Reviews

‘Dato’ Dr Shan is a master storyteller, as this collection amply demonstrates.’ HRH Sultan Nazrin Shah ‘I hugely enjoyed the humour in Shan’s stories.’ Peter Carey, twice winner of, Booker & Commonwealth Writers’ Prize‘. Dr Shan is in a class of his own, enriching the genre with subtlety and finesse.’ Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar, Ex-Cman, Media Prima, DBDP, NST group. ‘Shan’s special gift of vibrancy, wit, irreverence and playful use of language.’ Catherine Lim, author of five novels and ten short-story collections.‘A fresh, original, satirical eye with humour lightly deadly, I celebrate the collection.’ Shirley Geok-lin Lim, award-winning author of Among the White Moon Faces ‘Like R.K. Narayan’s Malgudi books and V.S. Naipaul’s Miguel Street, a portrait of a community.’ Gillian Dooley, Flinders University. ‘Shan’s humour full of irony; very humane and down-to-Malaysian-earth.’ Muhammad Haji Salleh, poet and recipient of the Malaysian National Laureate. ‘Like Irish lives stalled by stasis in James Joyce’s Dubliners, This one stands head and shoulders above them all – from East or West.’ Lawrence Pettener, The STAR ‘Dr Shan’s light touch disguises a sharp satirical bent and trenchant commentary.’ Preeta Samarasan, award-winning author, Evening Is the Whole Day. 'Riveting. Shan's fiction evokes the times, often much more so than many social or political histories, e.g Hilary Mantel.' Hugh Peyman, author, China's Change: The Greatest Show on Earth. ‘Shan’s focus on the Tamils in Malaya is the way to go, forming a very solid core.’ Tash Aw, award-winning writer of four bestselling novels. ‘Shan allows us to relish the differences and discover the similarities among minorities.’ Susan Philips, Assc. Prof. Univ. Mal. SARE: Vol 55, Issue 2, 2018, ‘The collection is engrossing and cannot be put down. It is an invaluable addition to Malaysian literature.’ Ravi P. Chittampalli, Prof English, Univ Mysore, India. ‘Malaya from the heart, to really understand Malaya/Malaysia, this is the book for you.’ Martin Bradley, Founding Editor, The Blue Lotus Mag. ‘I enjoyed the humour of Shan’s stories very much and his eye for irony; he is so pithy.’ Dipika Mukherjee, author, Thunder Demons etc. ‘It was wonderful that you read your stories with such Dickensian energy, verve and flair.’ Angus Whitehead, Lecturer Eng. Lang. & Lit (ELL), NIE, NTU, S’pore ‘The characters and situations in deserve to be dramatised on stage.’ Ronald D. Klein, Prof, Eng studies, Hiroshima Jogakuin Univ, Japan, ‘I understand the life of the Elite Indian Malaysians through these stories.’ Shanjey Perumal, Dir, award-winning movie Jagat, Netflix. ‘I have much enjoyed Dr M. Shan’s short and carefully observed stories of Malaysian life.’ Sir Drummond Bone, master, Balliol College, Oxford Univ. ‘Dr Shan, gave us the best reading on air I have heard in almost two decades.’ Michelle Martin "The Curve". Live at moneyfm893.sg SPH Radio Pte Ltd, Spore. Podcast:https://omny.fm/shows/money-fm-893/read-with-michelle-martin-marriage-mutton-curry ‘Shan is a national treasure of storytelling.’ Chen Cuifen, Asian Books Blog, 15 April 2019‘Shan’s stories offer very vivid socio-political ethnography of 1950s Malaysia.' Matsuura Hiroshi, Dep DG Min For Affairs, Tokyo, Japan. ‘HRH Sultan Nazrin Shah’s is an exceptional example of what a Foreword should be like’ Catalina Rembuyan, Teacher, School of Arts, Spore Absolutely loved this book. The short stories were perfect, entertaining, soothing, amusing and filled with love. Wendy Kendall. ‘Promotes women’s empowerment and this is awe-inspiring.’ Dato’ Dr Jessie Tang, Founder & CEO, East West One Group ‘I enjoyed particularly, the interweaving of the vignettes of history described through the ordinary lives of the participants.’ David Lindsay, Emer Prof. Univ.W.Aust.