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Wedding Speech
Longlist: 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award
Top ten on Kuala Lumpur's Kinokuniya Asian Fiction Bestseller List for about 6 months from book launch.
How far would you go in the name of love?
A) Maim a tree. You nick some sweet nothings onto the bark of a poor pine tree to impress your girlfriend.
B) Punch one of Kuala Lumpur's famous forensic experts, because, let's face it, you have had it. That bitch is always getting between you and your girlfriend. Even at your wedding! She also happens to know how many times you poop daily.
C) Bake your child. Yes, bake your own flesh-and-blood in the hope of catching your girlfriend's attention. True love requires sacrifice, right?
D) All of the above and many more heinous crimes.
Pick up a copy of Wedding Speech to find the answer.
Top ten on Kuala Lumpur's Kinokuniya Asian Fiction Bestseller List for about 6 months from book launch.
How far would you go in the name of love?
A) Maim a tree. You nick some sweet nothings onto the bark of a poor pine tree to impress your girlfriend.
B) Punch one of Kuala Lumpur's famous forensic experts, because, let's face it, you have had it. That bitch is always getting between you and your girlfriend. Even at your wedding! She also happens to know how many times you poop daily.
C) Bake your child. Yes, bake your own flesh-and-blood in the hope of catching your girlfriend's attention. True love requires sacrifice, right?
D) All of the above and many more heinous crimes.
Pick up a copy of Wedding Speech to find the answer.
268 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2013
6 people are currently reading
382 people want to read
About the author
Khaliza Khalid
2 books17 followersA cat lover,Khaliza hails from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. After years of working and living in Hong Kong and Singapore, she has settled down in Kuala Lumpur with her husband and their two cats - Mimi and Googie.
Wedding Speech is Khaliza's debut novel. It is nominated for the 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Wedding Speech is Khaliza's debut novel. It is nominated for the 2015 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
August 8, 2013
“Wedding Speech” by Khaliza Khalid is the fourth title and the third novel published by FIXI NOVO, the English imprint of FIXI. The protagonist, Yusrizan, a bona fide player, is smitten by Kelly right from the start. However, he has difficulty coming to terms with it, and does everything wrong to prevent himself from getting the happy ending he thinks he deserves until the present day where he finally marries her and has to confess all his wrongdoings in his wedding speech.
Or so the story goes.
What I can say about this book is: Man! It is difficult! To. Finish!
The premise has potential. The execution, however, is a train wreck.
The story
I’ve summarized the story above without including any spoilers. Yusrizan is an unreliable narrator (it’s a well-used writing technique, by the way) who has fantasy and reality mixed up. The present is rooted around his wedding day, and the narration goes back and forth as he reminisces the past. Unfortunately, Khaliza flails and fails at writing a non-linear timeline, and should have stuck beginning the story with the wedding reception and reveal everything in chronological sequence as Yusrizan ticks off the six items he has to express in his wedding speech.
The language
Part of why the back-and-forth narration fails is because Khaliza has her tenses all jumbled up. The present-day scenes are written in the present tense, and the rest of the story is in the past tense. Fair enough. However, especially while in the present, the tenses get mangled and reading becomes a jarring experience. Is this a failure of editing? I don’t know. Maybe.
Technically, the author appears well-versed with writing in English, which is a definite plus. Unfortunately, she appears to be like the character Kelly, who uses big, complicated words to impress anyone who hears/reads the passages, words that in reality do not fit the context. It’s like she pressed ‘Shift+F7’ on Word, looks for the most complicated words to replace the ones she already has. Or she has a paperback thesaurus ready and does the same thing. I might fill in examples from the book, but finishing it the first time has been painful enough.
I’m a firm believer of using strong, concise verbs instead of adverbs, but bombastic words just to show off? I used to do that when I started writing, and I get irritated every time I read my earlier stories.
Oh. Wait. I remember some examples.
1. I literally burst out of the room. Literally means in the literal sense. Did Yusrizal explode? No.
2. “You’ll never guess my true nature, but I have the audacity to leave you breathless.” Out of context. Audacity means willingness to take bold risks, or impudence. What is she trying to say?
The story is told using first-person perspective. A repetitive usage of specific terms is expected. Think about it. We will almost always call at cat ‘cat’ instead of inter-exchanging ‘cat’ with ‘feline’, ‘mouser’, ‘tom’ or ‘tabby’. In this book: no such thing. Yusrizan is fixated with breasts; that much is clear. However, in one page, he uses ‘mounds’, ‘melons’, ‘globes’, ‘breasts’ and some other terms. I’m a guy, and I feel offended, both by the derogatory terms and the clunky handling of language. I’ve read that schoolteachers have this habit of making sure students use as many terms for an object as possible to show how extensive the student’s vocabulary is. This book can be made an example of how wrong the schoolteachers are.
Speaking of terms, this book doesn’t shy away from vulgarities, both in actions and the choice of words. Yusrizal doesn’t shy from using multiple terms for breasts (see above), but he calls his penis ‘member’. Come on. No self-respecting guy calls his own dick that. A woman who writes from a man’s point of view does that.
And boy do I have words on the incongruity of points of views (see below).
The characters
Yusrizan is an anti-hero. He is a selfish creep, no questions asked. Pulling off a sympathetic anti-hero is tricky, and Khaliza also fails at this. Yusrizan doesn’t change a bit throughout the book. He even uses his own daughter to woo Kelly. He doesn’t care about his daughter at all. He openly talks about his hedonistic lifestyle in front of her, uses foul languages, and does other things a half-decent father shouldn’t. I still can’t get over the fact that he plants his daughter in Kelly’s path solely to win sympathy points without really caring about his daughter’s well-being. WHAT THE HELL.
He also cannot seem to differentiate lust from love. He acts like a dog in heat, then suddenly reminds readers that he’s only using Kelly for financial support. Then he says he loves her, and suddenly reminds readers that he’s only using Kelly for financial support. It’s like the author unravels the story, then goes, “Oh, I need to remind readers that Yus doesn’t really like Kelly. Let me add a sentence to make that clear.”
Oh. By the way. Yusrizan tries to echo Datuk Narcissus from “Kasino” by Saifullizan Tahir, another book by Fixi. Narcissus lives in sin, but prays on time. Yusrizan sleeps around and doesn’t pray, but he has a strict code against consuming alcohol and pork. The reason for the comparison is that Datuk Narcissus is a fully fleshed, believable person, whereas Yusrizan is a half-baked character.
Kelly is also another unbelievable character. She’s all into Yusrizal one moment, and jumps off to concentrate on reading her thesaurus the next. She wants her sister to see that she’s serious about Yusrizal, but when Karr (the sister) physically abuses Yusrizal, she pretends both of them don’t exist. I think the author wants to portray the unreliability of Yusrizal’s narration and memory, but as foreshadowing goes, this one fails miserably.
Karr…well, I almost felt sorry for her, not because of her character, but because of how offensive the author is in portraying her. The terms ‘gorilla’ and ‘mammal’ and ‘hulk’ are used to describe her, and she is mollified by extra Cornetto cones. She has double degrees, one of them being forensics science, but she flies home to Johor Bahru just to wedge herself between the two ‘alleged’ lovebirds. She is merely a plot device that should have been more elegantly executed to create a link between fantasy and reality. As I said, I almost felt sorry for her.
Oh. Get this. Kelly’s full name is revealed at the end of the book. It’s Khaliza. She has written a novel about her relationship with Yusrizal, which has sparked Yusrizal’s unreliable narration in the first place. Khaliza. As in the author’s name. Fiction reflecting reality reflecting fiction? Whatever it is, an author using her own name for a protagonist is a bit too much, don’t you think?
The settings
What settings? The book takes place in Johor Bahru and San Francisco, among other places. However, the descriptions of JB is cursory at best, and there is almost no description of other places. There is no sensory employment in the book, really. “Son Complex” by Kris Williamson may have its own set of flaws, but at least Kris uses his settings well. He also knows how to employ all the senses, including touch, hearing, smell and sight.
The storytelling
I don’t know if the author sought advice from men on how to portray a believable male protagonist. She should have. Even if she did, she should have. I’m not saying that women cannot write stories from a male’s perspective; no, far from it. More often than not, it’s an educational experience. My friend Breanna writes using male perspectives. She constantly asks her husband, her brother and me about the congruency of her characters, and her research shows. Ursula K Le Guin’s “A Wizard of Earthsea”? Well-rounded male protagonist. John Green’s “The Fault in Our Stars”? BRILLIANT storytelling from a girl’s perspective.
In short, the author should have done a better research on the male psyche. What she has achieved is a stereotypical jackass who’s fixated on breasts.
There are sections where Yusrizan tells the story with intimate knowledge when he’s not there to witness the scenes in the first place. Remember that the story is told in first-person perspective. Yes. I get that the author wants to use this as a plot device, as foreshadow, but come on. Basic rules of narration. Come on.
Toward the end, the story unravels between Yusrizan’s daughter’s point of view and Kelly’s. The daughter’s name: Khaira. He also has a son, whose name is Khairy. Kelly’s sister: Karr. The author: Khaliza Khalid. Yes, yes, it’s a Malay thing to name their children using the same alphabets or alliterations, but in a story?
Back to my point. The scenes toward the ending. Yusrizan is out of the picture, but the story is told in intimate third-person perspectives. I don’t care about plot devices. For a story told exclusively in first-person perspective (Yusrizan’s), suddenly jumping to third-person for the sake of moving the story forward is amateurish, almost as bad as a deus ex machina ending.
Also, the book is told almost exclusively in exposition/narrative summary. Including the dialogs. WHY?! The author has plenty of chances to make the characters real and relatable, but she maintained an unbridgeable distance by not employing immediate scenes. Where are the dialogs?
As for the ending…how do I review the book without spoiling the ending?
Oh, well. Spoiler warning.
I don’t know if you’ve watched “Repo Men”. Not many people appreciate the ending, but to me, it’s one of the better-executed trick endings. The foreshadowing is good, and the execution is brilliant. “Wedding Planner” has an ending akin to “Repo Men”, but the execution is so clumsy that I felt reading the book was a huge waste of my time. To be honest, I only finished reading because I wanted to write a fair, informed review. Another reviewer said this book has a typical FIXI ending. I say this book has a typical Malaysian storytelling ending. The author cares more about appearing smart, thus creating a trick and/or hanging ending, rather than fulfilling a promise made to readers to navigate the story in a satisfying manner.
Still. Man! What a waste of time!
Final words
FIXI—and its English imprint FIXI NOVO—has been upfront about publishing pulp fiction. Not books like what Tash Aw and Tan Twan Eng write, but cheap, accessible fiction for all. This is awesome, but let’s face it. “Wedding Planner” is nowhere near ready to be published. Forget the typos. Editing (or lack thereof) is a much more pressing issue. From the awkward timeline transitions, to the flat, unbelievable characterization, to the storytelling loopholes, to the trick ending that could’ve been handled better.
I will still buy books from FIXI NOVO in hopes of discovering local gems, but unless she improves, I’m not likely to read another story from Khaliza Khalid.
Or so the story goes.
What I can say about this book is: Man! It is difficult! To. Finish!
The premise has potential. The execution, however, is a train wreck.
The story
I’ve summarized the story above without including any spoilers. Yusrizan is an unreliable narrator (it’s a well-used writing technique, by the way) who has fantasy and reality mixed up. The present is rooted around his wedding day, and the narration goes back and forth as he reminisces the past. Unfortunately, Khaliza flails and fails at writing a non-linear timeline, and should have stuck beginning the story with the wedding reception and reveal everything in chronological sequence as Yusrizan ticks off the six items he has to express in his wedding speech.
The language
Part of why the back-and-forth narration fails is because Khaliza has her tenses all jumbled up. The present-day scenes are written in the present tense, and the rest of the story is in the past tense. Fair enough. However, especially while in the present, the tenses get mangled and reading becomes a jarring experience. Is this a failure of editing? I don’t know. Maybe.
Technically, the author appears well-versed with writing in English, which is a definite plus. Unfortunately, she appears to be like the character Kelly, who uses big, complicated words to impress anyone who hears/reads the passages, words that in reality do not fit the context. It’s like she pressed ‘Shift+F7’ on Word, looks for the most complicated words to replace the ones she already has. Or she has a paperback thesaurus ready and does the same thing. I might fill in examples from the book, but finishing it the first time has been painful enough.
I’m a firm believer of using strong, concise verbs instead of adverbs, but bombastic words just to show off? I used to do that when I started writing, and I get irritated every time I read my earlier stories.
Oh. Wait. I remember some examples.
1. I literally burst out of the room. Literally means in the literal sense. Did Yusrizal explode? No.
2. “You’ll never guess my true nature, but I have the audacity to leave you breathless.” Out of context. Audacity means willingness to take bold risks, or impudence. What is she trying to say?
The story is told using first-person perspective. A repetitive usage of specific terms is expected. Think about it. We will almost always call at cat ‘cat’ instead of inter-exchanging ‘cat’ with ‘feline’, ‘mouser’, ‘tom’ or ‘tabby’. In this book: no such thing. Yusrizan is fixated with breasts; that much is clear. However, in one page, he uses ‘mounds’, ‘melons’, ‘globes’, ‘breasts’ and some other terms. I’m a guy, and I feel offended, both by the derogatory terms and the clunky handling of language. I’ve read that schoolteachers have this habit of making sure students use as many terms for an object as possible to show how extensive the student’s vocabulary is. This book can be made an example of how wrong the schoolteachers are.
Speaking of terms, this book doesn’t shy away from vulgarities, both in actions and the choice of words. Yusrizal doesn’t shy from using multiple terms for breasts (see above), but he calls his penis ‘member’. Come on. No self-respecting guy calls his own dick that. A woman who writes from a man’s point of view does that.
And boy do I have words on the incongruity of points of views (see below).
The characters
Yusrizan is an anti-hero. He is a selfish creep, no questions asked. Pulling off a sympathetic anti-hero is tricky, and Khaliza also fails at this. Yusrizan doesn’t change a bit throughout the book. He even uses his own daughter to woo Kelly. He doesn’t care about his daughter at all. He openly talks about his hedonistic lifestyle in front of her, uses foul languages, and does other things a half-decent father shouldn’t. I still can’t get over the fact that he plants his daughter in Kelly’s path solely to win sympathy points without really caring about his daughter’s well-being. WHAT THE HELL.
He also cannot seem to differentiate lust from love. He acts like a dog in heat, then suddenly reminds readers that he’s only using Kelly for financial support. Then he says he loves her, and suddenly reminds readers that he’s only using Kelly for financial support. It’s like the author unravels the story, then goes, “Oh, I need to remind readers that Yus doesn’t really like Kelly. Let me add a sentence to make that clear.”
Oh. By the way. Yusrizan tries to echo Datuk Narcissus from “Kasino” by Saifullizan Tahir, another book by Fixi. Narcissus lives in sin, but prays on time. Yusrizan sleeps around and doesn’t pray, but he has a strict code against consuming alcohol and pork. The reason for the comparison is that Datuk Narcissus is a fully fleshed, believable person, whereas Yusrizan is a half-baked character.
Kelly is also another unbelievable character. She’s all into Yusrizal one moment, and jumps off to concentrate on reading her thesaurus the next. She wants her sister to see that she’s serious about Yusrizal, but when Karr (the sister) physically abuses Yusrizal, she pretends both of them don’t exist. I think the author wants to portray the unreliability of Yusrizal’s narration and memory, but as foreshadowing goes, this one fails miserably.
Karr…well, I almost felt sorry for her, not because of her character, but because of how offensive the author is in portraying her. The terms ‘gorilla’ and ‘mammal’ and ‘hulk’ are used to describe her, and she is mollified by extra Cornetto cones. She has double degrees, one of them being forensics science, but she flies home to Johor Bahru just to wedge herself between the two ‘alleged’ lovebirds. She is merely a plot device that should have been more elegantly executed to create a link between fantasy and reality. As I said, I almost felt sorry for her.
Oh. Get this. Kelly’s full name is revealed at the end of the book. It’s Khaliza. She has written a novel about her relationship with Yusrizal, which has sparked Yusrizal’s unreliable narration in the first place. Khaliza. As in the author’s name. Fiction reflecting reality reflecting fiction? Whatever it is, an author using her own name for a protagonist is a bit too much, don’t you think?
The settings
What settings? The book takes place in Johor Bahru and San Francisco, among other places. However, the descriptions of JB is cursory at best, and there is almost no description of other places. There is no sensory employment in the book, really. “Son Complex” by Kris Williamson may have its own set of flaws, but at least Kris uses his settings well. He also knows how to employ all the senses, including touch, hearing, smell and sight.
The storytelling
I don’t know if the author sought advice from men on how to portray a believable male protagonist. She should have. Even if she did, she should have. I’m not saying that women cannot write stories from a male’s perspective; no, far from it. More often than not, it’s an educational experience. My friend Breanna writes using male perspectives. She constantly asks her husband, her brother and me about the congruency of her characters, and her research shows. Ursula K Le Guin’s “A Wizard of Earthsea”? Well-rounded male protagonist. John Green’s “The Fault in Our Stars”? BRILLIANT storytelling from a girl’s perspective.
In short, the author should have done a better research on the male psyche. What she has achieved is a stereotypical jackass who’s fixated on breasts.
There are sections where Yusrizan tells the story with intimate knowledge when he’s not there to witness the scenes in the first place. Remember that the story is told in first-person perspective. Yes. I get that the author wants to use this as a plot device, as foreshadow, but come on. Basic rules of narration. Come on.
Toward the end, the story unravels between Yusrizan’s daughter’s point of view and Kelly’s. The daughter’s name: Khaira. He also has a son, whose name is Khairy. Kelly’s sister: Karr. The author: Khaliza Khalid. Yes, yes, it’s a Malay thing to name their children using the same alphabets or alliterations, but in a story?
Back to my point. The scenes toward the ending. Yusrizan is out of the picture, but the story is told in intimate third-person perspectives. I don’t care about plot devices. For a story told exclusively in first-person perspective (Yusrizan’s), suddenly jumping to third-person for the sake of moving the story forward is amateurish, almost as bad as a deus ex machina ending.
Also, the book is told almost exclusively in exposition/narrative summary. Including the dialogs. WHY?! The author has plenty of chances to make the characters real and relatable, but she maintained an unbridgeable distance by not employing immediate scenes. Where are the dialogs?
As for the ending…how do I review the book without spoiling the ending?
Oh, well. Spoiler warning.
I don’t know if you’ve watched “Repo Men”. Not many people appreciate the ending, but to me, it’s one of the better-executed trick endings. The foreshadowing is good, and the execution is brilliant. “Wedding Planner” has an ending akin to “Repo Men”, but the execution is so clumsy that I felt reading the book was a huge waste of my time. To be honest, I only finished reading because I wanted to write a fair, informed review. Another reviewer said this book has a typical FIXI ending. I say this book has a typical Malaysian storytelling ending. The author cares more about appearing smart, thus creating a trick and/or hanging ending, rather than fulfilling a promise made to readers to navigate the story in a satisfying manner.
Still. Man! What a waste of time!
Final words
FIXI—and its English imprint FIXI NOVO—has been upfront about publishing pulp fiction. Not books like what Tash Aw and Tan Twan Eng write, but cheap, accessible fiction for all. This is awesome, but let’s face it. “Wedding Planner” is nowhere near ready to be published. Forget the typos. Editing (or lack thereof) is a much more pressing issue. From the awkward timeline transitions, to the flat, unbelievable characterization, to the storytelling loopholes, to the trick ending that could’ve been handled better.
I will still buy books from FIXI NOVO in hopes of discovering local gems, but unless she improves, I’m not likely to read another story from Khaliza Khalid.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 14, 2013
Just a piece of advice:
Get a dictionary before reading this book.
Actually, it is not that bad. It's just that most people are busy with Candy Crush, they will save the battery for the game and forget Merriam Webster in their smartphone. Conventional dictionary or Thesaurus? I don't think so. Yet, that is the the requirement of the book.
Buku Jalanan Seremban celebrated their 365 days of operation few weeks ago and they have extended the invitation to Buku Fixi . Frankly, I searched for their booth the moment I reached TM Bistro. Well, I missed the launching in Publika (which was not intentional), all my Fixi Novo's books were from the first print (and I was proud of that) and the cover for Wedding Speech was awesome!
Look at the colour and simplicity of the book, folks! And just enjoy the quality. Fixi Novo has never failed to amaze me.
I spent the first three days of Ramadhan reading the book and thanking Fixi for the awesome planning of releasing Novo's books. This was not the wisest decision, I would say, knowing the content would contradict the spiritual fights that I must endure as a Muslim. Regardless, with an open mind and knowing that reading was part of learning, I made sure that whatever I read in there was not purely emotion and some things needed objectivity.
Besides, this was what the book missed at certain point - true emotion.
It has got to do with all aspects including the character, the intricate words, the short sentences and the whole story line. I have to admit that as a traveler and reader at the same time, I am a bit lost with certain part of the story. There are times when I everything is too connected or repetitive up to the extend that I feel like going round the circle.
The main character might not be my favourite but that is totally normal, knowing that I always have a thing with villains. Well that would explain why I Karr :)
Regardless, this is not a useless effort. The underlining of this story must be learned and understood. There are new things to be discovered for those who think that life revolves around Muar only.
It's just that I feel that the book is too "Fixi" at the ending. I hate twisted stuff. It doesn't appear exclusive anymore because most Fixi books are twisted. Eventually, this whole twisted thing in this book just burst the anger of the reader. Like me.
If you are against alternative books, try run 100 meter from this book as you might tweet craps in Twitter - condemning the book for no reason at all. Read. I don't want to say much. Just read. No regret :)
3 stars for the book as it's not there yet. Almost - that's what I can say. Fixi Novo has improved a lot.
Good job and keep it up Fixi! :)
Get a dictionary before reading this book.
Actually, it is not that bad. It's just that most people are busy with Candy Crush, they will save the battery for the game and forget Merriam Webster in their smartphone. Conventional dictionary or Thesaurus? I don't think so. Yet, that is the the requirement of the book.
Buku Jalanan Seremban celebrated their 365 days of operation few weeks ago and they have extended the invitation to Buku Fixi . Frankly, I searched for their booth the moment I reached TM Bistro. Well, I missed the launching in Publika (which was not intentional), all my Fixi Novo's books were from the first print (and I was proud of that) and the cover for Wedding Speech was awesome!
Look at the colour and simplicity of the book, folks! And just enjoy the quality. Fixi Novo has never failed to amaze me.
I spent the first three days of Ramadhan reading the book and thanking Fixi for the awesome planning of releasing Novo's books. This was not the wisest decision, I would say, knowing the content would contradict the spiritual fights that I must endure as a Muslim. Regardless, with an open mind and knowing that reading was part of learning, I made sure that whatever I read in there was not purely emotion and some things needed objectivity.
Besides, this was what the book missed at certain point - true emotion.
It has got to do with all aspects including the character, the intricate words, the short sentences and the whole story line. I have to admit that as a traveler and reader at the same time, I am a bit lost with certain part of the story. There are times when I everything is too connected or repetitive up to the extend that I feel like going round the circle.
The main character might not be my favourite but that is totally normal, knowing that I always have a thing with villains. Well that would explain why I Karr :)
Regardless, this is not a useless effort. The underlining of this story must be learned and understood. There are new things to be discovered for those who think that life revolves around Muar only.
It's just that I feel that the book is too "Fixi" at the ending. I hate twisted stuff. It doesn't appear exclusive anymore because most Fixi books are twisted. Eventually, this whole twisted thing in this book just burst the anger of the reader. Like me.
If you are against alternative books, try run 100 meter from this book as you might tweet craps in Twitter - condemning the book for no reason at all. Read. I don't want to say much. Just read. No regret :)
3 stars for the book as it's not there yet. Almost - that's what I can say. Fixi Novo has improved a lot.
Good job and keep it up Fixi! :)
June 5, 2020
"Fussy. Synonym. Starts with p."
You sure need a dictionary or being a master of thesaurus while reading this. Yusrizan is stuck with his wedding preparation, also in need to prepare for a wedding speech as requested by his bride-to-be. Fragments of mischievous and lots of flashbacks, and that protective Karr somehow giving me most of the headache of reading this plot. Nothing much, only quarrel and more quarrel, and few chapters of making Kelly build in her jealousy towards Yusrizan's ex girlfriends. It lacks excitement honestly, not much of curiosity for me to continue the reading. None of the characters were lovable, but I appreciate how different each characters were-- Kelly was tough and stubborn, Karr was overprotective and maybe too obsessed while Yusrizan he was all about romance and girls.
But wait! There was a very unimaginable plot twist to all this. I was perplexed and it was kind of sad. Honestly, I was stunned with the reality. It hits me quite well as much as Yusrizan gets to know on what had happened. Applauding the author for the plot twist, somehow I think it was engaging and so unexpected. Story-telling was okay although I think some part was a bit dry and draggy. Nevertheless, a surprising plot, messy love story but great ending. 3.5 stars!
You sure need a dictionary or being a master of thesaurus while reading this. Yusrizan is stuck with his wedding preparation, also in need to prepare for a wedding speech as requested by his bride-to-be. Fragments of mischievous and lots of flashbacks, and that protective Karr somehow giving me most of the headache of reading this plot. Nothing much, only quarrel and more quarrel, and few chapters of making Kelly build in her jealousy towards Yusrizan's ex girlfriends. It lacks excitement honestly, not much of curiosity for me to continue the reading. None of the characters were lovable, but I appreciate how different each characters were-- Kelly was tough and stubborn, Karr was overprotective and maybe too obsessed while Yusrizan he was all about romance and girls.
But wait! There was a very unimaginable plot twist to all this. I was perplexed and it was kind of sad. Honestly, I was stunned with the reality. It hits me quite well as much as Yusrizan gets to know on what had happened. Applauding the author for the plot twist, somehow I think it was engaging and so unexpected. Story-telling was okay although I think some part was a bit dry and draggy. Nevertheless, a surprising plot, messy love story but great ending. 3.5 stars!
January 18, 2014
Dua bab permulaan yang tak langsung merentap perhatian untuk ke bab seterusnya. Cukup terdera kerana bacaan harus juga diteruskan demi kesinambungan sejalur garis masa. Penyeksaan ini bagaimanapun dipukul rata pada bab akhir. Wedding Speech tidak menjanjikan kepuasan tapi lebih kepada menguji kesabaran. Mungkin selepas ini jika ternampak Kedai Toys R Us, bukan sekadar mainan yang akan terlintas di minda.
January 23, 2014
If you have read a bunch of my book reviews, you'd know that I prefer mostly romantic tales as part of my daily diet. I have lived long enough to know that any English novel written by a Malaysian is most likely not a romance novel, no matter what the title is, so I have no illusions when I open Khaliza Khalid's Wedding Speech. It's... well, the closest genre I can think of to pigeonhole this one for easy labeling is dick-lit.
The story is pretty simple. Our male protagonist, Yusrizan, defines the phrase "love rat" in every possible way. He loves Kelly, but he generally mucks things up with his immaturity and self-absorption, that it is a miracle that the story opens with his getting his wedding speech ready for his upcoming wedding to Kelly. There is still plenty of time and ways for him to go down in flames, however. The story also flashes back to the past now and then to give me a glimpse of how Yus was back then.
Now, Yus has this story narrated entirely from his point of view, so it is actually a fatal flaw for him to exhibit no character development until the last few pages of this book. I turn the pages, mostly with one brow raised higher than the other, because this guy is a complete train wreck. He even uses his daughter to manipulate women into letting him into their pants, and he shows very little concern for the poor girl throughout the whole thing. Everything Yus says and does is immature and annoying, and I soon feel that I am trapped in a frat party where every guy is drunk and stupid and, oh god, someone please get me out of here.
The narrative is deliberately disjointed - seven out of ten Malaysian authors aspire to convince their readers that these authors are part of a literary wunderkind parade, after all, through contrived use of narrative gimmicks - but the author isn't consistent with her tenses, so it soon becomes annoying when when both present and past tense show up regardless of whether the scene in question is in the present day or in the past. There are also some unfortunate use of big words at the wrong places - "literally" is used, redundantly, in scenes where the characters can't not be literal, for example.
There are also moments when it's obvious that Yus is a character written by a woman. I'm hard pressed to think of any guy who would voluntarily call his penis a "member", for instance. "Member aku", yes, I can imagine, but given that this story is written entirely from the perspective of someone thinking in English, this particular usage of the word "member" feels so artificial. There are more instances where I go, "Wait, would a selfish sex-obsessed prick think like this?" and such instances only make it harder for me to get into the flow of this story.
However, I believe that the author has some potential to be good one day. The twist ending is actually quite contrived, but I actually find myself sighing and I think there may even be a lump in my throat. I'm pleasantly shocked by how easily she could manipulate my feelings if she puts her mind into it.
At the end of the day, Wedding Speech could have been a good read, but it is bogged down by juvenile humor, unconvincing characters, and contrived narrative gimmicks. It would be interesting to see what the author can come up with should she deliver a straight-up story without such gimmicks. Until then, I'd just put this book aside.
The story is pretty simple. Our male protagonist, Yusrizan, defines the phrase "love rat" in every possible way. He loves Kelly, but he generally mucks things up with his immaturity and self-absorption, that it is a miracle that the story opens with his getting his wedding speech ready for his upcoming wedding to Kelly. There is still plenty of time and ways for him to go down in flames, however. The story also flashes back to the past now and then to give me a glimpse of how Yus was back then.
Now, Yus has this story narrated entirely from his point of view, so it is actually a fatal flaw for him to exhibit no character development until the last few pages of this book. I turn the pages, mostly with one brow raised higher than the other, because this guy is a complete train wreck. He even uses his daughter to manipulate women into letting him into their pants, and he shows very little concern for the poor girl throughout the whole thing. Everything Yus says and does is immature and annoying, and I soon feel that I am trapped in a frat party where every guy is drunk and stupid and, oh god, someone please get me out of here.
The narrative is deliberately disjointed - seven out of ten Malaysian authors aspire to convince their readers that these authors are part of a literary wunderkind parade, after all, through contrived use of narrative gimmicks - but the author isn't consistent with her tenses, so it soon becomes annoying when when both present and past tense show up regardless of whether the scene in question is in the present day or in the past. There are also some unfortunate use of big words at the wrong places - "literally" is used, redundantly, in scenes where the characters can't not be literal, for example.
There are also moments when it's obvious that Yus is a character written by a woman. I'm hard pressed to think of any guy who would voluntarily call his penis a "member", for instance. "Member aku", yes, I can imagine, but given that this story is written entirely from the perspective of someone thinking in English, this particular usage of the word "member" feels so artificial. There are more instances where I go, "Wait, would a selfish sex-obsessed prick think like this?" and such instances only make it harder for me to get into the flow of this story.
However, I believe that the author has some potential to be good one day. The twist ending is actually quite contrived, but I actually find myself sighing and I think there may even be a lump in my throat. I'm pleasantly shocked by how easily she could manipulate my feelings if she puts her mind into it.
At the end of the day, Wedding Speech could have been a good read, but it is bogged down by juvenile humor, unconvincing characters, and contrived narrative gimmicks. It would be interesting to see what the author can come up with should she deliver a straight-up story without such gimmicks. Until then, I'd just put this book aside.
December 5, 2013
Hallucination. One word to describe this book. It is indeed beautifully sad story. Minus all the owh too detail sex scenes and yep it is okay with me. Kudos to the writer. You may need a Thesauras or was it Toy's R Us. Hehehe. Loving the cover anyway.
March 1, 2014
letih baca novel ni. letih.
February 26, 2019
I am honestly not a fan of this book but that doesn’t mean I dislike it. I’ve read a few books from fixi and have found two books (one is this one) that have the same premise and ending. And while writing this review, I just realised that there’s another book that has the same ending concept like the two books. Is that going to be a trend or what?
I assumed (probably 70% of what I assumed is right) that the writer took SAT and that’s the reason why one of the character has that as her education background. My problem is, let say my assumption is right, it seems the writer is trying so hard to write great English sentences that she end up completely failing it. Not saying that it is terribly bad but I just have had a hard time trying to understand and to finish the book.
🤔 - 😯 - 😲 - 😐 (summarising my reactions throughout reading the book)
I assumed (probably 70% of what I assumed is right) that the writer took SAT and that’s the reason why one of the character has that as her education background. My problem is, let say my assumption is right, it seems the writer is trying so hard to write great English sentences that she end up completely failing it. Not saying that it is terribly bad but I just have had a hard time trying to understand and to finish the book.
🤔 - 😯 - 😲 - 😐 (summarising my reactions throughout reading the book)
August 26, 2013
First of all, I'm not writing this as an expert book reviewer or seasoned writer. I was referred to Fixi by a FB friend and spotted this book. It was the first locally published English book I've read. I never knew English books were published in Malaysia. So I was curious, anxious, intrigued to check this book. Anxious as I've been trying to get mine published locally.
Back to Wedding Speech, the title gave me no clues. I was thinking more of non-Malaysian/non-Malay story as it's not really part of our tradition to give wedding speech...or I could be wrong. Haven't attended weddings lately. Nice cover, btw.
The writing technique is too much telling and repetitive narration at some points. When reading, I need to get into the real scenes, see actions and hear more dialogues. The changing plots - present, back and fro could be hard to relate to as well. They cut the flow and you need to double the concentration.
The main characters lack emotions, physical lust seems to overide them. I was quite shocked at this discovery, a great one at the same time. There's writing freedom here after all. The sister's character description is too exaggerated. All I see was a heaving giant. I thought - am I reading a fantasy fiction? The impressive SAT words don't do much to the story, rather slow the reading.
Overall, quite interesting, but need more emotions involved.
Back to Wedding Speech, the title gave me no clues. I was thinking more of non-Malaysian/non-Malay story as it's not really part of our tradition to give wedding speech...or I could be wrong. Haven't attended weddings lately. Nice cover, btw.
The writing technique is too much telling and repetitive narration at some points. When reading, I need to get into the real scenes, see actions and hear more dialogues. The changing plots - present, back and fro could be hard to relate to as well. They cut the flow and you need to double the concentration.
The main characters lack emotions, physical lust seems to overide them. I was quite shocked at this discovery, a great one at the same time. There's writing freedom here after all. The sister's character description is too exaggerated. All I see was a heaving giant. I thought - am I reading a fantasy fiction? The impressive SAT words don't do much to the story, rather slow the reading.
Overall, quite interesting, but need more emotions involved.
September 9, 2013
Read it in a few hours and whoa! Decided Wedding Speech has unseated Nicholas Sparks’s The Notebook as my fave. The naughtier and more fun WS reminded me of TN. One similarity is both are generally love stories but the former is clearly darker. Plus both were told in two alternating linear tracts. For WS narrative includes present day i.e. beginning two days leading up to a wedding and flashbacks from when the two main characters, Yusrizan and Kelly met. Another similarity is characters faced many obstacles in their relationship. Kept me asking “Can they make it?”
WS is not without flaws. Stuff bugging me included Yusrizan letting himself be bullied by Kelly’s sister who was described as a gorilla and acted like one, and knowing everything that happened to Kelly although he wasn’t around. But when I hit the last two chapters, OMG! Everything made sense! WS is brilliant, thought-provoking, fresh, not sugary and above all, entertaining. It’s well plotted and if you don’t question things as you read, you’ll miss clues leading to the amazing ending.
Cover art is fantastic! I’d give it 5 stars since I was sold on it. Bought the book due to it – how’s that for love at first sight, lol. I thought WS was pure chick lit but after my reading, I’m sure guys can relate to it too. Don’t be fooled by the cover: Narration is very in-your-face. Fun, wicked twists!
WS is not without flaws. Stuff bugging me included Yusrizan letting himself be bullied by Kelly’s sister who was described as a gorilla and acted like one, and knowing everything that happened to Kelly although he wasn’t around. But when I hit the last two chapters, OMG! Everything made sense! WS is brilliant, thought-provoking, fresh, not sugary and above all, entertaining. It’s well plotted and if you don’t question things as you read, you’ll miss clues leading to the amazing ending.
Cover art is fantastic! I’d give it 5 stars since I was sold on it. Bought the book due to it – how’s that for love at first sight, lol. I thought WS was pure chick lit but after my reading, I’m sure guys can relate to it too. Don’t be fooled by the cover: Narration is very in-your-face. Fun, wicked twists!
August 27, 2013
aah, equip yourself with dictionary/thesaurus. You'll need doubled the concentration due to its jumbled story line.
For me personally, the characters deserve to be describe with more emotion. Regardless, at the end you'll understand why such vagueness was used.
lust or love? hurm.
Spoiler alert!
who on their right mind would purposely got themselves infected with denggi? romantic gesture? hurm.
why the author emphasized so much bout the money yusrizan borrowed? i dont get it. as the reason for karr to connect with him? well, it was written too many times throughout the book.
and whats with kelly's real name? come on.
For me personally, the characters deserve to be describe with more emotion. Regardless, at the end you'll understand why such vagueness was used.
lust or love? hurm.
Spoiler alert!
who on their right mind would purposely got themselves infected with denggi? romantic gesture? hurm.
why the author emphasized so much bout the money yusrizan borrowed? i dont get it. as the reason for karr to connect with him? well, it was written too many times throughout the book.
and whats with kelly's real name? come on.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 30, 2013
Yes, it would be great to have a dictionary by your side while reading this book, but that's not the main point. I ran across this book at Borders and upon seeing it's bluish cover i was hoping for some hopeless romantic wedding blues. Oh, how little did i know.. To sum it up, i love LOVE the story line, disturbed with the oh-too-detailed love scenes err but uh whatever thank god for the use of BIG words coz it makes me think. I don't like the twisted ending though, i wanted a happy ending despite the fact that i think Yusrizan deserves it.
September 22, 2013
My fav is the last 2 eps.
September 6, 2013
you guys need to know what is the six words that will get Yusrizan Yusuf lynched. oh. and Kelly's full name's origin. have fun !
September 5, 2013
Mrs Pasamanickam is mentioned many times in this book! Wonder where she is now. :)
December 10, 2013
I like it until the part where the narrator use his daughter as bait but that was okay. Paling membencikan sebenarnya the plot twist. I hate that kind of twist. Rasa tertipu.
April 1, 2014
A beautiful love story with a surprising twist..a sad ending.. Not like the usual happy endings of a love story..
September 25, 2014
Rasanya, bab yang akhir-akhir tu je yang macam best. Start dari Kelly jumpa dgn Yana. Bab-bab sebelum tu rasa macam nak give up dah. Tapi gagahkan diri untuk teruskan pembacaan. What a sad ending.
May 21, 2015
Man! This book is terrible! (Yes I'm making fun of the writing style)
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