Category: Penguin Random House
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Hisham Matar,Β The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land In Between,Β Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2016, 256 pgs.Β You walk into a memoir anticipating something deeply personal. You expect to encounter…
![[REVIEW] βA Memory of Absence: Hisham Matarβs πβπ π
ππ‘π’ππβ by Varsha Nair](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/hisham-matar-the-return-fathers-sons-and-the-land-in-between-2.jpg?w=660)
-
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)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπRETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Weike Wang, Joan Is Okay, Penguin Random House, 2022. 224 pgs. Joan is Okay, the sophomore novel by Weike Wang, opens with the line: βWhen I think about…
![[REVIEW] βThe Telos of Toil: Reading Weike Wang’s π½πππ ππ ππππ¦ Through Labour and Identityβ by Tiffany Troy](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/weike-wang-joan-is-okay.png?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS ClickΒ HERE to readΒ all entries inΒ ChaΒ onΒ Yiyun Li.Β Yiyun Li, Must I Go, Penguin Random House, 2020. 368 pgs. Lately, I find fewer and fewer books that surprise meβnovels capable of…
![[REVIEW] “A Meditation on Memory and Loss: Yiyun Li’s ππ’π π‘ πΌ πΊπ” by Dorina Tataran](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/must-i-go-cha-an-asian-literary-journal.png?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS π 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 Mujooβs πβππ ππ’π πππππππ π” by Ananya Singh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/this-our-paradise.jpeg?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Natsuko Imamura (author), Lucy North (translator), The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Penguin Random House, 2021. 224 pgs. The conventional…
![[REVIEW] “Thin Line Between Observing and Stalking: Natsuko Imamuraβs πβπ πππππ ππ π‘βπ ππ’ππππ πππππ‘” by Fathima M](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/the-woman-in-the-purple-skirt.jpg?w=925)
-
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…
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Salman Rushdie, Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder, Penguin Random House, 2024. 224 pgs. “Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers, and how one remembers it…
![[REVIEW] βAn Achingly Poignant Personal Trauma Narrative: Salman Rushdieβs πΎππππβ by Sudeep Ghosh](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/knife-salman-rushdie.jpg?w=1000)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Click HERE to read all entries in Cha on The Woman in the Purple Skirt. Natsuko Imamura (author), Lucy North (translator), The Woman in the Purple Skirt, Penguin Random House, 2021. 224…
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Ocean Vuong, Time Is a Mother, Penguin Random House, 2022. 112 pgs. Building a foundation on the aftershocks of his motherβs death, this collection of Ocean Vuong further explores,…
![[REVIEW] βIβve Plagiarised My Life to Give You the Best of Me: Ocean Vuongβs ππππ πΌπ π πππ‘βππ” by Jennifer Eagleton](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/time-is-a-mother-1.jpg?w=932)
-
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 The Impossible City: A Hong Kong…
![[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)
-
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…
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Azar Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, Penguin Random House, 2003. 356 pgs. There was a time when I was desperate for a reaffirmation of literatureβs…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βWhere Are the Other Voices We Want to Hear? Reading π
ππππππ πΏππππ‘π ππ ππβπππβ by Garfield Chow](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/reading-lolita-in-tehran-1.jpeg?w=675)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Soetsu Yanagi, The Beauty of Everyday Things, Penguin, 2018. 352 pgs. The best book purchases are those of volumes discovered serendipitously on a shop shelf, just as the best…
![[FIRST IMPRESSIONS] βCraft Work: Soetsu Yanagiβs πβπ π΅πππ’π‘π¦ ππ πΈπ£πππ¦πππ¦ πβππππ β by Oliver Farry](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/onta-ware-collected-by-yanagi-soetsu.jpg?w=1024)
-
π RETURN TO FIRST IMPRESSIONSπ RETURN TO CHA REVIEW OF BOOKS AND FILMS Xuan Juliana Wang, Home Remedies, Penguin Random House, 2019. 240 pgs. Watching Olympic diving is agonisingly tense, even as I sit at my laptop in London to watch, 9,500km…
![[REVIEW] “Building Their Own Universes: A Review of Xuan Juliana Wang’s π»πππ π
πππππππ ” by Suyin Haynes](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/home-remedies_xuan-juliana-wang-copy.jpg?w=1024)
-
{Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Grace Chia, The Arches of Gerrard Street, Penguin Random House SEA, 2021. 268 pgs. Itβs clear from the prologue alone that Grace Chia has prepared a complex and diverse diasporic world for…
![[REVIEW] “The Heterogeneity of the Vast Chinese Community: Grace Chia’s πβπ π΄ππβππ ππ πΊππππππ ππ‘ππππ‘” by Queenie Au](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/the-arches-of-gerrard-street.png?w=1024)
-
{Written by Emma Zhang, this review is part of Issue 46 of Cha.}Β {Return to Cha Review of Books and Films.} Jung Chang, Big Sister, Little Sister, Red Sister: Three Women at the Heart of Twentieth-Century China, Penguin Random House, 2019.…
![[REVIEW] “The World for One Family: A Review of Jung Changβs π΅ππ πππ π‘ππ, πΏππ‘π‘ππ πππ π‘ππ, π
ππ πππ π‘ππ” by Emma Zhang](https://chajournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/big-sister-little-sister-red-sister-three-women-at-the-heart-of-twentieth-century-china-1.jpg?w=1024)
Cha 