This Place Called Absence

by Lydia Kwa

Weaves the stories of 4 women living in 2 different times: Wu Lan, a modern-day lesbian living in Canada, who is studying the lives of Chinese prostitutes; her mother, a recent widow; and 2 prostitutes living in Singapore at the turn of the 20th century.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Asia, Canada

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Repellent Boy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probablemente sea uno de los libros que mejor escrito me ha parecido que está de los que he leído este año. Prácticamente he tomado notas del libro entero.

Wu Lan, una psicóloga de Singapur que lleva años viviendo en Cánada, recibirá la noticia de que su padre se ha suicidado. Esto la sumirá en una terrible depresión, que la llevará a buscar información y conocimientos sobre los orígenes de su país y de su familia. Además, Wu Lan arrastra una profunda decepción amorosa, que se complica al ser lesbiana, ya que no termina de acostumbrarse a ese choque tan evidente entre como se vive su homosexualidad en Canadá y como se lleva en Singapur.

Además de esta trama principal, Wu Lan, va a ir aprendiendo cosas de su país gracias a tres grandes mujeres: su madre, Mahmee, y dos ah ku, prostitutas de origen chino en Singapur a principios del siglo XX, Ah Choi y Chat Mui.

Creo que es ese tipo de libro que te enseña y del que se aprende mucho. Tanto en términos de cultura con relación a estos países y su forma de vida, como en términos de sentimientos. Como podría vivir una misma persona vidas muy diferentes si naciera o viviera en diferentes sitios. Me ha gustado mucho ver la problemática de ser lesbiana en un país donde no se está tan avanzado en términos de igualdad, y sobre todo verlo trasladado al siglo pasado.

Y además, como ya he dicho, todo está llevado con una escritura maravillosa. Muchísimas reflexiones interesantes que me hacían parar para indagar en lo que me evocaban. Increíble esta autora.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a difficult book for me to review because of the personal context in which I first read it. Years ago, I escaped a broken friendship by running to Singapore. But it wasn’t the only reason I left - I wanted a chance to study literature from the region, and I knew I wasn’t going to get that abroad.

I read This Place Called Absence by Lydia Kwa in class. The main protagonist is Wu Lan, a psychologist who left Singapore for Canada two decades ago. She has come out to her family but they don’t talk about it. Then her father dies by suicide and she is tormented by guilt, because he called her mere days before and she ignored him. Her mother, Mahmee, claims to see his ghost. Wu Lan becomes obsessed with a nonfiction book about ah ku (prostitutes) in Singapore at the turn of the 20th century, and we learn about Lee Ah Choi and Chow Chat Mui, ah ku who survive their brutal circumstances by loving each other.

So much of this novel resonated with me: Wu Lan’s depression (brought on by loss and disconnection); queer identity; Chinese migration from southern China to Nanyang to Canada. The book was what I needed at the time, as I grappled with diaspora anger and the loss of her.

Reading it again at such a different point in my life, I can see some flaws. Told through four perspectives, with very little action, it’s easy to get confused about who is speaking about what, if something is happening in the physical world or in a dream. It’s very self-conscious about being Chinese. I’m also not sure how Wu Lan is learning Ah Choi and Chat Mui’s story - there are references to “journals,” but the ah ku were illiterate and died anonymous. You learn their real-life connection at the very end, but for the most part the link between past and present seems tenuous. Mahmee feels like an unnecessary addition to the narrative, there only for some Singlish flavor.

Despite these issues, what I first loved about the book is still there. The melancholy and hopelessness, the reimagined queer history in Singapore.

[Javier de la Peña Ontanaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Novela que gira en torno a tres personajes: Wu Lan, una joven que llega a Canadá desde Singapur para dedicarse a la psicología; Ah Choi y Chat Mui, dos personajes que pertenecen al pasado, a comienzos del siglo XX, dos jóvenes cantonesas que fueron vendidas por sus familias para ser convertidas en ah ku o prostitutas en Singapur.

Pese a tener tres personajes sin conexión aparente en el espacio y en el tiempo, el relato siempre da una sensación de uniformidad, pues todas son mujeres inmigrantes haciéndose paso en la vida. Singapur es el nexo en esta historia y, especialmente, el trágico suceso del suicidio del padre de Wu Lan, que días antes de la fatal decisión la llamada para hablar pero no consigue hacerlo, algo que traumatiza aún más a su hija. Tampoco quiero olvidar la figura y relatos de Mahmee, madre de Wu Lan y la viuda que recibe las "visitas" del fantasma del marido.

No es una novela extensa, pero sí que trabaja en el aspecto existencial, en el sentimiento de culpa de todos los personajes. No tiene demasiado contexto histórico que explique un poco la situación del país social o culturalmente. Sí se habla de la mezcla cosmopolita que es entre chinos, hindúes y malayos, principalmente. No evita temas delicados como la prostitución en el Singapur de comienzos de siglo XX (la autora ofrece la bibliografía que usó para documentarse, lo que da una idea de lo generalizado del tema en el país en aquella época) y la homosexualidad de Wu Lan, algo de lo que también huyó de su país y entorno familiar.

Hay mucha alusión a espíritus y fantasmas que vuelven tras la muerte y que los personajes lo sienten como "molestar" a los que han quedado en vida. También es palpable la importancia que le dan los personajes al sentido de la familia y las supersticiones, especialmente el mal augurio en los personajes mayores (Mahmee) y en los del pasado (las prostitutas).

Me ha gustado la novela. Quería leer algo sobre Singapur de alguien natural del país. He echado en falta algo más de contexto histórico que nos sitúe en lo que era Singapur en aquel momento, su composición étnica y de lenguaje, pero me ha sorprendido lo bien y profundo que indaga en el complejo aspecto mental y sentimental de sus personajes pese a lo breve del libro (no llega a las 300 páginas con notas y agradecimientos incluidos). Se percibe en todo momento del relato la culpa, la duda y lo rotos que están los personajes en su interior por las situaciones de la vida.

[Fikri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kwa’s project here is ambitious, with four (or 3.5, rather) narrators taking us between two places and times: in present day, a Chinese-Canadian psychologist (the main narrator) deals with the death of her father and a major break-up, while her Singapore-based mother (the 0.5, as she appears the least) comes to terms with the new shape of her family; in early 20th century Singapore, two Chinese migrants who enter the sex trade via different paths find solace in each other and opium. There’s a tenuous link between the two narratives — modern-day Wu Lan decides to research the colonial-era sex trade in Singapore on a whim, and some quote about ancestors & descendants is thrown in a couple of times — but otherwise they stand pretty much on their own.

The pace of the novel is pretty slow. Most of the “action” happens in Wu Lan’s head, and while there’s more going on in Chat Mui/Ah Choi’s lives, their internal narratives do all tend a bit too much towards the navel-gazey and melodramatic for my tastes. I’m aware that my experience of this book is coloured by being a Singaporean-in-Singapore reading the work of someone who left the country a long time ago, so what others would possibly take as novel explorations of identity (perhaps unfairly) comes across as unnecessary self-exotification to me. (That being said, Mahmee’s “Singlish” is unforgivably bad and her character is such a two-dimensional caricature of the conservative, small-minded older generation I genuinely believe the book would’ve been better off cutting her parts out entirely.) But still, it’s not every day that we get imagined queer histories in Singapore, so I appreciate Kwa’s foray into this even if I wasn’t the biggest fan of its execution.

[Kam Tou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Homoerotic narrative & intense feelings inundate from contemporary Vancouver all the way through early 20th century Singapore. The narrator’s fascination with death, patriarchy, imagined histories, bodily sensation and its erotics are carried out in multiple voices. Language could feel a bit early 2000s and sentimental at times, yet it’s a book ideal for literary analysis esp when read as contemp transnational literature & global anglophone writing.

[ester · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wu Lan nació en Singapur, pero lleva años viviendo en Canadá, a donde fue a estudiar y se quedó a vivir. El inesperado suicidio de su padre marca el inicio de esta novela. Acompañamos a la protagonista durante ese primer año de duelo, con sus recuerdos, sus dudas y sus pensamientos.
La novela está escrita en primera persona por cuatro mujeres: Wu Lan, desde Vancouver, su madre, desde el Singapur actual, y dos ah ku (prostitutas) del Singapur de principios del siglo XX. Con las vivencias y pensamientos de cada una se va construyendo la historia.
La autora escribe bonito, no es una novela donde pasen muchas cosas, es una sucesión de soliloquios, descripciones, diálogos, sueños… donde se mezcla occidente con oriente.
Tengo que decir que, cuando finalicé su lectura hace una semana, tuve la sensación de que faltaba algo, com si la novela se acabara sin un final, en realidad. Pero es de esas lecturas que te dejan algo dentro, con el paso de los días vas recordando pasajes, escenas que te hacen pensar… bueno, es una sensación bastante habitual con la literatura oriental

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Julie Alexandrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goo dread. Learned a lot about Singapore.

[Nairne Holtz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kwa deftly weaves together the voices of four women dealing with grief and longing. In present day Vancouver, Wu Lan is coping with a breakup and her father’s recent suicide while her mother in Singapore is haunted by his ghost. Moving backwards in time to the turn of the 20th century, we meet a pair of opium-addicted brothel prostitutes who have fallen in love. These women, who may or may not be figments of Wu Lan’s imagination, represent a kind of absence, the shadowy existence of lesbians in Singapore, and the personal histories of sex workers whose lives are considered disposable. This is a stylish, atmospheric novel about the power of language and story to liberate.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

My abiding impression is of a novel whose characters are adequately worked (although Singaporean friends find the rendition of Singlish very disappointing- a caricature), but whose individuality can sometimes bleed away a little. I was unfortunate enough to have read Kingston's The Woman Warrior first, which will always leave "This Place Called Absence" in its shadow (however unfair that may be)

[Joanna Eng · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are lots of mediocre books with lesbian characters. This one is actually good and gave me a lot to think about regarding depression, family, and oppression. It's also a fascinating perspective on Singapore and Vancouver. Read it!

[Keith wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book started off slow but as you continue to read you go into the lives of 4 asian women at different times in history. they speak on love, death, and there experiences. theses experience are put together in a way to make a unique story of love, loss, and friendship.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting discussion on depression.

[Glenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The basic premise was OK, but I couldn't connect with the main character. Also, I want to know how 2 illiterate women wrote the journals in 1906 that the main character was reading as research.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slight first novel: ambitious in its fusing of early and late 20th century and Singapore and Canada, but ultimately rather flimsy characters and an absence of real emotions and feelings.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the writing. It is so viseral and emotional.