Let Me Tell You Something About That Night

by Cyril Wong

Be warned. Mothers should not read these stories to their children, even though they might contain a lonely elf, a talking moon, a butterfly that wants to be a rabbit, or a boy who was born with a flower as an unfortunate appendage. Hovering within the realm of fables, myths and fairy tales, here are unlikely bedtime stories that are best read on a dark, stormy night, and at the risk of wounding the soul.

Genres: Short Stories, Queer, Fiction

140 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Cyril Wong is a two-time Singapore Literature Prize-winning poet and the recipient of the Singapore National Arts Council’s Young Artist Award for Literature. His books include poetry collections Tilting Our Plates to Catch the Light (2007) and The Lover’s Inventory (2015), novels The Last Lesson of Mrs de Souza (2013) and This Side of Heaven (2020), and fiction collection Ten Things My Father Never Taught Me (2014). He completed his doctoral degree in English Literature at the National University of Singapore in 2012. His works have been featured in the Norton anthology, Language for a New Century, in Chinese Erotic Poems by Everyman’s Library, and in magazines and journals around the world. His writings have been translated into Turkish, German, Italian, French, Portuguese and Japanese.

Reviews

[Marissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

So weird, so dark, so gay. All of my favourite things to find in a book.

[Ermy Rukmana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the short stories center and focus on homosexuality and there were many homo-erotic scenes. Also, many of these short stories have strange characters like monsters and fairies. Even though the characters may seem out of the ordinary, the plots and story lines are actually quite relevant to reality.

I appreciate that Wong didn’t make the “lesson" or “message" of the story so explicit and that the readers had to think a little deeper to draw parallels from the stories to real life. I appreciate that through this, the line between fiction and reality is blurred.

A very good read with really beautiful illustrations.

[Jason Lundberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gulped down this book over two days (the stories are all fairly short, and read quickly), and was quite taken with the fable-like style Wong has chosen to employ. It gives the stories a timeless quality, a deceptive simplicity that feels appropriate for children until the more subversive elements sneak up on you. Fans of Margo Lanagan's fiction would adore this book, and I think it could rightfully qualify as Young Adult in the US; American publishers should take note.

[Yaiza · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very gay and magical collection of stories. I liked the queerness of these stories a lot, but unfortunately didn't get along with the writing style in a lot of the tales. The author tries too hard to make a point, his metaphors becoming too obvious in the process, the stories turning into cliches. The dialogue is probably the worst part, reading extremely unnatural and forced, making the relationships between the characters seem inauthentic.

There were, however, a few stories I really liked. 'The Boy With The Flower That Grew Out Of His Ass' was definitely my favourite one, and it's one that is quite well-known in Singapore. It addresses homophobia in a creative way, with striking imagery and subtle dialogue and interactions. It was very well-crafted, and I could feel the fragility of the characters' relationships (and lives, even) emanating from the page.

I also really enjoyed 'The Elf & The Knight', although I didn't like that the author chose to bring back the same characters for a few more stories. It felt very random and disjointed, and I didn't get the point of having a mini series in the middle of a collection of otherwise single stories.

The collection definitely ends on a high note with the last two stories, 'The Cave' and 'The Old Man With The Golden Voice'. I really enjoyed both of those and thought they built strong characters and settings with very few words. I once again had some issues with the author trying to make the moral of the story too obvious (in 'The Cave' especially), but generally thought they were strong, memorable stories.

If you like the sound of this collection and want to give it a go, I would encourage you to pick it up and see for yourself how you feel about it. It's not perfect by any means, but it does have its merit.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super-short short fiction often leaves me cold; I’m not much for haiku either. Probably I’m inclined to be obstreperous about it for no other reason that bite-sized now seems to be the preferred length for everything; diminishment in attention span is a worldwide crisis when it comes to communication, journalism, fiction writing in general. The fiction particularly often reads to me like film treatments.

Think I’m being a drama queen? Try reading the first fifty pages of Dostoevsky’s Notes from The Underground. If memory serves, the sentences go on for pages and pages, but unlike the drugged-out stories I’d tell in my stoner youth, they never lose their thread. He packs perfect Chinese boxes with syntax, bracketing ideas inside each other to a central core, then coming right back out, completing every one. The failure when I was twenty and read it for the first time was mine; I thought I was a shit-hot speed reading freak scanning Umberto Eco over breakfast, and the Russians stopped me cold, in translation. Eco is pussy compared to any really great 19th Century novelist working their chops. Those guys and gals built complexity, characters whose minds were working on many levels. I mean, the modern world didn’t invent it, ya know?

So a three hundred word short story usually sucks, in my opinion. It’s the beginning of something, sure, but you work beyond first ideas, don’t you, as a writer? Apply some rigour? When I saw the brevity of most of the stories in this collection, I felt inclined to be snippy.

Cyril Wong suffers from this problem less than I’d anticipated, mostly because there’s a real variety of conclusions, of happenstance, in these small tales. Working with a fucked-up fairytale structure, he subjects his deftly but economically sketched characters to the random cruelties of existence, with an extra twist of the knife provided by the possibilities of supernatural interventions, unseen influences, and genderfuck. So, a queen discovers the love of her life after death, a child talks to the moon, a boy enters a cave that causes him to be reborn endlessly, joylessly.

But Wong also confounds the flinch he’s built in the response of the reader by NOT doing this in many of the stories. Perhaps what happens is infinitesimal, a tiny movement in a way of seeing, a new contentment. The dread is undercut with simplicity, or with the monumental. The book design is lovely too, kind of alchemical, secret drawings of arcane knowledge that support each tale in turn and have resonance when you turn back to look at them.

I was reminded of the stories told to the Shah in David Foster’s Sons of the Rumour, and also of his Land Where Stories End. There is the whiff of archetypes (yes, in the Jungian sense, sorry) about some of these tales – they are known to you before you read them. I didn’t find this a funny book at all, rather a deeply sad one – it paints an uncaring universe where those that find happiness must steer against a current of petty cruelties, violence and random bad luck. But some do. And meditating on the whole isn’t a bad thing either. Just ask Dostoevsky.

[Rebekah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Most of the stories i didn't like at all. I don't like the way Cyril Wong has written the book.. The stories are good but his style of writing is like he is writing for children and it is as if he has tried to make this book .. modern?? yes i think that is the right word to describe this book.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok group of short stories. But absolutely worth it for the short story that does a spin on the tale of The Hare and the Turtle. That short story was worth 5 stars. The short story with the title 'The Boy with a Flower in his Arse' deserves special mention for the title.

[Julie Koh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whimsical but dark and still dream-like, even funny at times, these "fairy tales" (with regard to "fairy", pun intended) are delightful, occasionally cartoony, and still moving, tender, even devastating at all the right times.

[Mirvan. Ereon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Will be reviewing this soon. I got my copy from Cyril Wong.

[Lohweiqi · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of my rare attempts at reading local lit -Singaporean fantasy-ish short stories that took some getting used (strangely explores alot on homosexuality) to but was quite interesting all the same

[Eunice Sng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bittersweet tales with mature themes of homosexuality and death

[wing ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me a while to finish this book because, well, you can just pick up wherever you left off hahaha but anyway it wasn't really my cup of tea. Short stories in general probably aren't my cup of tea and while the writing is simple and it was generally an easy read, I felt like I only appreciated the stories after reading the afterword/analysis at the end. Maybe I'm just dumb? HAHAHA I think at some points, the need to be condensed made the stories vague:"-) being concise is hard. aiya some were a hit and some were a miss. It's like that.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

short and succinct with some hard hitting points. loved it, finished it quickly

[WY · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a fairly solid collection of short stories - beyond a very few (maybe 2-3 at most) stories that I came away with little (or limited) impression, the others were all fairly memorable in different dimensions (characters, themes, or plot twists). If there were half stars allowed, I would have given something closer to a 4.5.

(Trying very hard not to give away spoilers here.)

Though the cover synopsis warns "mothers not to read these to their children", I think Wong's stories do deserve to be read to children (just maybe not too young). The themes surfaced by Wong are things that children and adults alike should be exposed to and should be thinking about - managing grief, confronting death, the value of being content and seeing beauty in the everyday, and most importantly, opening our eyes to look at the diversity of people around us. Not only in race, but also in socio-economic standing, in sexual orientation - and to see a slice of their lives represented through these stories. Personally, I also really liked that some of the stories were rooted in Singaporean settings - a breath of fresh air, indeed, vs. perhaps short stories from renowned writers but mainly from the Western world.

Life is not all rainbows and princesses being saved in the nick of time: life, as Wong presents, is strange, imperfect, painful at times, yet also magical in all the unique experiences it presents. Highly recommend this to anyone who is looking for a brief escape - let yourself be absorbed.

[mm · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book of prose by one of my favourite Singapore poets. Not at all a disappointment. Strange tales indeed. 'It is as if Wong pulls the rug from under us but leaves us still standing, albeit transported by his magic carpet ride to a new vantage point and offered a different perspective.' K K Seet in his Afterword to the collection

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Strange tales indeed.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprising, uneven collection but one you shouldn't pass up!