Blurb: Lazy River exposes the complexities and turbulence of life in Japanese-occupied Singapore. The characters experience problems alien to the life we know of today. The drama is set in a village by the side of a river where the inhabitants live in constant fear of death, torture, misery, starvation and other kinds of atrocities of the war. War's end heralds peace and another phase in the struggle. There are no winners, only survivors..
The early morning rain fell lightly onto the black water of the river, forming endless small circles. - 1st line
The cover: The cover is very simple and earthy. The colour is very suited to the contents of the book as described in the blurb. Those were dark, grey times and the cover reflects that. Very tasteful.
The story: This book was a gift from Encik Helmy Samad (son of the author). He generously donated some books for our youth centre and also gifted me some books for my own personal collection. Since I might be the only Malay adult never to have read any of SN A Samad Said's work, I was quite excited to rectify this. Knowing that I do not read Malay literature for pleasure like I do English, he made sure that some of the books were translations (done by ITNM- national translation agency).This book was translated from Sungai Mengalir Lesu.
After reading the first chapter, I find the attention to detail and descriptions wonderful. The kampung life of Japanese occupied Singapore almost comes alive.
Advanced rating: 4/5
This First Impression is hosted by CJ on his blog Coffee N Crackers.
3 comments:
I love the cover, simple and really suits the blurb. The story sounds interesting to me..and same like you, I never read any of SN A. Samad Said. In fact, I rarely read our local book for pleasure..
I always felt it was a shame that I couldn't appreciate Malay books the same way I do English .. but at least this way, I get to read a book by our national lauriete..
i read Salina many years ago and remember it as a vivid, honest story. his works of recent years lacked the depth and honesty. which is also the case of most Malay books.
it must be a challange to write in Malay, as many malaysians who read (like us) rarely bothered to search malay books.
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