When all the feasting and merriment get a bit too much and you fancy curling up with a good book for some respite, check out these titles as reviewed by Elena Koshy and ninotaziz
AUNTY LEE’S CHILLED REVENGE
Author: Ovidia Yu
Publisher: HarperCollins
338 pages
Reviewed by Elena Koshy
I like a good mystery book every now and then. The murderer, the endless list of suspects, the oft-tangled plot and of course, the hapless “murderee”. Okay, I know there’s no such word but bear with me here (I’m on a roll now). Who doesn’t like the challenge of solving a great big puzzle of a book? The “whodunits” that get you frowning over a myriad of characters and their back stories, trying to race with the main protagonist to solve the murder before the final chapter unveils the addle-brained killer in all aplomb.
We’ve had a whole lot of detectives we loved reading about. From deerstalker, hat-wearing Sherlock Holmes to fluffy old Miss Marple, pointy moustachioed Hercule Poirot right down to piano-playing cat lover Alex Cross — all helping us bring killers, poisoners and other dodgy deviants to justice. Hence, Aunty Lee’s Chilled Revenge got my eyes lighting up at the possibility of delving into a juicy lunch box filled with a grisly murder, intrigue, plot twists and clues that point out to the real killer.
Meet crime-solving restaurateur Aunty Lee. She’s Singapore’s answer to Miss Marple — not as fluffy — but a sharp-minded kay-poh-chi (“inquisitive” in the Hokkien dialect) who can’t seem to stay out of anyone’s business. In some ways, she does remind you of Marple but without any of the British refinement or subtlety.
The story plot is interesting. Alison Fitzgerald, a disgraced expat had returned to Singapore with an axe to grind against her former ex-husband and a group of people who implicated her years ago in a scandal that she never quite recovered from. She’s soon found murdered. It’s up to Aunty Lee to get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounds Fitzgerald’s murder and uncover the real killer who’s lurking among her group of friends.
Did I say it felt like diving into a lunch box? Oh yes, I did. Aunty Lee is a mean cook and firmly believes that serving justice can be done on a tray filled with good hearty Peranakan food. So you find her mulling over what to feed the police, her friends and of course, the usual suspects that come hand in hand with a murdered ang-moh (racial ephitet in Hokkien describing white people).
Was the book entertaining? Well yes and no. It’s fun to read in the beginning. Then it gets predictable. The plot wears thin somewhat to the middle in the book and I skipped a few pages to get to the end. It’s a lot like cooking really. You have a lot of these great ingredients at hand but you miss a step or two from the recipe and you end up with a dish that’s not quite up to the mark or taste. And then, you’ll suddenly understand how livid Gordon Ramsay gets when someone all but destroys a great dish when they botch up on their cooking methods.
On the bright side? You suddenly develop a craving for mooncakes, you get some additional “bonus” at the end of the book like a couple of recipes from the story to try on and a little food map of Singapore’s best known culinary delights. What’s more, I actually like Aunty Lee. After all, who doesn’t like a kindly aunty who can solve your problems while feeding you with all that fantastic food?
EMPRESS, A NOVEL
Author: Shan Sa
Publisher: HarperCollins
321 pages
Reviewed by ninotaziz
I have always been drawn to great queens of the past be it from our own realms, the western world or the great ancient kingdoms. As part of my research when writing novels on the Malay World, I included studies on the Tang Dynasty of seventh and eighth century.
What would it really be like to glimpse into the world of the Tang Dynasty? This was the era of extraordinary arts and sophistication. And yet, also of excessiveness where the Emperor had 10,000 concubines and resided in a capital city of Chang’an with a population of one million people, all bowing to the Emperor’s command.
Empress, A Novel, brings the life of China’s one and only Empress, popularly known as Wu Zetian closer to us. Her younger days as Heavenlight is vividly told. Her rise in stature, from her life in the Wu clan to her arrival in the palace in the capital city of Chang’an is the stuff of legends. We follow her life as daughter, ill-treated sister, talented one, concubine, her ascend to greatness as Empress Wu and fall from grace in one reading.
I would highly recommend this novel to those who love historical fiction. It’s a riveting account of the legendary Empress Wu. It was expected that she would be strong, manipulative and even cruel to survive the political machinations of the harem, which she belonged to, then the court. Imperial China was at her peak and against this backdrop of protocol and hierarchy, Heavenlight rose in rank using her wit, charm and strong will against all odds, marrying her childhood friend and technically, her stepson — Prince Little Phoenix who surprisingly became Emperor.
The story has its longstanding family saga. We’re of course talking about the rise of the Tang Dynasty which had overthrown the Sui. But this historical background was woven in so expertly by the author Shan Sa. As a period piece, Empress has all the scandals, spiced with sex and violence, crimes of passion and not forgetting, deadly aspirations that culminate in murder.
The popularity of Empress can be attributed to the fact it was originally written in French and translated to English for a worldwide audience. It would be interesting to know what a writer from China would think about Shan Sa’s beautiful and highly-stylised interpretation of one of the most fascinating women in history — Empress Wu Zetian.