Category: 2025 Books
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mahmoud Alshaer & Mohammed Al-Zaqzooq (editors), Letters from Gaza: A Collection by the People; Unveiling Their Stories and Emotions from the Year That Has Been, Penguin Random House SEA,…
![[REVIEW] βA War, Many Cries, and a Long, Unkind Sleep: πΏππ‘π‘πππ ππππ πΊππ§πβ by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/letters-from-gaza-a-collection-by-the-people-unveiling-their-stories-and-emotions-from-the-year-that-has-been-1.jpg?w=906)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hiro Arikawa (author), Allison Markin Powell (translator). The Passengers on the Hankyu Line, Penguin Random House, 2025. 256 pgs. It seems fitting that I began reading The Passengers on…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βThe Train Ride of Life: Hiro Arikawaβs πβπ πππ π ππππππ ππ π‘βπ π»ππππ¦π’ πΏπππβ by Koay Xinyi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/81pcgpwou4l._sl1500_.jpg?w=956)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βLav Diazβs Magellan: From Counter-Time to Counter-Historyβ by Ramzzi FariΓ±as ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Magellan. Lav Diaz (director), Magellan, 2025. 165 min. If the art of history is to be…
![[REVIEW] βLav Diazβs ππππππππ: From Counter-Time to Counter-Historyβ by Ramzzi FariΓ±as](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/images.jpeg?w=294)
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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 So That You Know. Mani Rao, So That You Know, HarperCollins India, 2025. 312 pgs. “Isnβt it better to write poems about topics? On the…
![[REVIEW] βHaunted by Words, Hunted by Silence: Mani Raoβs Radical Intimacy in ππ πβππ‘ πππ’ πΎπππ€β by Wani Nazir](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/mani-rao-so-that-you-know-cha.jpg?w=1024)
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β Afterword: Living Between Languagesβ Three Poemsβ Anything but Human 倧ιε @ TrendLit Publishing Living between languages by Daryl Lim Wei Jie My poetry was brewed in the multilingual kitchen that is Singapore. The translational and the interlingualβthat is, existing…
![[FEATURE] “π΄ππ¦π‘βπππ ππ’π‘ π»π’πππ: Living between Languages” by Daryl Lim Wei Jie](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/anythingbuthuman-copy.jpg?w=838)
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β Afterword: Living Between Languagesβ Three Poemsβ Anything but Human 倧ιε @ TrendLit Publishing Expressionof Contentment by Daryl Lim Wei Jie I am extraordinarily really verycomfortable even my toes have gone forpsychoanalysis and my nose hairs havetheir favourite brand of…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Arun Budhathoki, And I Blamed Canadian Winter Again: Poems East & West, Nirala Publications, 2025. 98pgs. Nepali poet Arun Budhathoki, who has been living in Canada, has recently…
![[REVIEW] βDiaspora and Duality: The Emotional Cartography of Arun Budhathoki’s π΄ππ πΌ π΅πππππ πΆπππππππ ππππ‘ππ π΄ππππβ by Subash Singh Parajuli](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/arun-budhathoki-and-i-blamed-canadian-winter-again-poems-east-west-nirala-publications-2025.-98pgs.-.jpg?w=923)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Saad Omar Khan, Drinking the Ocean, Buckrider Books, 2025. 250 pgs. βWe die containing a richness of lovers and tribes, tastes we have swallowed, bodies we have plunged into…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βA Love that Doesnβt Bind: Saad Omar Khanβs π·πππππππ π‘βπ πππππβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/saad-omar-khan-drinking-the-ocean.jpg?w=971)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Winifred Dongyi Wang, Dissection of the Moon, Accent Edition, 2025. 232 pgs. Dissection of the Moon is a hybrid workβa knotted thing. It unspools the lines drawn across gender,…
![[REVIEW] βKnotted Threads: Memory, Language, and Violence in Winifred Dongyi Wangβs π·ππ π πππ‘πππ ππ π‘βπ ππππβ by Heather Y. Kim](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/https-accentaccent.comforthcoming-dissection-of-the-moon.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 Cha on Vigil.Β Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Vigil: The Struggle for Hong Kong, Brixton Ink, 2025. 176 pgs. Jeffrey Wasserstromβs Vigil: Hong Kong on the Brink was…
![[REVIEW] βHong Kong Remembered and Rewritten: Jeffrey Wasserstromβs πππππβ by Wayne Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/vigil.jpg?w=977)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ee Ling Quah, Fire Dragon Feminism: Asian Migrant Womenβs Tales of Migration, Coloniality and Racial Capitalism, Bloomsbury, 2025. 216 pgs. βAn exchange of glances, light nods and eye contacts…
![[REVIEW] βDecorative Roles and Dehumanising Gazes: Reflections on Ee Ling Quahβs πΉπππ π·πππππ πΉππππππ πβ by Loritta Chan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/fire-dragon-feminism-asian-migrant-womens-tales-of-migration-coloniality-and-racial-capitalism.jpg?w=978)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Alvin Pang, All That is Left of the Sea: Selected Poems, Red River Press, 2025. 148 pgs. Emotions and poetry often operate by falling into sync with one another.…
![[REVIEW] βA Bubble of the Sea Holds the Cosmos and Its Caricature: Alvin Pangβs π΄ππ πβππ‘ ππ πΏπππ‘ ππ π‘βπ πππβ by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/alvin-pang-all-that-is-left-of-the-sea-selected-poems-1.jpg?w=792)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kyung-Ran JoΒ (author),Β Chi-Young KimΒ (translator), Blowfish, Astra House, 2025. 304 pgs. Blowfish is a taut, deceptively quiet novel, structured as a contrapuntal meditation on grief, disconnection, and stillness. The stillness seethes…
![[REVIEW] “To Stay, To See, To Not Flee: Kyung-Ran Jo’s π΅πππ€πππ β” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/blowfish-a-novel-hardcover-e28093-july-15-2025-by-kyung-ran-jo-author-chi-young-kim-translator-1.jpg?w=979)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “The Worst Kind of Dystopia: Hon Lai Chu’s Mending Bodies” by Luca Griseri ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaonΒ Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines…
![[REVIEW] “The Worst Kind of Dystopia: Hon Lai Chu’s πππππππ π΅πππππ ” by Luca Griseri](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/hon-lai-chu-author-jacqueline-leung-translator-mending-bodies-two-lines-press-2025.-240-pgs.jpg?w=938)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThammika Songkaeo’s Stamford Hospital: Love and Loneliness in a Capitalist Cityβ by Fathima M Click HERE to read Thammika Songkaeo’s “Twist of Fate” Thammika Songkaeo, Stamford Hospital, Penguin Random House…
![[REVIEW] βThammika Songkaeo’s ππ‘ππππππ π»ππ πππ‘ππ: Love and Loneliness in a Capitalist Cityβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/thammika-songkaeo.jpg?w=977)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Partyβs Interests Come First: Joseph Torigianβs The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi JinpingβΒ by Susan Blumberg-Kason Joseph Torigian, The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi…
![[REVIEW] βThe Partyβs Interests Come First: Joseph Torigianβs πβπ πΏπππ ππ ππ πβππππ₯π’π, πΉππ‘βππ ππ ππ π½ππππππβΒ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/xi-jinping.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ 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] βWhen Time Flies With Us, We Live Many Lives: Jeet Thayilβs πβπ πΈππ ππ€βππππππ β by Kabir Deb](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/jeet-thayils-the-elsewhereans-1.jpg?w=1002)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kamila Kuc, Laima Leyton, Dara Waldron,Β Ecka Mordecai, and Jeremy Fernando (contributors), If loss were a currency: on Kamila KucΒ΄s I Was There. Delere Press, 2025. 114 pgs. According to…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βWhereof One Cannot Speak, Thereof One Cannot Stay SilentβOn πΌπ πππ π π€πππ π ππ’ππππππ¦: ππ πΎπππππ πΎπ’π’π πΌ πππ πβπππ” by Anders KΓΈlle](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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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS DΖ°Ζ‘ng HΖ°α»ng (author), Quan Manh Ha and Charles Waugh (translators), No Man River, Penguin Random House SEA, 2025. 248 pgs. The recent publication of the English edition of DΖ°Ζ‘ng…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βNo Human Being is Spared from Its Crimson Claws: DΖ°Ζ‘ng HΖ°α»ngβs ππ πππ π
ππ£ππβ by Rebecca Maine](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/no-man-river-duong-huong-1.jpg?w=938)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Meena Kandasamy, Exquisite Cadavers, Simon & Schuster India, 2025. 112 pgs. Borrowed from the French term cadavre exquisβa technique devised by the Surrealists to produce collective, chance-based creationsβthe title…
![[REVIEW] βFragments Toward a Whole: Meena Kandasamyβs πΈπ₯ππ’ππ ππ‘π πΆππππ£πππ β by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/meena-kandasamy.jpg?w=568)
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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 Vigil. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, Vigil: The Struggle for Hong Kong, Brixton Ink, 2025. 176 pgs. The ability to document pivotal historical events with scholarly…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Faiqa Mansab, The Sufi Storyteller, Neem Tree Press, 2025. 320 pgs. Faiqa Mansabβs The Sufi Storyteller emerges not merely as a compelling narrative in its own right, but…
![[REVIEW] βIn the Realm of Story: Faiqa Mansabβs πβπ ππ’ππ ππ‘πππ¦π‘πππππ and the Reclaiming of South Asian Mythic Narrativeβ by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/https-neemtreepress.combookthe-sufi-storyteller-1.jpg?w=977)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ming-sho Ho, Be Water: Collective Improvisation in Hong Kongβs Anti-Extradition Protests, Temple University Press, 2025. 258 pgs. The Hong Kong protests of 2019, which erupted in opposition to the…
![[REVIEW] “Improvising Revolution: Hong Kongβs Protests Through the Lens of Ming-sho Ho” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-flowers-of-democracy-are-everywhere.jpg?w=1024)
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πRETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Mending Bodies. Hon Lai Chu (author), Jacqueline Leung (translator), Mending Bodies, Two Lines Press, 2025. 240 pgs. For those who haven’t read the original Chinese…
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βAdaptation and the Illusion of Home: Manjushree Thapaβs Seasons of Flightβ by Abhinav Tulachan Manjushree Thapa, Seasons of Flight, Penguin India, 2011. 226 pgs. βThe flap of a butterflyβs wings…
![[REVIEW] βAdaptation and the Illusion of Home: Manjushree Thapaβs ππππ πππ ππ πΉπππβπ‘β by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/manjushree-thapa-seasons-of-flight-1.jpg?w=881)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Social Room. Andrew Barker, Social Room: Modern Shakespearean Sonnets (Book Three, Sonnets 204β305), Mycroft Publishers, 2025. 186 pgs. βSo choose your enemies, Iβve chosen…
![[REVIEW] “Between Heckle & Hush: The Public & Private Voices of a Poet” by Michael Ingham](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/andrew-barker-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Social Room. Andrew Barker, Social Room: Modern Shakespearean Sonnets (Book Three, Sonnets 204β305), Mycroft Publishers, 2025. 186 pgs. Named after the bar where the…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS R.T. Samuel, Rakesh K. and Rashmi R.D. (editors), The Blaft Book of Anti-Caste SF, Blaft Publications, 2025. 428 pgs. It is a curious irony that speculative fictionβso often described…
![[REVIEW] βThe Fierce Imagination of π΄ππ‘π-πΆππ π‘π πππππ’πππ‘ππ£π πΉπππ‘πππβ by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/r.t.-samuel-rakesh-k.-and-rashmi-r.d.-editors-the-blaft-book-of-anti-caste-sf--1.jpg?w=938)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Milk Tea Alliance. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asiaβs Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing, Columbia Global Reports, 2025. 104 pgs. The…
![[REVIEW] “Boba, Grass Jelly, Light Ice, Democracy: On Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s πβπ ππππ πππ π΄πππππππ” by Nick Zeller](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/the-milk-tea-alliance-inside-asias-struggle-against-autocracy-and-beijing.jpg?w=1000)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ The Milk Tea Alliance. Jeffrey Wasserstrom, The Milk Tea Alliance: Inside Asiaβs Struggle against Autocracy and Beijing, Columbia Global Reports, 2025. 104 pgs. Jeffrey…
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