really liked this! would love the chance to see it live. such an interesting concept and well executed. 

i thought this was a very cool medium - transcribed performance lecture, so cool! the topics were extremely new to me in the sense that i have not encountered anything quite like it. i would love to see these live. like reading a play, there is a flatness to it on paper that i think is unavoidable. 

my only qualms were the hint at support of japanese imperialism and fascist communist regimes in the first lecture. i think the conversation around these topics could have been either more nuanced or not included. also, they said that chinua achebe is kenyan but he’s nigerian. 

otherwise i am really happy to have stumbled across this :)

overall really enjoyed/appreciated this. powerful and readable. devastating while keeping it light somehow. i think she did a great job and narrating in a child’s voice for the early bits, and did a nice job transitioning to her adult voice. 

these stories were quite simple and left a lot to be desired in terms of suspense and thrill, at least for me. however, the context within which this book came to be is so cool - im so glad that the work to preserve this part of malaysian/singapore cultural history is being done. very happy to have come across this and learned a little more about the region throughout the 20th centrury. much different from all of the out her SEA lit, esp from Malaysia/ SG which is always fun. 

looooooved everything about this. maybe it’s even a 5 star idk. so dramatic and so well done. mwah. 

this absolutely ripped my heart out. shout of to the employee of shakespeare and co who told me to read it. 

lol i got the ebook Not realizing how fucking long this thing is. maybe in another life. 

i really enjoyed how fast paced and engaging this was. i literally couldn’t put it down. however, i couldn’t shake the transphobic and homophobic comments that didn’t seem to add anything, peppered throughout. like??? why? i do recognize this is a little older, but that doesn’t seem like enough of a reason for me. the * spoiler * bit about aech at the end helped a bit but it also felt like it was slapping wade on the back for not being a jerk which is always a little egh. otherwise, a very fun read and well executed world building. 

this was a fun read on site while in marseilles. i must say though, if i hadn’t been here, the rating would be lower. the plot was fun, but the characters were flat and the writing left me feeling a little uninspired. but, the perfect vacation read. also the ending? lmao. felt like mayle ran out of time before handing in the final copy to his editor. i audibly chortled upon finishing. 

i liked this. some good zingers. it timed perfectly with my being in rome. i love when the universe takes over my reading. thank you universe! can’t wait to reread this.