In my previous post, I promised to put up a list of books that should prove to be of interest to anyone who would like to get a feel for life in Singapore.  These are some books I have read that I found “ring true” to the Singapore experience.  I don’t necessarily mean that they are precise representations of Singapore life today (or even in the period in which they were written or are set), but for the most part these books are good representations of some of the things that make up a sort of “national consciousness” here.  I hope you might find some reading here that is as interesting to you as it has been to me.

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

It’s been quite some time since I read Lord Jim,  and some of the details have certainly slipped my mind.  In many ways this is typically Conrad, a sea tale showing the British sailor in all his power and glory.  It even has Marlow to narrate for us, just like Heart of Darkness.  At least one sailor today will say that times have really changed in his profession since Lord Jim was written, and I can certainly say that this is true of life in Singapore too.

Lord Jim is one of those books that gives  us, living at the “more enlightened time” that we do, a troubling view of the whole colonial endeavor.  I think it is an excellent read for that reason, but also for the language Conrad uses.  It’s pretty amazing when you stop to think that English was not his first, or even second, language. 

The Singapore Grip by J. G. Farrell

This is a novel of Singapore on the eve of its fall to the Japanese.  It treats the British expat community as the centre of Singapore life, but I suppose that is not surprising in any novel written in English while Singapore was still a colony (or set during the p.  It was some time later before Singapore seemed to develop an indigenous voice in literature (in fact, some would say that this is a work still in progress, though I think it is clearly already in full bloom). 

The book is part of Farrell’s Empire trilogy, an extended commentary on the changes the British Empire was undergoing during the period between the World Wars, and on into WWII.  It is a surprisingly humorous read, and one that I enjoyed a good deal.

Tales from the South China Sea by Charles Allen

I really enjoyed Tales from the South China Sea, much more than I expected to before I started reading it.  It is a tale of the expatriate community in Singapore and Malaysia just before the Japanese invasion of WWII, and then of the subsequent life these people lived.  I like the perspective Allen takes very much, and I also particularly enjoyed seeing Singapore and Malaysia still treated as a single unit (Malaya) instead of two separate countries.  That was the reality at the time, and it is one of those bits that makes a significant difference  in the Singapore (and Malaysia) experience today.

The Killer They Called a God by Ian Ward

This book was recommended to me by a friend not long after I moved to Singapore.  It was an eye-opener to me at the time, giving me a more specific view of the Southeast Asian experience of WWII.  When I read the book, I was working with elderly people in Singapore, and many had lived through the events depicted in the book, or at least some very similar to these.  The very vivid stories my friends told, along with those narrated in this book, played a big part in my learning to understand my new home better. 

King Rat by James Clavell

King Rat is another of those books I read not long after I first moved to Singapore 15 years ago.  In fact, I read all of Clavell’s Asian saga.  I really enjoyed King Rat, and found the whole series of stories set in this part of the world to be very fun (I think Tai Pan, set in Hong Kong, is my favorite).

Clavell actually spent time in Changi prison, held by the Japanese.  The book’s setting is memorable enough that my recent visit to the Changi War Memorial instantly brought scenes from the novel to mind.  Similarly, the character Sean always brought to mind for me an old friend I knew when I used to visit the patients of a friend who was a medical social worker.  The things that are told in the story may or may not have all been exactly autobiographical (they certainly don’t claim to be, so I would assume that they are not), but there is sure a sense of authenticity to the representation of Singapore and events that occurred here at a particular point in its history.

Saint Jack by Paul Theroux

It would be hard to write a better review of this book than the one that Mr. Miyagi has already written.   Funny enough, I came across his blog entry because we both had the same question, and I found his blog when I found the answer.  The question?  Is it true that Theroux’s book was ever banned in Singapore?  (I knew it couldn’t be banned now, because I bought my copy in Borders on Orchard Road a couple of years ago.)  The answer is that the book was never banned, though the 1979 film was kept out of the country.  The ban on the film has now been lifted, however.

Theroux’s novel is a fun read, especially (I think) for any foreigner who has ever spent much time in Singapore.  Theroux lived here for some time, teaching at the nation’s first public university, and that shows in his writing about Singapore.  I think that the representation particularly rings true for anyone who saw Singapore in the 1970’s.  I, sadly, did not.  I first came to Singapore about a decade later, but I still found it to be a read that resonates.

The Singapore Story by Lee Kuan Yew

No story of Singapore could be complete without mention of Lee Kuan Yew.  This collection of Lee’s memoirs gives a compelling version of events leading up to Singapore independence and the years of nation-building that followed.  Love him or hate him, LKY is a voice that should never be overlooked or underestimated when talking about the shape of Singapore today.   His story is one that I think gives a very interesting perspective into what has gone into making up contemporary Singapore.

There are a number of Singaporean poets who could prove to be of interest to anyone wanting to get an insider’s view of the island-state.  I have enjoyed work by Alfian Sa’at, as well as that of Cyril Wong, Madeleine Lee and Eleanor Wong, Yong Shu Hoong, and several of the other poets whose work has been published by firstfruits publications (Alfian’s poetry was published elsewhere).  Firstfruits is the largest publisher of local poetry, and they offer work in both English and Chinese.  You will also find plays, fiction, and literary essays.  I understand they will be publishing a literary magazine soon. 

For an interesting Singapore film, you might want to watch for 881.  It is a recent release, so I am sure you can not yet find it on DVD.  It was hugely popular here during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar (about a month ago).  The film is not exactly a representation of the majority of Singaporeans’ experience, but it is a good film to catch a glimpse of a certain segment of society.  And, if popularity is a good indicator of resonance, it seemed to resonate with many people here.

©2007 Shelly Bryant