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Skimming
Wai Keong and Li had the perfect relationship—familiar, proper, safe. Until David steps in, overturning their carefully ordered worlds.
With searing honesty, multiple award winner Claire Tham renders an uncommon love story from the three protagonists’ points-of-view, pitting polished surfaces against painful depths, comfort zones against alien spaces and the surrender to duty against the seduction of desire. Up close, these distinctions are no longer clear …
With searing honesty, multiple award winner Claire Tham renders an uncommon love story from the three protagonists’ points-of-view, pitting polished surfaces against painful depths, comfort zones against alien spaces and the surrender to duty against the seduction of desire. Up close, these distinctions are no longer clear …
- GenresFiction
288 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 12, 2019
This is not my usual genre of books, but I was interested as it’s written by a Singaporean writer and about a love triangle that begins in the student days abroad. There are interesting angles about the social class conventions within Singaporean society and cultural norms which makes this novel more than just a love triangle story
February 16, 2017
A book about a woman who is "all depth" and a man who is "all surface" (taken from blurb), embroiled in a love triangle with a man who unconditionally loves her (but of course, isn't what she wants). The POV switches from character to character who rehash and rehash how events happened through their eyes. I think this is a practice of narrative viewpoints for the author, one that isn't so successful. The novel was more telling than showing, actually it was an extended monologue of characters ruminating on their actions and being overly-obsessed with one another for reasons that were not clear. Li is catlike and cold, which is repeated 10000x. Somehow this is endlessly captivating to the men, rather than flat out annoying.
The carelessness of the characters also reminds me of the Great Gatsby. I wonder if David's mint-green car is a reference of Gatsby's "green light", except now the gender roles are reversed. I did like that the novel spanned about 10+ years and went on into the realm of marriage, however it was clunky and felt repetitive. I wanted to like this book. Also the blurb is wildly misleading.
The carelessness of the characters also reminds me of the Great Gatsby. I wonder if David's mint-green car is a reference of Gatsby's "green light", except now the gender roles are reversed. I did like that the novel spanned about 10+ years and went on into the realm of marriage, however it was clunky and felt repetitive. I wanted to like this book. Also the blurb is wildly misleading.
December 31, 2020
Love triangle! Envy! Jealousy! (Which, as any vocabulary aficionado can superior-ly, are two different things.) Class dynamics! In anyone else's hands, it would be easy for this to be a bit of a palaver. But I found myself enjoying this story about three actually-trash humans anyway, much more than I remember enjoying it the first go-around. (Me, in my early 20s: "These people are all so unpleasant. Can't relate" Me, now: "These people are all so unpleasant... it resonates.") I think the extent to which a reader might enjoy this would wholly depend on whether you buy into Claire Tham's shtick of using twenty-dollar words to describe the conundrums of entirely conventional people debating the one unconventional decision of their lives. For myself, as an unapologetic Claire Tham stan: I loved it.
Anyway, Skimming is the story of three lovers: Wai Keong, David, and Li, who meet at university in the UK. Wai Keong and Li were initially dating, and David and Wai Keong were originally friends. David starts pursuing Li, and they end up together and get married once they're back in Singapore, but the differences that made them so magnetic to each other in ~permissive atmosphere of 80s England~ (note: this gives you an idea of how socially constricting Singapore is, for 80s England to seem permissive) present a very different reality in the context of heterosexual married unit in Singapore. Li and David have their issues. Li and David separate. Li starts seeing (and sleeping with) Wai Keong. ??? Profit.
The main person I found myself feeling the most sorry for was Li - I just wanted to shake her a little and say: It's okay to not get married or even be single for a little while!!! But, as the advice columns all acknowledge, easier said than done to DTMFA. And so that ending: neither happy nor unhappy, just a choice made, people hurt either way. Just like life.
Anyway, Skimming is the story of three lovers: Wai Keong, David, and Li, who meet at university in the UK. Wai Keong and Li were initially dating, and David and Wai Keong were originally friends. David starts pursuing Li, and they end up together and get married once they're back in Singapore, but the differences that made them so magnetic to each other in ~permissive atmosphere of 80s England~ (note: this gives you an idea of how socially constricting Singapore is, for 80s England to seem permissive) present a very different reality in the context of heterosexual married unit in Singapore. Li and David have their issues. Li and David separate. Li starts seeing (and sleeping with) Wai Keong. ??? Profit.
The main person I found myself feeling the most sorry for was Li - I just wanted to shake her a little and say: It's okay to not get married or even be single for a little while!!! But, as the advice columns all acknowledge, easier said than done to DTMFA. And so that ending: neither happy nor unhappy, just a choice made, people hurt either way. Just like life.
December 1, 2020
This is a love story about a guy (Wai Keong), a girl, and another guy.
Wai Keong has his best friend, David. He has his girlfriend, Li. David and Li have an unexplained chemistry; Wai Keong picks this up and leaves them. Apart from this first chapter, we then see Li and David's tumultuous relationship: David comes from a working class background, and is deeply insecure about his financial capabilities. He aims to make money and that background remains a sore spot for him in the world he moves in (going to a rich person's secondary school on scholarship, followed by a bank scholarship). Li comes from a middle/upper middle class background, and we read about how she and Wai Keong unthinkingly embody those behaviours in their interaction.
That manifests in so many ways: the way Li spends, the cards spent, the social circles Li moves in. Even Li's background (Peranakan), the car she drives, the support she gets from her parents - these are all points of conflict with David.
Eventually,
I liked how the relationships are drawn out as well as the description of Singaporean society.
Wai Keong has his best friend, David. He has his girlfriend, Li. David and Li have an unexplained chemistry; Wai Keong picks this up and leaves them. Apart from this first chapter, we then see Li and David's tumultuous relationship: David comes from a working class background, and is deeply insecure about his financial capabilities. He aims to make money and that background remains a sore spot for him in the world he moves in (going to a rich person's secondary school on scholarship, followed by a bank scholarship). Li comes from a middle/upper middle class background, and we read about how she and Wai Keong unthinkingly embody those behaviours in their interaction.
That manifests in so many ways: the way Li spends, the cards spent, the social circles Li moves in. Even Li's background (Peranakan), the car she drives, the support she gets from her parents - these are all points of conflict with David.
Eventually,
I liked how the relationships are drawn out as well as the description of Singaporean society.
December 22, 2019
A story about how three people appear to each other and how they actually are, though I didn't particular bond with the characters it was a decent read.
February 8, 2012
I was pleasantly surprised to finally come across a Singaporean novel I really enjoyed. I’ve read several other books by Singaporean writers over the last two years but always came away disappointed- perhaps it was just bad luck to grab the others. Either way, I didn’t go into this book with high expectations.
Though there were some flaws with the book, overall reading it was a wholly enjoyable experience. I had the sense that Ms. Tham fully understood and developed all of her characters completely. Her telling of them was realistic and true to life, this is the kind of story you can imagine happening to anyone. The pacing was perfect, and even though half of the book is simply retelling a story from another person’s point of view I never felt bored or that any of it was unnecessary. I was drawn in to Li and David’s relationship and could feel the heartbreak Wai Keong lived through for years.
A common problem with local novels I’ve read did reappear in Skimming, however. Bad editing is rampant, and this book was no exception. In many places full stops are missing (totally missing, though obviously meant to be there, with sentences as such, “…he turned to her She looked up at him…”), and there were a good number of very jarring spelling and grammar errors.
Despite her grasp of her character, Ms. Tham was lacking in systematic writing. Sometimes words were written as in most novels, with the “” in full force. Other times spoken words were simply written out in the text, ala The Road, and other times spoken words were highlighted in the text with italics. I came away with the impression this was meant to be deep, but it looked sloppy more than anything, like someone who couldn’t decide how she wanted to write speech and just tried out everything. Likewise, the mix of first person and third person was just as jarring. This was obviously a stylistic choice, and a very poor one. There was also a mix of writing in past and present, which I am not as sure was intentional. If that was intentional it was a bad decision, if it was a mistake then even worse. I can understand if she had chosen to begin the book in past tense and finish in the present, and that would have been acceptable, but even after introducing the present tense she flopped back into the past at times.
Despite the glaring stylistic choices and poor editing, the book itself was intriguing and thought provoking. That the author has talent in writing is clear, but I believe the book would have been perfect with a better editor.
Though there were some flaws with the book, overall reading it was a wholly enjoyable experience. I had the sense that Ms. Tham fully understood and developed all of her characters completely. Her telling of them was realistic and true to life, this is the kind of story you can imagine happening to anyone. The pacing was perfect, and even though half of the book is simply retelling a story from another person’s point of view I never felt bored or that any of it was unnecessary. I was drawn in to Li and David’s relationship and could feel the heartbreak Wai Keong lived through for years.
A common problem with local novels I’ve read did reappear in Skimming, however. Bad editing is rampant, and this book was no exception. In many places full stops are missing (totally missing, though obviously meant to be there, with sentences as such, “…he turned to her She looked up at him…”), and there were a good number of very jarring spelling and grammar errors.
Despite her grasp of her character, Ms. Tham was lacking in systematic writing. Sometimes words were written as in most novels, with the “” in full force. Other times spoken words were simply written out in the text, ala The Road, and other times spoken words were highlighted in the text with italics. I came away with the impression this was meant to be deep, but it looked sloppy more than anything, like someone who couldn’t decide how she wanted to write speech and just tried out everything. Likewise, the mix of first person and third person was just as jarring. This was obviously a stylistic choice, and a very poor one. There was also a mix of writing in past and present, which I am not as sure was intentional. If that was intentional it was a bad decision, if it was a mistake then even worse. I can understand if she had chosen to begin the book in past tense and finish in the present, and that would have been acceptable, but even after introducing the present tense she flopped back into the past at times.
Despite the glaring stylistic choices and poor editing, the book itself was intriguing and thought provoking. That the author has talent in writing is clear, but I believe the book would have been perfect with a better editor.
February 9, 2013
This book is really realistic in its portrayal of a love triangle which lasted for at least a few years. I was entranced by the opening chapters where Wai Keong described his childhood with David and how they related to each other - it was very real to me.
I can't help but dislike Li and yet sort of understand some part of her. David was a character I grew to dislike during the course of the book because of his psychopathic tendencies, not that he really is one. His outlook of life makes me uncomfortable and I felt that his marriage with Li was doomed to fail from the start. This whole book was difficult to read because it is emotionally exhausting and all the characters are flawed in a very realistic manner which floors me. I won't say I enjoyed every single part of the book or even half of it, but it taught me a few things and was enough to make me curious to carry on reading to find out the ending. The ending was just expected in the sense that I never had hope that there will be a happy ending - all of them were just stuck in a quicksand from the beginning anyway.
I can't help but dislike Li and yet sort of understand some part of her. David was a character I grew to dislike during the course of the book because of his psychopathic tendencies, not that he really is one. His outlook of life makes me uncomfortable and I felt that his marriage with Li was doomed to fail from the start. This whole book was difficult to read because it is emotionally exhausting and all the characters are flawed in a very realistic manner which floors me. I won't say I enjoyed every single part of the book or even half of it, but it taught me a few things and was enough to make me curious to carry on reading to find out the ending. The ending was just expected in the sense that I never had hope that there will be a happy ending - all of them were just stuck in a quicksand from the beginning anyway.
March 29, 2011
reviewed at :Mama Kucing Meow : Skimming by Claire Tham
Reviewed On : 8 February 2011
I find that in the first chapter about Wai Keong was rather boring. But things started to speed up when it comes to the part about Li and David.
The characters are well developed. Wai Keong is someone which I would love to knock some senses into for being so "soft" and boneless. Li seems to be a two timing slut which can't seems to make up her mind which I would love to "cekik". Last but not least, David the so call best friend who would go behind his best friend and steal his girl...haiz what can I say? It takes all type to make up a world
A very frustrating story.
Reviewed On : 8 February 2011
I find that in the first chapter about Wai Keong was rather boring. But things started to speed up when it comes to the part about Li and David.
The characters are well developed. Wai Keong is someone which I would love to knock some senses into for being so "soft" and boneless. Li seems to be a two timing slut which can't seems to make up her mind which I would love to "cekik". Last but not least, David the so call best friend who would go behind his best friend and steal his girl...haiz what can I say? It takes all type to make up a world
A very frustrating story.
August 2, 2013
An unusually insightful book into the psyche of ordinary people in everyday life situations. This book resonated excellently because of the references to (middle-class) Singaporean life, which made it refreshing to read and be able to relate to. A common plot, yet utterly believable, with thorough exploration of the characters' personality and thoughts through Tham's 'searing honesty'. Couldn't have read this at a better time and I am thankful to have picked it up.
August 6, 2016
Story of a love triangle set (yet again) in the world of upper middle-class Singapore.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews