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BONE WEIGHT and other stories
This cross-genre collection of twenty-five short stories and flash fiction pieces explores relationships and periods of transition.
A mother questions the limits of her responsibility to her husband and son. A man operates a leaf blower during Chinese New Year, leading to tragic consequences. In speculative stories, a demolition worker dreams of clean air while Kuala Lumpur decays, and a cooking robot attempts to perfect its fried rice for a grieving family.
These characters navigate displacement and uncertainties in pursuit of better lives.
By the author of Ripples and Other Stories and the novel The Sum of Our Follies, this new collection boldly imagines scenarios we can only dream of – while subtly tethering us to Malaysian realities we can only sigh at.
A mother questions the limits of her responsibility to her husband and son. A man operates a leaf blower during Chinese New Year, leading to tragic consequences. In speculative stories, a demolition worker dreams of clean air while Kuala Lumpur decays, and a cooking robot attempts to perfect its fried rice for a grieving family.
These characters navigate displacement and uncertainties in pursuit of better lives.
By the author of Ripples and Other Stories and the novel The Sum of Our Follies, this new collection boldly imagines scenarios we can only dream of – while subtly tethering us to Malaysian realities we can only sigh at.
- GenresShort Stories
256 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2023
5 people are currently reading
65 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 26, 2023
Although the stories are not all interconnected (a la the previous collection Ripples), there are separate blocks of interconnected stories which lend this collection an interesting vibe. I like how science fiction (and a bit of fantasy) is employed in some stories to convey commentary on some issues in contemporary Malaysian society, without sacrificing the nuance and complexities that come with them.
July 5, 2024
Review is finally up: https://singaporeunbound.org/suspect-...
November 28, 2023
A good collection of stories based in Malaysia, some are set on the present and some of futuristic time, some dystopian.
‘Old Enough for This’ resonated most with me. Set in the Malay heartland it’s about child marriage. It’s written in reverse timeline which is unique.
I have read her other collections and I think The Sim of Our Follies was better, but I intend to re- read both her other collections to make up my mind.
‘Old Enough for This’ resonated most with me. Set in the Malay heartland it’s about child marriage. It’s written in reverse timeline which is unique.
I have read her other collections and I think The Sim of Our Follies was better, but I intend to re- read both her other collections to make up my mind.
May 2, 2024
The first short story by Shih-Li Kow I read was Golden Boys, published in an online literary journal, and I loved it. It remains one of my favourites among this collection.
It’s an intriguing collection, some stories being more surreal and conceptual than others, with various pieces of flash fiction included too. Some of the speculative stories have an interesting premise that Kow explores with wit and a certain irony, but rather briefly.
Ultimately, it was the longer stories that stayed with me; along with Golden Boys, my favourites were Relative Distance and Seventeeth Floor. These in particular I found beautifully crafted, poignant and understated; bittersweet and attuned to recognisably Malaysian flavours of heartache.
It’s an intriguing collection, some stories being more surreal and conceptual than others, with various pieces of flash fiction included too. Some of the speculative stories have an interesting premise that Kow explores with wit and a certain irony, but rather briefly.
Ultimately, it was the longer stories that stayed with me; along with Golden Boys, my favourites were Relative Distance and Seventeeth Floor. These in particular I found beautifully crafted, poignant and understated; bittersweet and attuned to recognisably Malaysian flavours of heartache.
June 21, 2025
Oh how I love this book. Found and bought this book during our trip to Langkawi. I love speculative fiction, and this book offers that and more. Shih Li Kow really has a way with words. Most of the stories are quite short but with her eloquence and wit it doesn’t take much words for her works to speak to you. I like some stories better than the others but I enjoyed reading all 25 of them, and there really is something for everyone. I was reminded of Bora Chung’s Cursed Bunny while reading this book, but with a twist of Malaysia’s cultural and societal issues which are relatable as fellow Southeast Asian. I’m already looking forward to reading more of the author’s works.
December 1, 2023
I bought this book at George Town Lit Fest 2023 where the author was launching the book. Really loved the stories and finished it in two sittings.
As the blurb says it's 25 stories, but some are really short flash fiction pieces (1-2 pages only). Surprisingly, the story that stuck to me was one of these short ones; 'Ascent'. It was a metaphorical fable about a woman climbing the corporate/societal ladder... but very beautifully done, and every word mattered & moved the story forward. Goes to show how much you can say with so little.
I'd read 'Under the Circumstances' before in the Mekong Review and 'Relative Distance' on Adda, the Commonwealth-shortlisted story and obviously the big draw of the collection. However, it's a nice surprise that 'Bone Weight' was chosen instead as the title story, and it is a powerful one about race, corruption and the classes - your typical Malaysian story.
My two personal favourites are: 'Old Enough for This' about child marriages and 'Golden Boys' about a pair of chicken-seller parents and their son coming home from Melbourne. Some of the 25 stories are extremely sad, and some (as the blurb describes) are speculative fiction. I personally prefer the more realist stories, but the spec fic ones are still grounded in reality so to speak. Thankfully, the collection ends with a 'happy' story about the end of the world.
Shih-Li Kow has been described as Malaysia's best short story writer, and I believe it's true! 5 stars for this book. Also, priced at RM28 it's a good deal for 250+ pages and 25 stories.
As the blurb says it's 25 stories, but some are really short flash fiction pieces (1-2 pages only). Surprisingly, the story that stuck to me was one of these short ones; 'Ascent'. It was a metaphorical fable about a woman climbing the corporate/societal ladder... but very beautifully done, and every word mattered & moved the story forward. Goes to show how much you can say with so little.
I'd read 'Under the Circumstances' before in the Mekong Review and 'Relative Distance' on Adda, the Commonwealth-shortlisted story and obviously the big draw of the collection. However, it's a nice surprise that 'Bone Weight' was chosen instead as the title story, and it is a powerful one about race, corruption and the classes - your typical Malaysian story.
My two personal favourites are: 'Old Enough for This' about child marriages and 'Golden Boys' about a pair of chicken-seller parents and their son coming home from Melbourne. Some of the 25 stories are extremely sad, and some (as the blurb describes) are speculative fiction. I personally prefer the more realist stories, but the spec fic ones are still grounded in reality so to speak. Thankfully, the collection ends with a 'happy' story about the end of the world.
Shih-Li Kow has been described as Malaysia's best short story writer, and I believe it's true! 5 stars for this book. Also, priced at RM28 it's a good deal for 250+ pages and 25 stories.
July 28, 2024
I bought this book during our trip in Penang, and this is one of the best short stories collection I have ever read. I cried my heart out. Each story made me feel so much— like I know the characters and their hearts. As a fellow Southeast Asian woman, I feel so proud too. We really can write like magic, bone deep and bone heavy.
January 15, 2024
My late father used to make a living as a fortune teller. He called himself a calculator of fates and read fortunes by weighing bones. This was not a weight in kilogrammes or pounds, but an astrological weight based on the circumstances of one's birth. According to my father's Tong Shu almanac, heavy bones foretold a good life. They were dense with marrow and rich in celestial calcium, strong enough to weather hard knocks and march through life unmolested. Light-boned people, on the other hand, hovered on the edges of existence, insubstantial and easily broken. As a child, I had wondered if the predictions in my father's almanac applied only to Chinese people, the way some heavens were open only to followers of certain gods. My father had chastised me for my ignorance. Bone weight did not depend on skin colour or preferred choice of heaven.
- Bone Weight and other stories by Shih - Li Kow
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This is my first book of Shih Li Kow and i need to find her other books ASAP. I love that not a single bad stories that was featured in this compilation. Sure, some stories were short and some ending remains open and inconclusive but writing-wise? A chef kiss. I was not ready with ‘Old Enough For this’. It sent a chill down my spine, to be frank. It was haunting in a subtle way. The fountain also hold no punches. It sure showed that humanity is such a frail little things and everyone is in it for themselves. If you are weak, you will be trampled on by others. Seventeenth Floor might not be other reader’s cup of tea but i enjoyed it. It captured this weird obsession towards a stranger even though you barely knew a person. The story titled ‘It only amplifies’ emphasized on the co-dependency and the emotional attachment towards the inherited object from her mother. Splice reminds me of a black mirror - A dark sci-fi, to be specific. Fuck around with time and paid the price for it. I think the last one that i truly love is ‘Silica Dust and Silica Sky’ - thematically, it is a class war. The riches gets to enjoy clear air, clean water and the place are shielded from the flood as it is in high altitude while the poor gots what’s left of it. The entrance to the riches area was restricted and you needed pass for it. And in this story, the guy moved up in the upper strata of society while the girl left behind eventhough they planned to do it together. I could have highlighted other stories but i wanted you guys to read this book. Also, the last 2 stories , Bone Weight and The Day Comes should have been a full fledge novel. I was so investef. This would have been 5 stars but some short stories ending left me wanting for more 🥲.
- Bone Weight and other stories by Shih - Li Kow
.
.
This is my first book of Shih Li Kow and i need to find her other books ASAP. I love that not a single bad stories that was featured in this compilation. Sure, some stories were short and some ending remains open and inconclusive but writing-wise? A chef kiss. I was not ready with ‘Old Enough For this’. It sent a chill down my spine, to be frank. It was haunting in a subtle way. The fountain also hold no punches. It sure showed that humanity is such a frail little things and everyone is in it for themselves. If you are weak, you will be trampled on by others. Seventeenth Floor might not be other reader’s cup of tea but i enjoyed it. It captured this weird obsession towards a stranger even though you barely knew a person. The story titled ‘It only amplifies’ emphasized on the co-dependency and the emotional attachment towards the inherited object from her mother. Splice reminds me of a black mirror - A dark sci-fi, to be specific. Fuck around with time and paid the price for it. I think the last one that i truly love is ‘Silica Dust and Silica Sky’ - thematically, it is a class war. The riches gets to enjoy clear air, clean water and the place are shielded from the flood as it is in high altitude while the poor gots what’s left of it. The entrance to the riches area was restricted and you needed pass for it. And in this story, the guy moved up in the upper strata of society while the girl left behind eventhough they planned to do it together. I could have highlighted other stories but i wanted you guys to read this book. Also, the last 2 stories , Bone Weight and The Day Comes should have been a full fledge novel. I was so investef. This would have been 5 stars but some short stories ending left me wanting for more 🥲.
March 17, 2024
I enjoyed Shih-Li Kow's panel at the Georgetown Literary Festival and bought her collection Ripples and now I've read this collection of hers on ebook. She's really a wonderful practitioner of the short story form. I hope others will access her work and read more about this region of the world - there's honestly enough stories about Americans and New York or wherever else from North America. It's time readers access other regions of the world undergoing tremendous changes.
This collection differs from Ripples in that it takes on more genres of writing, including science fiction or dystopic fiction. I really enjoyed Kow's satirical, witty explorations of future KLs or Malaysias. Highly recommended. The wit and biting commentary works very well in this format and genre, I'm very impressed and will be looking forward to reading more from her.
This collection differs from Ripples in that it takes on more genres of writing, including science fiction or dystopic fiction. I really enjoyed Kow's satirical, witty explorations of future KLs or Malaysias. Highly recommended. The wit and biting commentary works very well in this format and genre, I'm very impressed and will be looking forward to reading more from her.
November 29, 2023
My personal opinion: a wonderful collection of short stories which I have thoroughly enjoyed reading.
My favourite are: I Climb Into a Book, Every Bench, The Fountain (all which latched on to me and never really let go); Hit and Run, Why I Say We're Cousins and the brilliant Old Enough for This; Fried Rice, Father's Day, Golden Boys; Purnama, Ascent, the gorgeous Silica Dust, Silica Sky; Seventeenth Floor, In Full Bloom, It Only Amplifies, Relative Distance (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize), Under the Circumstances, Bone Weight, The Day Comes.
There are many more wonderful things to be said which have not been included here. I feel there's something for everyone and each story brings with it something unique and quite exceptional to this reader. Whatever it is, however, one's interpretation is always subjective so do read the book and find out for yourself.
A must-read for all readers who appreciate the short story form!
My favourite are: I Climb Into a Book, Every Bench, The Fountain (all which latched on to me and never really let go); Hit and Run, Why I Say We're Cousins and the brilliant Old Enough for This; Fried Rice, Father's Day, Golden Boys; Purnama, Ascent, the gorgeous Silica Dust, Silica Sky; Seventeenth Floor, In Full Bloom, It Only Amplifies, Relative Distance (shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize), Under the Circumstances, Bone Weight, The Day Comes.
There are many more wonderful things to be said which have not been included here. I feel there's something for everyone and each story brings with it something unique and quite exceptional to this reader. Whatever it is, however, one's interpretation is always subjective so do read the book and find out for yourself.
A must-read for all readers who appreciate the short story form!
January 4, 2024
I have read 3 of her books and this is the best. Ironic and unexpected endings, that's her forte. I love it. Writing style is easy to understand.
December 17, 2024
Really excellent literary cli-fi with social themes and great writing. A little heavy at times for me, but fascinating stories.
October 16, 2025
9/10 - loved!!!!
February 8, 2026
What a banquet of short stories. Vividly rich, funny, heartbreaking, disturbing. A profound exploration of present and future Malaysia.
January 1, 2024
I already did my review on twitter but this book deserves another review on goodreads. 😂 A very enjoyable read and some stories made me ponder over my relationship with people around. My personal favourites would be Fried Rice, Father's Day, Relative Distance & Winged Things. I like how the short stories somehow interconnected with one another.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews