Literature Posts

Island Voice Quotes

Paper
The temptation was great. The rewards were almost immediate. (pg.3)
It burned brillantly, and in three minutes was a heap of ashes. (pg.9)

The Martyrdom of Helena Rodrigues
Helena trained her husband into near perfect punctuality for meals. (pg. 11)
...grow up between millstones of sacrifice and unselfishness. (pg. 12)

Sundowner
...beautifully polished Alfa Romeo. (pg. 19)
No doctor, tuan, but the bidan says Tijah is all right. (pg. 23)

Tanjong Rhu
See-far glasses? What do I want to look at faraway things for? (pg. 31)
The mosquitoes are biting, mother. Let's go in. (pg. 32)

Evening under Frangipani
...only message from employers is to work harder, keep to the timetable but lose your job if you have an accident... (pg. 52)
...a person is always, well, just another human being and as long as you keep that in mind its easy to relate to them. (pg. 69)

Lee
Oh.Yeah.Some.Not much.Not the humidity. (pg. 86)
Man, it'll really be funny calling someone Dad again. (pg. 88)

A History of tea
Her skin's a copper colour, burnished by the light green Calvin Klein shirt she wears. (pg. 109)
I studied nineteenth and twentieth century Chinese history, you know. (pg. 111)

A Dream of China
...my father retired in order to devote his time to bringing me up. (pg. 123)
After fifty years in Singapore, "home" for him was still Szechuan. (pg. 124)

Release
Her gold bracelet gleamed in the sun. "yeah, yeah, you're like our dog." (pg. 140)
...the tree wasn't in your property, the branches were all within ours. (pg. 141)

An Obituary for Fifth Aunt Come Late
people always say oh! you remember your aunt, the one who wasn't good-looking... (pg. 149)
"Don't waste our sugar," as in depetion of family fortune. (pg. 152)

Corridor
...once in a while she would bring a man back to her house. (pg. 162)
...as the body is sheeted and taken away is "Who's this man?" (pg. 166)

Mid-Autumn
The mooncake, if don't eat, must throw away. But like that waste money,very gek sim. (pg. 176)
New lantern --- just bought today. So gek sim. (pg. 179)

Hamid and the Hand of Fate
Stop it with the silly daydreaming and eat. (pg. 189)
Mengucap, Mid, mengucap (pg. 194)

The Move
"Ang mohs really like this kind of thing," he said, fingering the warm teak exterior. (pg. 204)
...could take some of the small ones, but those big potted palms and trees _ i think you'd blocking people's way. (pg. 205)

Pastime
"This is just a story you understand?" (pg. 213)
"Its a hobby, a pastime. It's not real life." (pg. 220)

posted by Invisible @ 7:58 PM