Category: Cha Review of Books and Films
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Cecil Mariani, Gaze, Grace, Grief, RUBANAH – Underground Hub, 2023. When my friend Tara and I walk into the RUBANAH Underground Hub on a humid afternoon in Jakarta, we find…
![[REVIEW] “πΊππ§π, πΊππππ, πΊππππ: Gallery in a State of Undress” by Julia Merican](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/grieving-path-series-2-the-yellow-kinesthesis.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 Bright Fear. Mary Jean Chan, Bright Fear, Faber & Faber, 2023. 72 pgs. Mary Jean Chan was born and raised in Hong Kong. They now…
![[REVIEW] βThe Thing Itself, Not the Myth: Mary Jean Chanβs π΅πππβπ‘ πΉπππβ by Lydia Kwa](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/bright-fear-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 Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Where Else. Jennifer Wong, Jason Eng Hun Lee, and Tim Tim Cheng (editors), Where Else: An International Hong Kong Poetry Anthology, Verve Poetry Press, 2023.…
![[REVIEW] βNot Just a Fusion of Leftover Cultures: A Review of πβπππ πΈππ πβ by Aerith Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/where-else_an-international-anthology-of-hong-kong-writing.png?w=1024)
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θΆ FIRST IMPRESSIONS θΆ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “An (Im)possible Document: A Review of Karen Cheung’s The Impossible City” by Luca Griseri ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ The Impossible City. Karen Cheung, The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, Penguin…
![[REVIEW] “An (Im)possible Document: A Review of Karen Cheung’s πβπ πΌππππ π ππππ πΆππ‘𦔠by Luca Griseri](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/the-impossible-city_karen-cheung-1.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 Indelible City. Louisa Lim, Indelible City: Dispossession and Defiance in Hong Kong, Text Publishing Melbourne Australia, 2022. 306 pgs. βThere is no escape from the horror…
![[REVIEW] “A Song of Despair, of Burning Rage: Louisa Lim’s πΌππππππππ πΆππ‘𦔠by James Thompson](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/indelible-city-louisa-lim-1.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 Nightmare Japan. β Jinhee Choi and Mitsuyo Wada-Marciano (editors), Horror to the Extreme: Changing Boundaries in Asian Cinema, Hong Kong University Press, 2009. 284 pgs.β Jay…
![[REVIEW] βThe Golden Age of Asian Horror Film: An Examination of π»πππππ π‘π π‘βπ πΈπ₯π‘ππππ and πππβπ‘ππππ π½ππππβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/horror.png?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 How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart. Florentyna Leow, How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart, The Emma Press, 2023. 152 pgs. One of my most striking encounters with loneliness…
![[REVIEW] “Loneliness is Universal: Florentyna Leow’s π»ππ€ πΎπ¦ππ‘π π΅πππππ πππ’π π»ππππ‘” by Keziah Cho](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/how-kyoto-breaks-your-heart-1.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 Bloom. Xi Chuan (author), Lucas Klein (translator), Bloom & Other Poems, New Directions. 2022. 204 pgs. Back in 1973, Harold Bloom imagined a literary landscape…
![[REVIEW] “A Genuine Fake? Xi Chuan’s π΅ππππ & ππ‘βππ πππππ ” by David Harrison Horton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/bloom-other-poems_lucas-klein_xi-chuan-1.png?w=972)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tang Wai-ki (director), Karen Chan Ka-yan and Sing Ip (translators and actors), Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, We Draman, San Po Kong, 2023. One thing about Hong Kong is…
![[REVIEW] “πΏπππππ πΏπππππ πΏπππππ πΏπππππ πΏπππππ Translated into Hongkongersβ Language: The Pain of Being Muted and a Slight Hope of Expressing Feelingβ by Dawna Fung](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/tang-wai-ki-director-lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons-lemons-1.jpeg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lucy Hamilton, The Widening of Tolo Highway: A Hong Kong Story of Paranoia and Protest, Penguin Random House SEA, 2022. 236 pgs. When, one-third into a novel, you still…
![[REVIEW] βHong Kong as Method: Lucy Hamiltonβs πβπ ππππππππ ππ ππππ π»ππβπ€ππ¦β by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/the-widening-of-the-tolo-highway-1.jpg?w=426)
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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 The Impossible City. Karen Cheung, The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, Penguin Random House, 2022. 352 pgs. Karen Cheungβs memoir, The Impossible City, opens by…
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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 Impossible City. Karen Cheung, The Impossible City: A Hong Kong Memoir, Penguin Random House, 2022. 352 pgs. When I was younger, my friends would…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Gary Bettinson, The Sensuous Cinema of Wong Kar-wai: Film Poetics and the Aesthetic of Disturbance, 2014. 176 pgs. In the summer of 1994, I left a cinema in Tsim…
![[REVIEW] βGetting to the Heart of Wong Kar-wai: Gary Bettinsonβs πβπ ππππ π’ππ’π πΆπππππ ππ ππππ πΎππ-π€ππβ by Susan Blumberg-Kason](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/29477id_021_0005_29477id_215.webp?w=800)
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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 Bloom. Xi Chuan (author), Lucas Klein (translator), Bloom & Other Poems, New Directions. 2022. 204 pgs. The bewitching voice that sears through this collection of…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tang Shu-wing (director), Bhagavad Gita, West Kowloon Cultural District, 2023. One of the most thought-provoking stage performances of the summer of 2023 is Tang Shu-wingβs Bhagavad Gita. Shown in…
![[REVIEW]βDetachment in the Cycle of Kali Yuga: A Review of Tang Shu-wingβs π΅βππππ£ππ πΊππ‘πβ by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/bhagavad-gita-1.jpg?w=1024)
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Click HERE to read an essay by Agnes Chew and an excerpt from Eternal Summer of Homeland. πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Agnes Chew, Eternal Summer of My Homeland, Epigram Books, 2023. 184 pgs.…
![[REVIEW] βStragglers in Singapore: Agnes Chewβs πΈπ‘πππππ ππ’ππππ ππ ππ¦ π»πππππππβ by Frances An](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/eternal-summer-of-my-homeland.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 Making Space.ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Where Else. β Nicolette Wong (editor), Making Space: A Collection of Writing and Art, Cart Noodles Press, 2023. 163 pgs.β…
![[REVIEW] βI Will Always Return: Reading ππππππ πππππ and πβπππ πΈππ πβ by Vaughan Rapatahana](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/where-else-making-space.png?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 Nightmare Japan. Jay McRoy, Nightmare Japan: Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema, Brill, 2008. 232 pgs. Something has been happening with Asian horror, and it took a…
![[REVIEW] βEnfleshing Horror: Jay McRoyβs πππβπ‘ππππ π½ππππβ by Junnan Chen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/nightmare-japan-1.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tomoko Hidaka, Salaryman Masculinity: Continuity and Change in Hegemonic Masculinity in Japan, Brill, 2010. 224 pgs. βSalarymanβ is a word thatβs uniquely Japanese, even if the concept is not.…
![[REVIEW] βThe Paradigm to Emulate is the Salarymenβ by Mario Rustan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/group-of-salarymen.webp?w=1000)
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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 Owlish. Dorothy Tse (author), Natascha Bruce (translator), Owlish, Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2023. 224 pgs. The β-ishβ in Owlish by Dorothy Tse suggests a suffixed impreciseness, a mutating…
![[REVIEW] βThe Shadow of Hong Kong in Dorothy Tse’s ππ€πππ ββ by Michelle Suen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/dorothy-tse-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Don Mee Choi, DMZ Colony, Wave Books, 2020. 152 pgs. Reading Don Mee Choiβs DMZ Colony is an experience that plunges into a theatre of words, a theatre of…
![[REVIEW] βOblong Oblong: Mirror Words in Transit in Don Mee Choiβs π·ππ πΆππππ𦔠by Pareys Liu Yiyi](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/dmz_colony_cover_for_web-copy.jpg?w=498)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Lisa See, Lady Tanβs Circle of Women, Scribner, 2023. 368 pgs. A thousand years in the past, a thousand years in the futureβno matter where you live or how…
![[REVIEW] βVibrant Setting of Ancient China: Lisa Seeβs πΏπππ¦ πππβπ πΆπππππ ππ πππππβ by Emma Pei Yin](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/lisa-see_lady-tans-circle-of-women-copy.jpg?w=664)
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Identity, Home and Writing Elsewhere. Jennifer Wong, Identity, Home and Writing Elsewhere in Contemporary Chinese Diaspora Poetry, Bloomsbury, 2023. When Jennifer…
![[REVIEW] βPoetry of the Nomads: Jennifer Wongβs πΌππππ‘ππ‘π¦, π»πππ πππ ππππ‘πππ πΈππ ππ€βπππ ππ πΆπππ‘ππππππππ¦ πΆβππππ π π·πππ ππππ ππππ‘ππ¦β by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/jennifer-wong-cha-identity-home-and-writing-elsewhere.png?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 Owlish. Dorothy Tse (author), Natascha Bruce (translator), Owlish, Fitzcarraldo Editions, 2023. 224 pgs. Defying our expectations of time and space, Dorothy…
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πΒ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπΒ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Identity, Home and Writing Elsewhere. Jennifer Wong, Identity, Home and Writing Elsewhere in Contemporary Chinese Diaspora Poetry, Bloomsbury, 2023. Jennifer…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Brian Sze-hang Kwok, Fading Neon Lights: An Archive of Hong Kongβs Visual Culture, City University of Hong Kong Press, 2023. 202 pgs. Brian Sze-hang Kwok may not know the…
![[REVIEW] βPangs of Things That Have PassedβBrian Sze-hang Kwok’s πΉπππππ ππππ πΏππβπ‘π : π΄π π΄ππβππ£π ππ π»πππ πΎπππβπ πππ π’ππ πΆπ’ππ‘π’ππβ by Lian-Hee Wee](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/29.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Tan Twan Eng, The House of Doors, Canongate, 2023. 320 pgs. Third novels can be tricky. The second has to prove the first was not a fluke. Something more…
![[REVIEW] βSome Private Morsel of Your Own: Tan Twan Engβs πβπ π»ππ’π π ππ π·ππππ β by Douglas Kerr](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/the-house-of-doors-1.jpg?w=1024)
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ozawa Minoru (author), Janine Beichman (translator), Well-Versed: Exploring Modern Japanese Haiku, with photography by Maeda ShinzΕ and Akira, Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture, 2021. 375 pgs. Haiku has…
![[REVIEW] βBeautifully ProducedβOzawa Minoruβs ππππ-ππππ ππ: πΈπ₯πππππππ ππππππ π½ππππππ π π»ππππ’β by Michael Tsang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/well-versed.png?w=1024)
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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 How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart. Florentyna Leow, How Kyoto Breaks Your Heart, The Emma Press, 2023. 152 pgs. I open Florentyna Leowβs How Kyoto Breaks…
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π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Nathan Go, Forgiving Imelda Marcos, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023. 240 pgs. Nathan Goβs novel Forgiving Imelda Marcos comes at a kind of global cultural moment for things Filipino and…
![[REVIEW] βOne Fatherβs Regret: Nathan Goβs πΉπππππ£πππ πΌπππππ ππππππ β by Noelle Q. de Jesus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/forgiving-imelda-marcos-1.jpg?w=900)
Cha 