A Subtle Degree of Restraint and Other Stories

by Karina Robles Bahrin, Sharon Bakar, Bernice Chauly

These stories are the product of a series of creative writing workshops organised by the British Council of Malaysia as part of its Creative Cities programme, in collaboration with the UK-based writer development organisation Spread the Word. From these workshops and online mentoring, a diversity of voices, stories and perspectives has emerged, all inspired by the energy of Kuala Lumpur.

About the author

Karina Robles Bahrin got her first break as a writer when she guest edited a weekly teen column in The New Straits Times a very long time ago. Her short fiction has been published in venues such as Urban Odysseys: KL Stories, KL Noir: Blue, A Subtle Degree of Restraint & Other Stories and Malaysian Tales: Retold & Remixed. She is a former columnist with The Heat, a weekly by Focus Malaysia. She currently lives and works on the island of Langkawi, Malaysia. The Accidental Malay is her first novel.

Reviews

[Ismim Putera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an enjoyable read. I only like A Boy Has Drowned in this compilation simply because it attracts my attention in it's first 50 words. However it became surprisingly flat after that. Intermission has great potential in it but the ending had forced me to put the book down. The two friends in A Subtle Degree of Restraints caught my attention but the story did not progress well. Most of the stories have conflicts that are poorly constructed (or too subtle? perhaps), irrelevant background stories & characters that have no strong motivation to survive another day. Still, special thanks for the authors for sharing their stories. I hope we can compile more short stories by emerging writers in the future.