The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw [in AsianWeek]
First reaction: WOW! Second reaction: Read it! The story revolves around the Harmony Silk Factory, a textiles shop in rural Malaysia run by Johnny Lim, part crook, part untouchable legend.
Three narrators...
A gorgeously rendered tale about yet another evil stepmother who turns the good and beautiful stepdaughter into the Loathsome Dragon, awaiting three kisses from her beloved but missing brother. Of course, since Bruno Bettelheim...
From the celebrated author of
In the small, conservative town of Kanewai, on Oahu, Hawaii, mischievous messages start mysteriously appearing on the walls of the old town movie theater slotted for demolition. Tensions rise as...
Liu, a genetic scientist, arrives to visit her husband, Li, at his job site at the famed (or should that be infamous?) Three Gorges Dam Project...
Calling himself "quite an ordinary man" even as he tops his country's List of Shame, Vikram Lall recounts four decades of his "in-between" life in...
What begins as an arranged marriage between a legendary beauty and a dashing doctor is anything but a happily-ever-after tale. But it is a sweeping love story that will stay...
Jen’s third novel is a bittersweet examination of the Wongs, a complicated Chinese American family with a father named Carnegie (!), a Caucasian mother called Blondie, two Asian adoptee daughters, and one towheaded birthson....
From the author of the devastating
Chang’s debut novel, following her memorable short story collection Hunger, is filled with complex characters and intricate details about their troubled lives. At its center is the narrator, Hong, a woman caught in multi-layered, multi-generational betrayals...
Oooh, this one would make a sweeping epic film for sure – Bollywood’s even got a starring role already! An innocent underage girl is seduced by a smoothtalking Bollywood star and gives birth to...
Horror, Hope & Redemption: A Talk with Edwidge Danticat About Her Latest Novel, The Dew Breaker
When I mention to a dear friend in England, who happens to be an excellent fiction writer herself, that I’m preparing...
It’s no wonder that Chinese film auteur Zhang Yimou chose the title novella for his film of the same name, about four desperate women vying for the attention of their...
Don’t be put off by the tacky cover with the bare chest of a necklaced young man. The story within, with all its rawness and shock, is hard to put down. Five Dragons, an...
A Yellow 'Country of Origin'
Technically, writer Don Lee is a third-generation Korean American. But he was born in Tokyo where his father was working for the U.S. State Department. Then after moving...
Silent No More: The Varsity Victory Volunteers of World War II
Write what you know best” is the advice that writers probably hear most often. Franklin Odo, activist, academic, and museum curator extraordinaire, does exactly that. His latest title, No Sword...
Where the Bad Things Are
Lyrical collection of semi-autobiographical short stories by one of Asia's most famous authors. The title story is a heartbreaking memory piece of a boy's first years that captures through young,...
Young Kenji avoids college by working as a "nightlife guide" for foreign tourists through the sleazier sections of Tokyo. When he meets Frank, an overweight American who hires him for...
Min's second historical novel reinvents the life of Tzu Hsi, China's last empress. Although positioned in the collective Chinese memory as an evil, ruthless ruler, the Empress Orchid in Min's world is a strong,...