Bite Hard

Rating:
Summary: Raw, funny, and always sincere
Review: Reading this collection as a first generation immigrant from Malaysia (as is Chin), I was pleasantly surprised by the synergy of our experiences as I paged through the pieces.

Chin's style is raw yet sincere; a titillation of all the senses. From the sterile scent of Dettol, the taste of spicy and MCG-saturated Chinese restaurant food, to familiar alliterations of "Manglish/Singlish", Chin at times teases us with love/hate sentimentalities, and at others, unapologetically shoves the practices and nuances of his desires down our throats. The book's cover and binding fail to stem issues of sexuality, home, memory, colonialism, betrayal, obsession, race, nationality, envy, and beauty from flooding out from the pages. All this is rolled compactly like a layered piece of candy, demanding that you not suck on it, but to BITE HARD! Take it all or spit him out. He demands no compromise.

Rating:
Summary: Raw, funny, and always sincere
Review: Reading this collection as a first generation immigrant from Malaysia (as is Chin), I was pleasantly surprised by the synergy of our experiences as I paged through the pieces.

Chin's style is raw yet sincere; a titillation of all the senses. From the sterile scent of Dettol, the taste of spicy and MCG-saturated Chinese restaurant food, to familiar alliterations of "Manglish/Singlish", Chin at times teases us with love/hate sentimentalities, and at others, unapologetically shoves the practices and nuances of his desires down our throats. The book's cover and binding fail to stem issues of sexuality, home, memory, colonialism, betrayal, obsession, race, nationality, envy, and beauty from flooding out from the pages. All this is rolled compactly like a layered piece of candy, demanding that you not suck on it, but to BITE HARD! Take it all or spit him out. He demands no compromise.

Rating:
Summary: Gold nuggets laying unearthed, waiting to be scooped up
Review: This collection is striving to be avant-garde. Too bad, because the pretension is so thick it gets in the way of potentially powerful prose. In places it get's so deep and so symbolic that no one could honestly understand it's meaning. But, there is no accounting for the emperor's clothes... I would love to see some of Justin Chin's real stuff...the stuff maybe he writes for himself, not the things he prepares for the public. I think he is an enormous talent waiting to explode (implode?).

Rating:
Summary: A faafafine on the bus to Santa Cruz.
Review: You kept me awake and happy