These Foolish Things

by Yeo Wei Wei

"These Foolish Things", the short story in this chapbook, is the title story of Yeo Wei Wei's debut collection. The full collection of stories will be published later this 2015.

In her collection of stories, secret hopes, desires and regrets are revealed through obsessions and events that collide and merge with everyday life. A wife returns home as a stowaway spirit in an umbrella to find that her husband has remarried... An old woman in a nursing home adopts a mynah that sings in English, a language she doesn't understand... An artist remembers the time he was harangued by rambutans, mangoes and other fruits in his studio... In her crystalline prose suffused with a dark sense of humour, these stories offer glimpses of inner worlds that are sharp, strange and haunting.

22 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Yeo Wei Wei was born in Singapore. She read English at the University of York before she completed her PhD at University of Cambridge in 2000. Her short stories have appeared in journals and anthologies. Her other publications include essays on art and literature, a children's picture book, translations of Chinese poetry. These Foolish Things is her first collection of short stories. She is currently working on a novel.

Reviews

[Ilyah Nazrah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want more!

I love the way she writes, the descriptions, not too detailed but clear and beautiful, almost reads and sounds melodic in my mind.

The story seems simple enough. Marriage in turmoil, infidelity ensues. Death looking for forgiveness, not wanting to be forgotten.

Oh, how I love this.

A nice introduction to SingLit for me. Will look out for other works as well, because this leaves me just wanting more.

[Camillia (Twenty Three Pages) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This chapbook was given to me in my press kit for the #BuySingLit campaign