Category: Cha Review of Books and Films
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Matthew Wong Foreman, Sunset at Lion Rock, Proverse Press, 2024. 288 pgs. ………Iโve no strength left to stop the contradiction………My heart is tired and my eyes blurry you know………โLeslie…
![[REVIEW] “Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Among Many, Many Other Things: Matthew Wong Foremanโs ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐๐ก ๐๐ก ๐ฟ๐๐๐ ๐
๐๐๐” by Jason S Polley](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/matthew-wong-foreman-sunset-at-lion-rock-1.jpg?w=962)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bong Joon-ho (director), Mickey 17, 2025. 137 min. Header image ยฉ bartos. Bong Joon-hoโs Mickey 17 is at once an existential tragedy and a darkly comic spectacleโa sci-fi epic…
![[REVIEW] “Dying for a Living: Bong Joon-ho’s ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ 17 and the Horror of Being Replaceable” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/c2a9marclafon-mickey17-rectangle.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS For Gab Angeles, who lent me the book. Natsume Sลseki (author), Meredith McKinney (translator), Kokoro, Penguin Classics, 2010. 256 pgs. Kokoro is the final novel written by Natsume Sลseki.…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โThe Virtue of Melancholy: Reading Natsume Sลsekiโs ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐โ by Ramzzi Fariรฑas](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/kokoro.png?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] โA Shifting, Unstable World: Can Xueโs I Live in the Slumsโ by Zalman S. Davis Can Xue (author), Karen Gernant and Chen Zeping (translators), I Live in the Slums, Yale…
![[REVIEW] โA Shifting, Unstable World: Can Xueโs ๐ผ ๐ฟ๐๐ฃ๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐๐ โ by Zalman S. Davis](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/i-live-in-the-slums-1.jpg?w=968)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Xiaofei Tian (editor), Reading Du Fu: Nine Views, Hong Kong University Press, 2020. 200 pgs. The idea for Reading Du Fu: Nine Views grew out of a two-day conference…
![[REVIEW] “Interrogative Reflections: Nine Views of Reading Du Fu” by Marsha McDonald](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/xiaofei-tian-editor-reading-du-fu-nine-views-1.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ 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 Factory, New Directions, 2019. 128 pgs. Hiroko Oyamadaโs The Factory weaves…
![[REVIEW] โA Senseless Menagerie: Hiroko Oyamadaโs ๐โ๐ ๐น๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆโ by Tyran Grillo](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/the-factory.png?w=562)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Absolutely on Music. Haruki Murakami (author), Jay Rubin (translator), Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa, Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. 352 pgs. When we look back…
![[REVIEW] “A Symphony of Words and SoundโHaruki Murakami’s ๐ด๐๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ก๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐: ๐ถ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐ค๐๐กโ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ค๐” by Antonia Yang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/absolutely-on-music-conversations-with-seiji-ozawa-alfred-a.-knopf-2016.jpg?w=751)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] “Before TSMC and Same-Sex Marriage: Qiu Miaojin’s Notes of a Crocodile” by Glen Loveland Qiu Miaojin (author), Bonnie Huie (translator), Notes of a Crocodile, NYRB Classics, 2017, 256 pgs. To…
![[REVIEW] “Before TSMC and Same-Sex Marriage: Qiu Miaojin’s ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐” by Glen Loveland](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/qiu.crocodile.hires2-copy.jpg?w=990)
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๐ย RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ย RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Peter Ho Davies, The Art of Revision, Graywolf Press, 2021. 192 pgs. While I wasnโt particularly aware of the Graywolf Press series to which this book belongsโThe Art ofโฆ,…
![[REVIEW] “The Last Word on Writing: Peter Ho Daviesโs ๐โ๐ ๐ด๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐
๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐” by Noelle Q. de Jesus](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/peter-ho-davies-the-art-of-revision-1.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bhaswati Ghosh, Nostalgic for a Place Never Seen, Copper Coin Publishing, 2024. 102 pgs. Nostalgia is humanityโs Janus-faced companionโsimultaneously looking back and forward, with someone or something perpetually tugging…
![[REVIEW] “This is How Places Heave: Memory and Longing in Bhaswati Ghosh’s ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐” by Sayan Aich](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/bhaswati-ghosh-nostalgic-for-a-place-never-seen-1.jpg?w=543)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Paola Irene Galli Mastrodonato, Emilio Salgari: The Tiger Is Still Alive!, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2024. 462 pgs. The very first thought that crossed my mind upon seeing Paola…
![[REVIEW] โAsia’s Italian Novelist: Paola Irene Galli Mastrodonato” by Masturah Alatas](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/emilio-salgari-the-tiger-is-still-alive-1.jpg?w=932)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Clickย HERE to readย all entries inย Chaย onย A Woman Burnt. Imayam (author), GJV Prasad (translator), A Woman Burnt, Simon and Schuster India, 2023. 336 pgs. We step into a new worldโotherwise inaccessibleโevery…
![[REVIEW] “A Tale of Love and Abuse: Imayam’s ๐ด ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ต๐ข๐๐๐ก” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/a-woman-burnt-1.jpg?w=952)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Mohammad Rasoulof (director), The Seed of the Sacred Fig, 2024. 167 min. The fig tree spreads by entwining itself around another, slowly constricting, siphoning its strength, until nothing remains…
![[REVIEW] “Strangled by Power: Mohammad Rasoulof’s ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/the-seed-of-the-sacred-fig_web-1024x559-1.webp?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Clickย HERE to readย all entries inย Chaย onย Yiyun Li.ย Yiyun Li, Must I Go, Penguin Random House, 2020. 368 pgs. Lately, I find fewer and fewer books that surprise meโnovels capable of…
![[REVIEW] “A Meditation on Memory and Loss: Yiyun Li’s ๐๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ผ ๐บ๐” by Dorina Tataran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/must-i-go-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Fang Li (director), The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, 2023. 123 min. The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru is a documentary film recounting the torpedoing of the Japanese cargo…
![[REVIEW] “Crying in the Cinema, Chinese Style: Fang Li’s ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ข” by Edward Allen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/fang-li-director-the-sinking-of-the-lisbon-maru.webp?w=680)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Katarina Zhu (director), Bunnylovr, 2025. 86 min. A webcam turns on: a white fishnet stocking appears up close, resembling a fenceโone that invites the possibility of being climbed, crossed,…
![[REVIEW] โThe Good Girl: On Katarina Zhuโs ๐ต๐ข๐๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ฃ๐โ by Nirris Nagendrarajah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/bunnylovr.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Shze-Hui Tjoa, The Story Game: A Memoir by Shze-Hui Tjoa, Tin House Books, 2024. 208 pgs. It was exam season, except this time I was in university. This class…
![[REVIEW] “Excavation and Memory in Shze-Hui Tjoa’s ๐โ๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆ ๐บ๐๐๐: ๐ด ๐๐๐๐๐๐” by Nur Hadziqah](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/shze-hui-tjoa-the-story-game-a-memoir-by-shze-hui-tjoa.jpg?w=971)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Bei Dao (author), Jeffrey Yang (translator), Sidetracks, New Directions, 2024. 176 pgs. The โsidetracksโ of Bei Daoโs title can first be understood as a structural metaphorโtwo parallel…
![[REVIEW] “The Fugitive: Bei Daoโs ๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐ ” by Jeff Tompkins](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/sidetracks-bei-dao_cha.jpg?w=611)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Karan Mujoo, This Our Paradise, Penguin Random House, 2024. 240 pgs. For some, Kashmir is a paradise of serene valleys and pristine lakes. For others, it is…
![[REVIEW] “A Fractured Paradise: Karan Mujooโs ๐โ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/this-our-paradise.jpeg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Susan Lieu, The Manicuristโs Daughter: A Memoir, Celadon Books, 2024. 305 pgs. The Manicuristโs Daughter: A Memoir is both a profound exploration and a courageous recovery of…
![[REVIEW] โTeetering Between Cultures: Susan Lieuโs ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ข๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ท๐๐ข๐โ๐ก๐๐โ by Thu Le](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-manicurists-daughter.jpg?w=987)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS ๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kang Hwagil (author), Clare Richards (translator), Another Person, Pushkin Press, 2023. 302 pgs. When her boyfriend chokes her for the fifth time since their office romance began, Kim…
![[REVIEW] “Unmasking Toxic Cultures: Kang Hwagil’s ๐ด๐๐๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐” by John Teoh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/another-person-78-reviews-authors-hwa-gil-kang-author-clare-richards-translator.jpg?w=950)
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๐RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS โ Shao Yihui (director), Her Story ๅฅฝไธ่ฅฟ, 2024. 123 min. โ Ling Jia (director), YOLO ็ญ่พฃๆป็ซ, 2024. 130 min. Decades after Chairman Mao declared that โwomen hold up half…
![[EXCLUSIVE] “๐ป๐๐ ๐๐ก๐๐๐ฆ, ๐๐๐ฟ๐, and the Alternative Family in Chinese Cinema” by Edward Allen](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-alternative-family-in-chinese-cinema.png?w=1024)
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๐RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS โ Lin Zhao, Flowing Creek ๆตๆบช (originally published in Mandarin Chinese), Shanghai Sanlian Publishing Company, 2020, 192 pgs.โ Lin Zhao, Tidal Chart ๆฝฎๅคๅ (originally published in Mandarin Chinese with a variety…
![[EXCLUSIVE] โRewriting the Southeast Chinese Frontier with Tenderness: Lin Zhaoโs ๐น๐๐๐ค๐๐๐ ๐ถ๐๐๐๐ and ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ถโ๐๐๐กโ by Winifred Dongyi Wang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/lin-zhao.jpeg?w=600)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Absolutely on Music. Haruki Murakami (author), Jay Rubin (translator), Absolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa, Alfred A. Knopf, 2016. 352 pgs. In…
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๏ป RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๏ป RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Kim Soom (author), Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton (translators), One Left, University of Washington Press, 2020. 224 pgs. During the Second World War, over 200,000 Korean girls…
![[REVIEW] “Bearing Witness to History: Kim Soom’s ๐๐๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ก” by John Teoh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/kim-soom-author-bruce-fulton-and-ju-chan-fulton-translators-one-left-1.jpg?w=971)
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๏ป RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๏ป RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Yilin Wang (editor & translator), The Lantern and the Night Moths: Five Modern and Contemporary Chinese Poets, Invisible Publishing, 2024. 120 pgs. The Lantern and The Night…
![[REVIEW] “Poetry Translation in the Chinese Diaspora: Yilin Wangโs ๐โ๐ ๐ฟ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐โ๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ก ๐๐๐กโ๐ ” by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/the-lantern-and-the-night-moths.jpg?w=1024)
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่ถ FIRST IMPRESSIONS ่ถ REVIEW OF BOOKS & FILMS [REVIEW] โRediscovering Prajwal Parajulyโs The Gurkha’s Daughter: A Journey Through Identity and Displacementโ by Abhinav Tulachan Prajwal Parajuly, The Gurkha’s Daughter, Quercus, 2012. 272 pgs. This is a book my father…
![[REVIEW] โRediscovering Prajwal Parajulyโs ๐โ๐ ๐บ๐ข๐๐โ๐’๐ ๐ท๐๐ข๐โ๐ก๐๐: A Journey Through Identity and Displacementโ by Abhinav Tulachan](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/prajwal-parajuly-the-gurkhas-daughter.jpg?w=649)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on Idol, Burning. Rin Usami (author), Asa Yoneda (translator), Idol, Burning, Canongate, 2022. 96 pgs. Rin Usamiโs Idol, Burning (ใๆจใใ็ใใ, 2020) offers an incisive exploration of…
![[REVIEW] “Belief, Devotion, and Estrangement in Rin Usamiโs ๐ผ๐๐๐, ๐ต๐ข๐๐๐๐๐” by James Au Kin-Pong](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/idol-burning-canongate.jpg?w=1024)
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๐ RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS๐ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyal, Instruments of Torture, Harper Collins India, 2024. 200 pgs. In this haunting collection of stories, each narrative is aptly named after a medieval torture device, metaphorically…
![[REVIEW] โLabyrinthine Corridors of the Human Psyche: Aparna Upadhyaya Sanyalโs ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ก๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐โ by Namrata](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/aparna-sanyal_cha.jpeg?w=800)
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Authorโs note: This is a review of the Disco-TECA performance that took place at The Stage, London, as part of Queer East 2024, which may be different from its previous or subsequent versions. A trailer of the show can be…
![[REVIEW] โDisco-TECA: Disco Culture as Queer Cultureโ by Hongwei Bao](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/g47a2566x.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 