Category: 2025 Entries
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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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Editor’s note: Lydia Wongβs evocative essay explores salt as both a material and metaphorical force in Hong Kongβs cultural, political, and sensual identity. From ancient salt fields to contemporary political repression, she traces how salt symbolises preservation, resistance, and longing.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βSALTY WET ιΉΉζΏβ by Lydia Wong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/salted-fish_peng-chau_december-2019_oliver-farry.jpg?w=1024)
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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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Editor’s note: βWidowβ 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 wifeβs sacrifice reverberates through both his…
![[REVERSE] βWidowβ by Aidan Bernales](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/filipino-artist-ang-kiukok.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βThe Sweetness of Resilience: Unraveling Netflixβs When Life Gives You Tangerinesβ by Dinisha Nayak Kimβ―Wonβseok (director), When Life Gives You Tangerines, 2025. 16βepisode Netflix original series, split into four volumes.…
![[REVIEW] βThe Sweetness of Resilience: Unraveling Netflixβs πβππ πΏπππ πΊππ£ππ πππ’ ππππππππππ β by Dinisha Nayak](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/aaaabfesqbulveyjma9rfwntp2u9hy-6mavdb4lcblrsvdvhzrh8w6dh4ity37vmdt1pnjzdsmaz2jrr6noncmrimqhvgyu6cdsxalvb.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN 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 narrativesβcurious onlookers of…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βA Playwrightβs Memoir: Girish Karnadβs πβππ πΏπππ ππ‘ ππππ¦β by Kathiravan Annamalai](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/girish-karnads-this-life-at-play.jpg?w=998)
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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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[ESSAY] βPseudo-Resistance and Ethical Beauty: A Critique of South Korean and Japanese Cinematic Aestheticsβ 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] βPseudo-Resistance and Ethical Beauty: A Critique of South Korean and Japanese Cinematic Aestheticsβ by Zheng Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/8331752405576_.pic_.png?w=610)
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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 Hiroko Oyamada. Hiroko Oyamada (author), David Boyd (translator), The Hole, New Directions Publishing, 2020. 112 pgs. As a…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βUnanswered Questions of Balance: Hiroko Oyamadaβs πβπ π»πππβ by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/hiroko-oyamada_the-hole.jpg?w=778)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN 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 beautyβa beauty that transcends the physical…
![[REVIEW] βBeauty and Strength in Niloufar-Lily Soltaniβs ππ’ππππβπβ by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/in-niloufar-lily-soltanis-zulaikha.jpg?w=1000)
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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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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] βBetween Rupture and Continuity: Charting Anachronistic Literary Modernity in Satoru Hashimotoβs Afterlives of Lettersβ by Charlie Ng Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Afterlives. Satoru Hashimoto, Afterlives…
![[REVIEW] βBetween Rupture and Continuity: Charting Anachronistic Literary Modernity in Satoru Hashimotoβs π΄ππ‘πππππ£ππ ππ πΏππ‘π‘πππ β by Charlie Ng](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/afterlives-of-letters-the-transnational-origins-of-modern-literature-in-china-japan-and-korea.jpg?w=1000)
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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…
![[REVIEW] βMemory, Resistance, and Repression: The Enduring Relevance of Jeffrey Wasserstromβs πππππβ by David R. StroupΒ](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 Quan Manh Ha and Paul Christiansen (translators). Light Out and Modern Vietnamese Stories, 1930β1954. Northern Illinois University Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2024. 228 pgs. Light Out…
![[REVIEW] βWriting Against Empire: πΏππβπ‘ ππ’π‘ and Survival in Colonial Vietnamβ by Josie Miller](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/light-out.jpg?w=1000)
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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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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “AftershockβWhen the Report Becomes the Story: Journalism as the Literature of Crisis” by Andrew Barker Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Aftershock. Holmes Chan (editor), Aftershock: Essays from Hong Kong, Small Tune Press,…
![[REVIEW] “π΄ππ‘πππ βπππβWhen the Report Becomes the Story: Journalism as the Literature of Crisis” by Andrew Barker](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/aftershock_holmes-chan.jpeg?w=500)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ryan Dunch and Ashley Esarey (editors), Taiwan in Dynamic Transition: Nation Building and Democratization, University of Washington Press, 2020. 256 pgs. Taiwan has long been a focal point in the study…
![[REVIEW] βTaiwanβs Political Evolution and the Study of Comparative Politics as seen in ππππ€ππ ππ π·π¦πππππ πππππ ππ‘πππβ by Eric D. de Roulet](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/taiwan-in-dynamic-transition-nation-building-and-democratization-1.jpg?w=1000)
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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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Doua Moua and Nirris Nagendrarajah Editorβs note: In this interview, Nirris Nagendrarajah talks to screenwriter and actor Doua Moua; they discuss The Harvest, a tender exploration of a Hmong family navigating illness, identity, and intergenerational conflict. Inspired by his own experiences…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “Love Is Time: A Conversation on πβπ π»πππ£ππ π‘” by NIRRIS NAGENDRARAJAH and Doua Moua”](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/the-harvest_carley-soo.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. 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 IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Also read “Feature: Lu Xun” in Cha. Lu Xun (author), Eileen J. Cheng (translator), Theodore Huters (editor), Wild Grass & Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk, Harvard University Press,…
![[REVIEW] “One of the Greatest Writers, Full Stop: Lu Xun’s ππππ πΊπππ π & πππππππ π΅πππ π πππ πΊππ‘βππππ ππ‘ π·π’π π” by Robert Postings](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/wild-grass-and-morning-blossoms-gathered-at-dusk-harvard-university-press-2022.-272-pgs.jpg?w=955)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Ki-duk (director), The Isle, 2000. 90 min. Some films are like waves that gently lap against the shores of our memories; others, however, jolt us by revealing…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βπβπ πΌπ ππ at 25: Kim Ki Dukβs Blooming Poem on the Island of Solitudeβ by G.A. Gowtham](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/f_1_the_isle_01c5e5da4c.jpeg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Masaki Kobayashi (director), Kwaidan, 1964. 175 min. Maβa profound Japanese concept that encapsulates the essence of stillness. The term refers to the empty spaces in between, a fleeting suspension…
![[EXCLUSIVE] βπΎπ€πππππ: Horror and Folklore as an Art Formβ by Tushi Gogoi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/kwaidan.jpg?w=570)
Cha 