Category: 2021 Books
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} Against the backdrop of ongoing wars and climate crisis, I found myself reading Daryl Lim Wei Jieβs Anything but Human, Gwee Li Suiβs This Floating World, and Heng Siok Tianβs Grandmaβs Attic,…
![[REVIEW] βToying With Lost Time: A Review of Three Poetry Collections from Landmark Booksβ by Cheng Tim Tim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/landmark-books.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Choi Jin-young (author), Soje (translator). To the Warm Horizon, Honford Star, 2021. 172 pgs. Originally published in 2017, To the Warm Horizon is perhaps best seen as a curious example of a…
![[REVIEW] βWeirdness Unfulfilled: Choi Jin-youngβs ππ π‘βπ ππππ π»ππππ§ππβ by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/warm-horizon.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Wesley Leon Aroozoo. The Punkhawala and the Prostitute, Epigram, 2021. 352 pgs. A finalist of Epigram Books Fiction Prize 2021, Wesley Leon Aroozooβs The Punkhawala and the Prostitute tells the tale of…
![[REVIEW] “Quintessential Singlit? Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s πβπ ππ’ππβππ€πππ πππ π‘βπ ππππ π‘ππ‘π’π‘πβ by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/wesley-leon-aroozoos-the-punkhawala-and-the-prostitute.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Koral Dasgupta, Ahalya, Pan Macmillan, 2020. 204 pgs. Koral Dasgupta, Kunti, Pan Macmillan, 2021. 203 pgs. In the preface to her 1919 anthology Short Stories, Mrs (Srimati Swarna Kumari Devi) Ghosal wrote,…
![[REVIEW] “The Women Behind the Hindu Myths: Koral Dasgupta’s π΄βπππ¦π and πΎπ’ππ‘π” by Sharyn Phu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/koral-dasgupta-1.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Liang Luo, The Global White Snake, University of Michigan Press, 2021. 373 pgs. βNo culture can be fully understood in isolation,β writes Liang Luo in the introduction to her book The Global…
![[REVIEW] “Culture Is That Which Appropriates: A Review of Liang Luo’s πβπ πΊπππππ πβππ‘π πππππ” by Noah Arthur Weber](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/the-global-white-snake-1.jpeg?w=667)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Liu Xinwu (author), Jeremy Tiang (translator), The Wedding Party, Amazon Crossing, 2021. 400 pgs. Time is a recurring theme in Liu Xinwuβs novel, The Wedding Party, recently translated from the Chinese into English…
![[REVIEW] “A Rich Tapestry for Tomorrowβs Beijingers: A Review of πβπ πππππππ ππππ‘𦔠by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/theweddingparty-1.jpeg?w=700)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Takashina ShΕ«ji (author), Matt Treyvaud (translator), Japanese Art in Perspective: East-West Encounters, Japan Library, 2021. 191 pgs. An amateur of Japanese art might have heard about ukiyo-e (or floating painting), as well…
![[REVIEW] “(Re)formation of Ideas: π½ππππππ π π΄ππ‘ ππ ππππ ππππ‘ππ£π” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/japanese-art-in-perspective-east-west-encounters.jpeg?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Artist and author Fiona Hawthorne grew up in Hong Kong and much of her work is informed by her childhood, including two new books out this year: Drawing on the Inside: Kowloon…
![[REVIEW] “Fiona Hawthorne and Kowloon Walled City” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/fiona-hawthorne.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Tahi Saihate (author) and Kalau Almony (translator), Astral Season, Beastly Season, Honford Star, 2021. 144 pgs. Tahi Saihate’s Astral Season, Beastly Season, translated from the Japanese by Kalau Almony, is an odd, beautiful,…
![[REVIEW] βRoughness of Thought: A Review of Tahi Saihate’s π΄π π‘πππ ππππ ππ, π΅πππ π‘ππ¦ ππππ ππβ by Maks Sipowicz](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/astral-season-beastly-season-tahi-saihate-translated-by-kalau-almony.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Duo Duo (author), Lucas Klein (translator), Words as Grain: New and Selected Poems. Yale University Press, 2021. 246 pgs. What follows can only be read as an impressionistic fleeting encounter between a…
![[REVIEW] “Myriad Powers of Words: Duo Duo’s πππππ ππ πΊππππ” by Liang Luo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/words-as-grain_lucas-klein_duo-duo.png?w=1024)
-
πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Simon Wickhamsmith (translator),Β Suncranes and Other Stories: Modern Mongolian Short Fiction, Columbia University Press, 2021. 296 pgs. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to disrupt international travel, entry into Mongolia remains…
![[REVIEW] “A Glimpse into Mongolia: ππ’πππππππ πππ ππ‘βππ ππ‘πππππ ” by Sarah KΓΆksal](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/suncranes-and-other-stories_cha-review.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Grace Chia, The Arches of Gerrard Street, Penguin Random House SEA, 2021. 268 pgs. Itβs clear from the prologue alone that Grace Chia has prepared a complex and diverse diasporic world for…
![[REVIEW] “The Heterogeneity of the Vast Chinese Community: Grace Chia’s πβπ π΄ππβππ ππ πΊππππππ ππ‘ππππ‘” by Queenie Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/the-arches-of-gerrard-street.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} The Bauhinia Project, Hong Kong Without Us: A Peopleβs Poetry, University of Georgia Press, 2021. 120 pgs. Unusual times call for unusual ways of self-expression. At a time when civil freedoms in Hong…
![[REVIEW] “Poetry Blossoms Everywhere: A Review of π»πππ πΎπππ πππ‘βππ’π‘ ππ ” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/hong-kong-without-us.png?w=1024)
-
{Written by Ari Santiago, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Tahi Saihate (author) and Kalau Almony (translator), Astral Season, Beastly Season, Honford Star, 2021. 144 pgs. Contemporary young adult fiction has a…
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} YΕ« Miri (author), Morgan Giles (translator), Tokyo Ueno Station, Tilted Axis Press, 2021. 197 pgs. Though hosting the Olympic Games has often been seen as an attempt by governments to boost the…
![[REVIEW] “The Plight of the Homeless in Japan: A Review of YΕ« Miri’s ππππ¦π ππππ ππ‘ππ‘πππ” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/tokyouenostation-2.jpg?w=762)
-
Click HERE to read Michael O’Sullivan’s reflection on writing Lockdown Lovers, written exclusively for Cha, and an excerpt from the novel. πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Lockdown Lovers. Michael O’Sullivan, Lockdown…
![[REVIEW] βBefore We Know How It Will End: A Review of Michael OβSullivanβs πΏππππππ€π πΏππ£πππ β by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/lockdown-lovers_michael-osullivan.png?w=1024)
-
Download Lucas Klein’s introduction to Duo Duo’sWords as Grain HERE. “How to make sense of Duo Duoβs poetry is the overarching question it poses, at the root of its political significance as well as its literary interest. In the words…
![[FEATURE] Lucas Klein’s Introduction to Duo Duo’s πππππ ππ πΊππππ + “The Force of Forging Words”](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/duo-duo_words-as-grain_lucas-klein.png?w=1024)
-
θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Layered Spaces: A Review of Chi Ta-wei’sΒ The Membranes” by Serena De Marchi Chi Ta-wei (author), Ari Larissa Heinrich (translator),Β The Membranes, Columbia University Press, 2021. 168 pgs. Chi Ta-weiβs classic of…
![[REVIEW] “Layered Spaces: A Review of Chi Ta-wei’sΒ πβπ πππππππππ ” by Serena De Marchi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/layered-spaces-a-review-of-chi-ta-weis-the-membranes-1.png?w=1024)
-
ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Lockdown Lovers. TH: We are pleased to present an exclusive essay by Michael O’Sullivan on his new book, Lockdown Lovers (Penguin Random House, 2021), a five-part love story set in lockdown conditions in Asia and Europe.…
-
TH: All the poems in Ho Fuk Yan’s latest poetry collection, Love in the Time of the Coronavirus ζε¨ηη«ζ, were written in response to the pandemic as experienced, observed, interpreted, and reimagined by the poet in 2020. The poems are…
![[FEATURE] “Love in the Time of Coronavirus: Postscript and Ten Poems” by Ho Fuk Yan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/love-in-the-time-of-coronavirus.jpeg?w=1024)
-
{Written by Susan Blumberg-Kason, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Stephen Griffiths, The Kowloon English Club, Blacksmith Books, 2021. 292 pgs. Hong Kong in 1996 was a special time. The Handover was a…
![[REVIEW] “The Centre of the Universe: A Review of Stephen Griffiths’s The Kowloon English Club” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/kowloon-english-club-800px.jpeg?w=672)
-
{Written by Karen Ma, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Heather Diamond, Rabbit in the Moon, Camphor Press, 2021. 302 pgs. Editors’ note: Rabbit in the Moon is scheduled for publication on…
![[REVIEW] “A Bittersweet Reminder: Reviewing Rabbit in the Moon” by Karen Ma](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/rabbit-in-the-moon-cover_heather-diamond-1.jpeg?w=994)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} The Bauhinia Project, Hong Kong Without Us: A Peopleβs Poetry, University of Georgia Press, 2021. 120 pgs. Figures take shape insofar as we can recognise, in passing discourse, something that has been read,…
-
{Written by James Au Kin-Pong, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Minae Mizumura (author), Juliet Winters Carpenter (translator; in collaboration with the author), An I-Novel, Columbia University Press, 2021. 325 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Pursuing Her Japanese Identity: A Review of Minae Mizumura’s An I-Novel” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/an-i-novel-minae-mizumura-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} The Bauhinia Project, Hong Kong Without Us: A People’s Poetry, University of Georgia Press, 2021. 120 pgs. Growing up, I was told quite often that when you write with real feeling, the…
![[REVIEW] “Across the Silence of Oceans: A Review of π»πππ πΎπππ πππ‘βππ’π‘ ππ ” by Arwi Y. Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/hong-kong-without-us-a-peoples-poetry-edited-by-the-bauhinia-project-1.jpeg?w=745)
-
{Written by Andrew Barker, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.} {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Stephen Griffiths, The Kowloon English Club, Blacksmith Books, 2021. 292 pgs. Andrew Barker discusses Stephen Griffithsβs expat Hong Kong novel about a…
![[REVIEW] “The Expatriate, Itinerant Underclass: A Review of Stephen Griffiths’s πβπ πΎππ€ππππ πΈπππππ β πΆππ’π” by Andrew Barker](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/the-kowloon-english-club.png?w=1024)
Cha 