Oct 06, 2015 02:58 PM
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(Updated Oct 06, 2015 03:10 PM)
The Plot Inspector Singh is sent from Singapore, where he lives, to Kuala Lumpur to solve a murder. A famous Singaporean model has been arrested for the murder of her ex-husband. She claims to be innocent. Singh also feels inclined to agree but he has to contend with many things including the notorious ill will between Singapore and Malaysia.
Characters Great effort is made to be unbiased towards the Chinese and the Malays.
Yet a certain bias creeps in: the Chinese are painted along the lines of traditional prejudices common in Malaysia/Singapore - focused on money, big spenders, gangsters, people tolerant of several religions.
Indians are not spared(these are Malaysian/Singaporean Indians). The two main Indian cultural groups are represented: the Sardars and the Tamils. The portrayal of the Sardar community is fairly humorously accurate whereas the Tamils emerge the worse for it - gigolo and gangster
The Malays have been dealt with warily, perhaps given that the book might not sell in Malaysia should it offend Malay or Muslim sensibilities.
In this respect, the author manages to walk a tightrope with grace, tackling very sensitive issues such as conversion to Islam with bland neutrality.
The women are more authentic - the Chinese ex-model, the Chinese woman who runs a backpacker B&B, Chinese women running hawker stalls, the Sardarni, the Malay girl.
Males are aplenty with Malay and Chinese dominating.
Malays as Muslims, as policemen, are also represented with good physical descriptions as also Chinese businessmen, both local and from Mainland China.
The Sadar detective, Inspector Singh, is a real character. We see the author’s political stance, her sympathies for a turban wearer’s plight when judged through “Western” eyes.
Humour The tone is tongue in cheek from the word go and the first chapter is laden with very screen worthy slapstick moments. The reaction of the “Western” woman who fears Singh because of his turban, the little situation where Singh mischievously walks in between two men, one Chinese and the other a “Westerner”, shouting at each other. His bulldozing through offends both, much to his amusement.
Style The English might, at times, jar to certain ears: using the word “fag” for a cigarette either rings an authentic note as an example of Singapore or Malaysian English or else shows the author’s being out of touch with current English slang.
Who should read it? All readers of crime fiction will relish it but South Asians intending to visit Malaysia/Singapore, or those who have lived there might find it most useful to get an insight into the place and culture or enjoy memories of visits.
Why read it? It portrays issues(haze, plight of migrant workers, deforestation and its effects on aboriginals, local cuisine and transport and traffic conditions, law and order and political issues) which affect the region.
Who might not like this book It will not suit the “Western” or “Westernised” readers who want to always insist that they know everything about the whole world and that they are the only ones who can convey, realistically, all local cultures.
The only “Westerner” in the book rings a false note.
My Take This book filled me with nostalgia. Though the style needs work(a sentence from this book is noted as possibly the worst sentence ever), Shamini Flint has the skill to breathe life into characters and settings.
For me, as an Indian with English as "mother tongue", I'm most happy to find books by non-Europeans/Americans in my favourite genre(Crime).
All these years I've read European authors right from Enid Blyton to Agatha Christie. This habit is not so good for us - we lose touch with the reality around us.
Though many European authors base works in Asian or other environments, and a few are quite good(the Judge Dee series and others), they really have no clue about other cultures or races and yet brashly publish rubbish.
I'd surely read more of Flint's Inspector Singh series.
