This polyphonic collection of twenty-five
stories presents a multitude of Malaysian perspectives spanning age,
gender, and class.
Yow char kwai hawkers compete for customers on a busy city street. Marital dynamics unfurl at an abortion clinic.
On
an island, a man's infatuation with a veiled woman takes a supernatural
turn. A woman writes to her brother about their dead cat. Characters in
these stories connect through chance encounters and fateful events.
Their narratives are inevitably coloured by the social tension and
occasional absurdities of a multicultural society.
Shortlisted for the 2009 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize.
