Book Review: The Unlikely Motherhood of Shaleni May
It’s about reinvention, belonging, aging, marriage, and the reality that major life changes do not automatically resolve old emotional wounds.
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Asian Literature
Explore fiction from Singapore, Korea, Japan and across Asia, including translated literature and books written in English. These reviews and guides focus on the books themselves while providing cultural context where it genuinely helps the reading experience.
ExploreSingLitReviews and reading guides covering Singapore literature and Singapore-set fiction.
ExploreKorean literatureReviews and guides to Korean fiction, including literature in translation.
ExploreJapanese literatureReviews and guides to Japanese fiction and literature in translation.
ExploreTranslated FictionFiction in translation from around the world.
Best Korean Fiction Books in Translation: 15 Essential Novels Every Reader Should Discover
While Korean dramas, films, and music have gained international recognition, Korean novels have undergone a similar transformation.
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Book Review: Sister Snake by Amanda Lee Koe
At its heart, this is a story about two sisters who have lived for more than a thousand years and still struggle to understand each other.
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Book Review: Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 by Cho Nam-joo
It’s an accessible yet quietly devastating feminist novel, precisely because it refuses melodrama in favour of accumulated realism.
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Book Review: Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal
It’s a sharp and emotionally grounded Singapore-set novel, and one that feels particularly urgent in what it chooses to centre.
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Book Review: Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami
It’s one of Kawakami’s most emotionally sprawling works, and perhaps one of her bleakest.
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Book Review: The Verifiers by Jane Pek
The novel is thoughtful, often sharp in its observations, though not always as propulsive as its setup might suggest.
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Book Review: The Teenage Textbook by Adrian Tan
It captures adolescence in a way that feels grounded and enduring, avoiding the temptation to romanticise or trivialise the experience.
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Book Review: Swallows by Natsuo Kirino
It reads less like a thriller and more like a slow psychological unraveling, one that reveals itself through subtle shifts in perception.
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