Name: Lake Like a Mirror
ISBN: 9781846276903

Sok Fong Ho

Nine unnerving short stories, nine women in disturbing or destructive situations, nine worlds unfolding in Malaysia and Taiwan

Lake Like a Mirror

Winner of a PEN Translates award By an author described by critics as "the most accomplished Malaysian writer, full stop," Lake Like a Mirror is a scintillating exploration of the lives of women buffeted by powers beyond their control. Squeezing themselves between the gaps of rabid urbanization, patriarchal structures and a theocratic government, these women find their lives twisted in disturbing ways. In precise and disquieting prose, Ho Sok Fong draws her readers into a richly atmospheric world of naked sleepwalkers in a rehabilitation center for wayward Muslims, mysterious wooden boxes, gossip in unlicensed hairdressers, hotels with amnesiac guests, and poetry classes with accidentally charged politics--a world that is peopled with the ghosts of unsaid words, unmanaged desires and uncertain statuses, surreal and utterly true.

Kwan Ann Tan

this was so good and honestly made me miss home so much

Emily Perkovich

This book was so inconsistent. I tend to give a lot of leeway with short story collections because it’s rare that I end up liking every piece. This felt more like an anthology with how inconsistent it was. Some pieces were lyrical and haunting and others left me completely confused and lost with no idea of the purpose of the story. There were even a few stories that I had no idea what was going on from start to end. Maybe it was a poor translation, but I doubt it, as the translator seems to have several decently rated titles.

Lake Like a Mirror

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