This book is truly magical. It was a little difficult to get into for me as I am never big on magical realism as a genre, however, the way the characters are written was tremendous. 

I was gone, girl. This book utilizes a lot of fake rape myths and while ideally, I can separate out fiction and reality - it just feels like it doesn't do anything to add to the thriller literature genre. I have no idea how this is popular because I felt super angry reading this. This work of fiction's popularity does nothing but perpetuate the "psychotic women who fake her rape" myth and the main protagonist, Nick Dunne, is unbearable to read.  From a writer's standpoint, Gillian does a good job at fleshing out characters and pacing the events. I.. This was a mediocre read to be honest. I don't get the hype. 

I picked it up because the premise was intriguing but the author's story-telling feels disingenuous. It felt like I was fed a lot of information about emotions and grief and loss, but I was not invested enough in Ismael's character. The characters appear really flat as well. The main protagonist experiences racism in his workplace but the way racism was described was so mechanical, it just felt like the author was voyeuristic in his entire experience and could not write out how racism is indeed truly harmful to non-Whites in Australia.. you know, like what the book premise is about.  

There were several lines in the book that felt so odd. On page 28, "when (Ismael's grandmother) bent over to collect his bowl. he could see them hanging, pendulously, browned by the sun, the enormous dark brown nipples that had given suck to his mother protruding". Like.. what is this even supposed to be about? What is this information for? 

Lastly, this book is completely disorganized and littered with many poor chapter pacing and sorting. There were many awkward transitions, specifically the ones that introduce a side character's backstory. I love character study driven stories but this.. this was just messy. It was difficult to follow through because the flow felt inorganic. 

Really wonderfully written. When I think of Singapore Literature, this is what I think of. This captures exactly the spirit of being here in our country.

My only critic would be the unnecessary fat people = mean caricature to describe "Fat Auntie". I thought we have moved past that unnecessary typing for characters and felt like it was simply unnecessary stereotyping.