Reviews

This Place Called Absence

Helen Godolphin

This Place Called Absence by Lydia Kwa (Turnstone) is another debut novel. It traces the lives of two ah ku (prostitutes) living in turn-of-the-century Singapore and intertwines their stories with that of Wu Lan, a Vancouver psychologist struggling to come to terms with her father's suicide, and Wu Lan's mother, who still lives in Singapore. Kwa builds an appealing landscape in busy Singaporean streets and brothels and in the libraries and cafes of Vancouver, and peoples it with characters of potential depth and interest. Unfortunately the story is spread too thinly among the various characters and the reader winds up knowing none of them well. The women's stories are weighed down by irrelevant details and the connections between them become evident too slowly. The writing rises into beauty in the last fifty pages, but not enough to dispel disappointment with the flaws of a weakly braided plot.

Tags
No items found.

SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU

Reviews
Joseph Weiss

An Anti-war Godzilla

Review of "Godzilla Minus One" directed by Takashi Yamazaki.

Reviews
Michael Hayward

A Russian Brother and his sister

Review of "A Russian Sister" by Caroline Adderson.

Essays
Christine Lai

Now Must Say Goodbye

The postcard presents a series of absences—the nameless photographer,

the unknown writer and recipient; it is constituted by what is unknown