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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “The Party’s Interests Come First: Joseph Torigian’s The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping” by Susan Blumberg-Kason Joseph Torigian, The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi…
![[REVIEW] “The Party’s Interests Come First: Joseph Torigian’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑋𝑖 𝑍ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑥𝑢𝑛, 𝐹𝑎𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑋𝑖 𝐽𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/xi-jinping.png?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: “Widow” by Aidan Bernales inaugurates the REVERSE feature of Cha. In this searing and lyrical narrative, a grieving politician navigates the intersecting terrains of power, memory, and private sorrow, as his late wife’s sacrifice reverberates through both his…
![[REVERSE] “Widow” by Aidan Bernales](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/filipino-artist-ang-kiukok.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Won‑seok (director), When Life Gives You Tangerines, 2025. 16‑episode Netflix original series, split into four volumes. Falling under the category of K-drama, When Life Gives You Tangerines is Netflix’s…
![[REVIEW] “The Sweetness of Resilience: Unraveling Netflix’s 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝐺𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑇𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠” by Dinisha Nayak](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/aaaabfesqbulveyjma9rfwntp2u9hy-6mavdb4lcblrsvdvhzrh8w6dh4ity37vmdt1pnjzdsmaz2jrr6noncmrimqhvgyu6cdsxalvb.jpg?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Girish Karnad, This Life at Play: Memoirs, Fourth Estate, 2021. 320 pgs. Memoirs strip writers of their literary pedestals. They become characters in their own narratives—curious onlookers of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Playwright’s Memoir: Girish Karnad’s 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝐿𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑦” by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/girish-karnads-this-life-at-play.jpg?w=998)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on A Woman Burnt. Imayam (author), GJV Prasad (translator), A Woman Burnt, Simon and Schuster India, 2023. 336 pgs. “Every woman adores a Fascist, / The…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Portrait of a Burning Woman: Imayam’s 𝐴 𝑊𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝐵𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑡” by Swagatika Rath](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/a-woman-burnt-1.jpg?w=952)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jeet Thayil (author), The Elsewhereans: A Documentary Novel, Fourth Estate, 2025. 219 pgs. With time and the evolution of human civilisation, the significance of stories has become increasingly apparent.…
![[REVIEW] “When Time Flies With Us, We Live Many Lives: Jeet Thayil’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑙𝑠𝑒𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠” by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/jeet-thayils-the-elsewhereans-1.jpg?w=1002)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kamila Kuc, Laima Leyton, Dara Waldron, Ecka Mordecai, and Jeremy Fernando (contributors), If loss were a currency: on Kamila Kuc´s I Was There. Delere Press, 2025. 114 pgs. According to…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Whereof One Cannot Speak, Thereof One Cannot Stay Silent—On 𝐼𝑓 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦: 𝑜𝑛 𝐾𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑎 𝐾𝑢𝑐’𝑠 𝐼 𝑊𝑎𝑠 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒” by Anders Kølle](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/kamila-kuc-laima-leyton-dara-waldron-ecka-mordecai-jeremy-fernando.jpg?w=971)
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[ESSAY] “Pseudo-Resistance and Ethical Beauty: A Critique of South Korean and Japanese Cinematic Aesthetics” by Zheng Wang In the narrative context of East Asian visual media, both South Korean and Japanese films and television series excel at exposing the darker…
![[ESSAY] “Pseudo-Resistance and Ethical Beauty: A Critique of South Korean and Japanese Cinematic Aesthetics” by Zheng Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/8331752405576_.pic_.png?w=610)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Hiroko Oyamada. Hiroko Oyamada (author), David Boyd (translator), The Hole, New Directions Publishing, 2020. 112 pgs. As a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Unanswered Questions of Balance: Hiroko Oyamada’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑒” by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hiroko-oyamada_the-hole.jpg?w=778)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Niloufar-Lily Soltani, Zulaikha, Inanna Publications, 2023. 332 pgs. If there is a single word that can encapsulate the novel Zulaikha, it is beauty—a beauty that transcends the physical…
![[REVIEW] “Beauty and Strength in Niloufar-Lily Soltani’s 𝑍𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑘ℎ𝑎” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/in-niloufar-lily-soltanis-zulaikha.jpg?w=1000)
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