Category: 2024 Entries
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OVERSEAS BRIDE β Mother Tongue Overseasβ Overseas Bride Jennifer Feeley’s note: Written in 2020 and compiled into Wong Yiβs 2021 short story collection Ways to Love in a Crowded City, βOverseas Brideβ delves into the emotional and cultural complexities of emigration, particularly…
![[OVERSEAS BRIDE] “Overseas Bride” by Wong Yi, translated by Jennifer Feeley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/wong-yi_jennifer-feeley_cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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On my way to the prison, I heard a teaser on the radio about bananas. Something to the effect that bananas were in trouble. I didnβt hear the actual story, but Iβve been thinking of bananas ever since. For several…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Memories of Bananas” by Daniel Hudon](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/bananas2.jpg?w=837)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Han Kang (author), Deborah Smith (translator), The White Book, Portobello Books, 2016. 128 pgs. As Han Kong wrote out her list of white things at the beginning of the…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “A Meditation on Whiteness: Han Kang’s πβπ πβππ‘π π΅πππ” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/the-white-book-first-published-may-25-2016.jpg?w=977)
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TIFF 2024 β Introductionβ 8. Band of Outsiders: On Neo Sora’s Happyendβ 7. The Soul of an Artist: On Hong Sang-sooβs By The Streamβ 6. The Two Maidens: On TrΖ°Ζ‘ng Minh QuΓ½βs Viet and Namβ 5. The Master and Her…
![[TIFF 2024] “The Inheritance: On π΄ππ πβπππ π΅π ππππ and πππππππ π ππ πβππππ ” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/tiff2024-asian-cha.png?w=1024)
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TIFF 2024 β Introductionβ 8. Band of Outsiders: On Neo Sora’s Happyendβ 7. The Soul of an Artist: On Hong Sang-sooβs By The Streamβ 6. The Two Maidens: On TrΖ°Ζ‘ng Minh QuΓ½βs Viet and Namβ 5. The Master and Her…
![[TIFF 2024] “πππ π ππ πππ¦ππ: On Lou Ye’s π΄π πππππππ βππ πΉπππ” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/an-unfinished-film_poster.jpg?w=705)
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TIFF 2024 β Introductionβ 8. Band of Outsiders: On Neo Sora’s Happyendβ 7. The Soul of an Artist: On Hong Sang-sooβs By The Streamβ 6. The Two Maidens: On TrΖ°Ζ‘ng Minh QuΓ½βs Viet and Namβ 5. The Master and Her…
![[TIFF 2024] “Introduction: TIFF 2024” by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/tiff.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ryu Murakami (author), Ralph McCarthy (translator), In the Miso Soup, Kodansha International, 2003. 180 pgs. Picture a dismembered corpse of a sixteen-year-old girl dumped at a trash collection site…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] “Floating Around in Ryu Murakami’s πΌπ π‘βπ πππ π πππ’π” by Anna Moon](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/in-the-miso-soup.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Teinosuke Kinugasa (director), A Page of Madness, 1926. 70 min. Itβs almost Halloween as I write this and it seems fitting to think about what it is that makes…
![[REVIEW] βπ΄ ππππ ππ ππππππ π and the Cinema of the Uncannyβ by Jeremiah Dutch](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/a-page-of-madness-film.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Aruni Kashyap, The Way You Want to Be Loved, Gaudy Boy, 2024. 256 pgs. In the first story of Aruni Kashyapβs short story collection, the narrator, a writer of…
![[REVIEW] “The Ways to Belonging in Stories: Aruni Kashyapβs πβπ πππ¦ πππ’ ππππ‘ π‘π π΅π πΏππ£ππβ by Faith Ho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/the-way-you-want-to-be-loved.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ All We Imagine as Light. Payal Kapadia (director), All We Imagine as Light, 2024. 118 min. Payal Kapadiaβs debut film, A Night of Knowing Nothing…
![[REVIEW] “Elegy on Love and Migration: Payal Kapadia’s π΄ππ ππ πΌππππππ ππ πΏππβπ‘” by Namah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/all-we-imagine-as-light.png?w=1024)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kelly H. Chong, Love Across Borders: Asian Americans, Race, and the Politics of Intermarriage and Family-Making, Routledge, 2021, 246 pgs. As a single Asian man, I was once oversensitive…
![[REVIEW] “Itβs Only Love: Kelly H. Chongβs πΏππ£π π΄ππππ π π΅ππππππ ” by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/love-across-borders-asian-americans-race-and-the-politics-of-intermarriage-and-family-making.jpg?w=1000)
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Chris Songβs note: LΓΌ Lun’s “Piano Day” tells the story of May, a Garbo-like beauty who uses her piano sessions to extract tributes from men, ensnaring both T and P in a web of emotional temptation and entanglement. Like LΓΌ Lun’s…
![[TRANSLATION] βPiano Dayβ by LΓΌ Lun, translated by Chris Song](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/lu-lun-e4beb6e580ab_cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Half Sound, Half Philosophy. Jing Wang, Half Sound, Half Philosophy: Aesthetics, Politics of China’s Sound Art, Bloomsbury Academic, 2021. 232 pgs. Half Sound, Half Philosophy:…
![[REVIEW] “The World of Sound as Art in China: Jing Wang’s π»πππ πππ’ππ, π»πππ πβππππ ππβ𦔠by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/half-sound-half-philosophy.png?w=938)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Daryl Lim Wei Jie, Hamid Roslan, Melizarani T. Selva, and William Tham (editors), The Second Link: An Anthology of Malaysian and Singaporean Writing, Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2023. 320 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] “Reunion Dinner: πβπ ππππππ πΏπππ Serves Up A Careful Feast” by Theophilus Kwek](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/the-second-link-an-anthology-of-malaysian-and-singaporean-writing.png?w=892)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tim Tim Cheng, The Tattoo Collector, Nine Arches Press, 2024. 72 pp. In case you hadnβt known that the British ruled Hong Kong until 1997 or needed sudden clarification…
![[REVIEW] βBlue Fires Burning in Tim Tim Chengβs πβπ πππ‘π‘ππ πΆππππππ‘ππβ by Michelle Suen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/cheng-tim-tim-the-tattoo-collector.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Bluebeard’s First Wife. Ha Seong-nan (author), Janet Hong (translator), Bluebeardβs First Wife, Open Letter Books, 2020. 230 pgs. Ha Seong-nan is a rather prolific South Korean…
![[REVIEW] “Fairy Tale, Dissected: Ha Seong-nan’s π΅ππ’ππππππβπ πΉπππ π‘ ππππ” by Maria Cohut](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ha-seong-nanauthor-janet-hong-translator-bluebeards-first-wife.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Erin Suzuki, Ocean Passages: Navigating Pacific Islander and Asian American Literatures, Temple University Press, 2021. 269 pgs. When the territories between land seem easier to define, the territories that…
![[REVIEW] “Connecting in a Sea of Islands: Erin Suzuki’s πππππ πππ π ππππ ” by Tin Yuet Tam](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/erin-suzuki-ocean-passages-navigating-pacific-islander-and-asian-american-literatures.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Emi Yagi (author), David BoydΒ andΒ Lucy NorthΒ (translators), Diary of a Void, Viking, 2022. 213 pgs. Shibata works for a cardboard tube company on the fourth floor of an overheated office.…
![[REVIEW] βReimagining the Void: Emi Yagi’s π·ππππ¦ ππ π ππππ” by Lucy Hamilton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/review-reimagining-the-void-emi-yagis-diary-of-a-void22-by-lucy-hamilton.jpg?w=925)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Natsuko Imamura (author), Lucy North (translator),Β The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Penguin Random House, 2021. 224 pgs. In Natsuko…
![[REVIEW] βLingering Suspense: Natsuko Imamura’s πβπ πππππ ππ π‘βπ ππ’ππππ πππππ‘β BY James Kin Pong Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-woman-in-the-purple-skirt.jpg?w=925)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Tapestry of the Mind. Aneeta Sundararaj, Tapestry of the Mind and Other Stories, Penguin Random House SEA, 2024. 272 pgs. Aneeta Sundararajβs Tapestry of the…
![[REVIEW] βA Powerful and Stimulating Collection: Aneeta Sundararaj’s πππππ π‘ππ¦ ππ π‘βπ ππππ” by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/tapestry-of-the-mind-and-other-stories-aneeta-sundararaj.jpg?w=977)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Jenny Xie, Holding Pattern, Riverhead Books, 2023. 288 pgs. Jenny Xieβs novel Holding Pattern follows 28-year-old Kathleen Cheng as she returns home to Oakland, California, where she is roped…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βThe Science of Intimacy: Jenny Xieβs π»ππππππ πππ‘π‘πππβ by Anna Chung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/holding-pattern-riverhead-books-1.jpg?w=993)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Karen Tei Yamashita, Through the Arc of the Rain Forest, Coffee House Press, 1990. 212 pgs. Through the Arc of the Rain Forest opens with a memoryβa memory, that…
![[REVIEW] “A Stage for Life and Death: Karen Tei Yamashitaβs πβπππ’πβ π‘βπ π΄ππ ππ π‘βπ π
πππ πΉππππ π‘” by Anna Chung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/through-the-arc-of-the-rain-forest.png?w=683)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Sayantani Dasgupta, Brown Women Have Everything: Essays on (Dis)comfort and Delight, The University of North Carolina Press, 2024. 180 pgs. When you cheerfully but firmly believe that your brown-woman…
![[REVIEW] βExpanding Our World: Sayantani Dasguptaβs π΅πππ€π πππππ π»ππ£π πΈπ£πππ¦π‘βπππβ by Donna Miscolta](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/brown-women.jpg?w=970)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Zhang Yimou (director), Raise the Red Lantern, 1991. 125 min. Raise the Red Lantern, directed by Zhang Yimou and based on Su Tongβs novella Wives and Concubines (1987), begins…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βThe Absence of Female Desire and Patriarchal Oppression: Zhang Yimouβs π
πππ π π‘βπ π
ππ πΏπππ‘πππβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/raise-the-red-lantern_cha_banner.jpeg?w=1024)
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Editor’s note: Read an excerpt from Lydia Kwa’s A Dream Wants Waking HERE. Lydia Kwa, A Dream Wants Waking, Buckrider Books, 2023. 226 pgs. In my latest novel A Dream Wants Waking (Buckrider Books, 2023), excerpted here, there is a…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Alternative Intelligence: On Brains, Being and the Nonhuman” by Lydia Kwa](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/a-dream-wants-waking-lydia-kwa.jpg?w=1000)
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Editor’s note: Read Lydia Kwa’s essay “Alternative Intelligence: On Brains, Being and the Nonhuman” HERE. Lydia Kwa, A Dream Wants Waking, Buckrider Books, 2023. 226 pgs. Dr. Wen sits down at her desk and checks her messages, monitors the electrolyte levels…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Pawo Choyning Dorji (director), The Monk and the Gun, 2023. 107 min. The Kingdom of Bhutan, 2006. Bhutan enters the modern world, becoming the last country in the world…
![[REVIEW] “Democracy Should Be Thought of as a Verb: Pawo Choyning Dorji’s πβπ ππππ πππ π‘βπ πΊπ’π” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/pawo-choyning-dorji-.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shuang Xuetao (author), Jeremy Tiang (translator), Rouge Street: Three Novellas, Metropolitan Books, 2022. 216 pgs. Over the past few years, China has seen a resurgence of interest in its…
![[REVIEW] βFinding Hope in Despair: Shuang Xuetaoβs π
ππ’ππ ππ‘ππππ‘β by Kammy Lee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/rouge-street-three-novellas.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Life Ceremony. Sayaka Murata (author), Ginny Tapley Takemori (translator), Life Ceremony, Granta Books, 2022. 266 pgs. A human heart, resting on a bed of rice noodles,…
![[REVIEW] βA Hearty Feast: Food, Cannibalism, and the Human Condition in Sayaka Murataβs πΏπππ πΆπππππππ¦β by Lucy Hamilton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/life-ceremony.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hiro Arikawa (author), Philip Gabriel (translator), The Travelling Cat Chronicles, Berkley, 2018. 277 pgs. Hiro Arikawaβs The Travelling Cat Chronicles, translated by Philip Gabriel, is a heart-warming book that…
![[REVIEW] βOut Beyond the Horizon: Hiro Arikawaβs πβπ ππππ£ππππππ πΆππ‘ πΆβππππππππ β by Hui-Hua Lu](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/screenshot-2024-08-28-at-15.31.04.png?w=1024)
Cha 