Name: The Original Daughter
ISBN: 9781399625579

Jemimah Wei

The Original Daughter

Lindsay

Many people go their whole lives not quite believing it is theirs, feeling out of sorts in their body, convinced real life lies just beyond their grasp. Chasing a wisp of something they believe is owed to them.

perhaps integral to all loving relationships is a necessary distance, not because of the old excuse of familiarity and contempt, but because it allows us to make sense of and articulate our stories in a manner that’s essential to our survival, whereas when we push forward in pursuit of boundless intimacy, we provide the opportunity for the other person to perpetually puncture our sense of self, to, in moments of excitement or vindication, say, no, I remember it differently, that’s not at all how it happened. And in doing so crush our self- regard in accidental, devastating ways.

emotional read, could have been a little shorter, but this felt like an evolved, more fleshed out version of ponti by sharlene teo. jemimah’s writing style has a great tenderness to it, characters are well written, especially when they are unlikeable. you root for someone different every time. the depictions of singapore are painfully accurate and make me not want to relive my childhood 

stories like this REALLY cement my desire to not have kids because wow, having a family turns you into the most irritable person ever. parent and child

Ianna Chia

emotional read, could have been a little shorter, but this felt like an evolved, more fleshed out version of ponti by sharlene teo. jemimah’s writing style has a great tenderness to it, characters are well written, especially when they are unlikeable. you root for someone different every time. the depictions of singapore are painfully accurate and make me not want to relive my childhood 

stories like this REALLY cement my desire to not have kids because wow, having a family turns you into the most irritable person ever. parent and child

a slow burn but so worth it. immensely tender as it takes its time to look, really look at sacrifice and who they’ve become after a lifetime of betrayals and negotiation.

I wonder what this book reads like to someone who hasn’t lived in Singapore. The sequences about the make-it-or-break-it education system, I can visualise the flat in Bedok so clearly. imagine the mundanity of their lives the quiet tragic losses.

should not have read the last quarter in public, now I’m crying seated at the counter of some cafe in Brooklyn 

Xiang

a slow burn but so worth it. immensely tender as it takes its time to look, really look at sacrifice and who they’ve become after a lifetime of betrayals and negotiation.

I wonder what this book reads like to someone who hasn’t lived in Singapore. The sequences about the make-it-or-break-it education system, I can visualise the flat in Bedok so clearly. imagine the mundanity of their lives the quiet tragic losses.

should not have read the last quarter in public, now I’m crying seated at the counter of some cafe in Brooklyn 

The Original Daughter

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