An Education,’ which details her art school friendships with two other Asian-American artists and ‘Portrait of An Artist,’ retracing poet Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s final fateful day and her ensuing legacy.
