Category: 2021 Books
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films} Against the backdrop of ongoing wars and climate crisis, I found myself reading Daryl Lim Wei Jie’s Anything but Human, Gwee Li Sui’s This Floating World, and Heng Siok Tian’s Grandma’s Attic,…
![[REVIEW] “Toying With Lost Time: A Review of Three Poetry Collections from Landmark Books” by Cheng Tim Tim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/landmark-books.png?w=1024)
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{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] “Weirdness Unfulfilled: Choi Jin-young’s 𝑇𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑟𝑚 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/warm-horizon.png?w=1024)
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{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 Aroozoo’s The Punkhawala and the Prostitute tells the tale of…
![[REVIEW] “Quintessential Singlit? Wesley Leon Aroozoo’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑢𝑛𝑘ℎ𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑡𝑒” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/wesley-leon-aroozoos-the-punkhawala-and-the-prostitute.png?w=1024)
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{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 𝐴ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑎 and 𝐾𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑖” by Sharyn Phu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/koral-dasgupta-1.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Liang Luo, The Global White Snake, University of Michigan Press, 2021. 373 pgs. “No culture can be fully understood in isolation,” writes Liang Luo in the introduction to her book The Global…
![[REVIEW] “Culture Is That Which Appropriates: A Review of Liang Luo’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑙𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑙 𝑊ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑆𝑛𝑎𝑘𝑒” by Noah Arthur Weber](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/the-global-white-snake-1.jpeg?w=667)
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{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 Xinwu’s novel, The Wedding Party, recently translated from the Chinese into English…
![[REVIEW] “A Rich Tapestry for Tomorrow’s Beijingers: A Review of 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑑𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑦” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/theweddingparty-1.jpeg?w=700)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Takashina Shūji (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: 𝐽𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/japanese-art-in-perspective-east-west-encounters.jpeg?w=1024)
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{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)
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{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] “Roughness of Thought: A Review of Tahi Saihate’s 𝐴𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑆𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛” by Maks Sipowicz](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/astral-season-beastly-season-tahi-saihate-translated-by-kalau-almony.png?w=1024)
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{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 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛” by Liang Luo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/words-as-grain_lucas-klein_duo-duo.png?w=1024)
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📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Simon Wickhamsmith (translator), 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: 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑂𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑆𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑠” by Sarah Köksal](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/suncranes-and-other-stories_cha-review.png?w=1024)
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Grace Chia, The Arches of Gerrard Street, Penguin Random House SEA, 2021. 268 pgs. It’s 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 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐴𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝐺𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑆𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑡” by Queenie Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/the-arches-of-gerrard-street.png?w=1024)
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{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. Unusual times call for unusual ways of self-expression. At a time when civil freedoms in Hong…
![[REVIEW] “Poetry Blossoms Everywhere: A Review of 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑈𝑠” by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/hong-kong-without-us.png?w=1024)
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{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…
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{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Yū 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 Yū Miri’s 𝑇𝑜𝑘𝑦𝑜 𝑈𝑒𝑛𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/tokyouenostation-2.jpg?w=762)
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Click HERE to read Michael O’Sullivan’s reflection on writing Lockdown Lovers, written exclusively for Cha, and an excerpt from the novel. 📁 RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS📁 RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Lockdown Lovers. Michael O’Sullivan, Lockdown…
![[REVIEW] “Before We Know How It Will End: A Review of Michael O’Sullivan’s 𝐿𝑜𝑐𝑘𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠” by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/lockdown-lovers_michael-osullivan.png?w=1024)
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Download Lucas Klein’s introduction to Duo Duo’sWords as Grain HERE. “How to make sense of Duo Duo’s 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 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑛 + “The Force of Forging Words”](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/duo-duo_words-as-grain_lucas-klein.png?w=1024)
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茶 FIRST IMPRESSIONS 茶 REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Layered Spaces: A Review of Chi Ta-wei’s The Membranes” by Serena De Marchi Chi Ta-wei (author), Ari Larissa Heinrich (translator), The Membranes, Columbia University Press, 2021. 168 pgs. Chi Ta-wei’s classic of…
![[REVIEW] “Layered Spaces: A Review of Chi Ta-wei’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑠” 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)
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Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on 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.…
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TH: All the poems in Ho Fuk Yan’s latest poetry collection, Love in the Time of the Coronavirus 愛在瘟疫時, 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)
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{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)
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{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)
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{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. Figures take shape insofar as we can recognise, in passing discourse, something that has been read,…
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{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)
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{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 𝐻𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝐾𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑈𝑠” 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)
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{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 Griffiths’s expat Hong Kong novel about a…
![[REVIEW] “The Expatriate, Itinerant Underclass: A Review of Stephen Griffiths’s 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐾𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑛 𝐸𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝐶𝑙𝑢𝑏” by Andrew Barker](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/the-kowloon-english-club.png?w=1024)
Cha 