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Every Moving Thing That Lives Shall Be Food
A Singapore emigrant muses about the HDB heartlands and her adopted British lifestyle. An undergrad gets culture shock travelling abroad to Canada for the first time. A vegetarian Western tourist finds a meatier version of Asia in a massage palour. A desperate male sniffs around a lone cougar. An expat wife seeks solace in a Kundera-quoting freelance artist. And a workaholic widower gets enlightened in his last days.
Grace Chia's Every Moving Thing That Lives Shall Be Food is a smorgasbord of short stories that tells of individuals whose appetite for a spicier taste of life is driven by hunger, human folly and unhealthy cravings.
Grace Chia's Every Moving Thing That Lives Shall Be Food is a smorgasbord of short stories that tells of individuals whose appetite for a spicier taste of life is driven by hunger, human folly and unhealthy cravings.
272 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 26, 2018
The title of this book, Every Moving Thing That Lives Shall Be Food, borrows itself from the Old Testament, and perhaps perfectly so. Its short stories portray the grit, raunch and reddened knuckles of each of its stories. As for the quote itself, its explicit imagery of predator and prey fits perfectly with the central theme of Grace Chia’s take on the thrilling ecosystem of human lives.
“I’m interested in the idea of consumption … in the form of desire, love, companionship and more. The idea that even human beings crave for each other … you actually want to consume them, which is also why sometimes love can be suffocating and draining. You can lose your identity in love when someone has trapped you so much and has taken everything out of you. ”
- Grace Chia, in an interview with BooksActually
Grace Chia captures snapshots of Singaporean life, effectively dissecting them and revealing intricate human connections, as fragile and precious as they may be. Her careful depictions recreate power structures and the almost vampiric nature of human relationships from a distance, at once immersing the reader and then pulling them out to take a breath to observe these stories as they unfurl.
Her poetic, lyrical writing style is demonstrated throughout the book, with passages that leave the reader in awe of how she manages to encapsulate her ideas through such evocative yet simple images. Her writing never bores and the reader is constantly left contemplating the symbolism behind such passages. One can only admire how beautifully she writes. I was infinitely glad to have read this book, because it was not only an eye-opener, but it is a perfect embodiment of local literature: it captured my life as a Singaporean in such vivid and accurate detail that I was left hungering for more - so much more. Complex, delicate, fiercely passionate and gentle at once, Every Moving Thing That Lives Shall Be Food is a glimpse into modern-day, multicultural Singapore where postcolonialism still colors the interactions between East and West, a peek into the culture and lifestyle of a people perhaps far-flung from you, but no less worth reading about nonetheless.
Disclaimer: This review was originally written by me for Raffles Press
“I’m interested in the idea of consumption … in the form of desire, love, companionship and more. The idea that even human beings crave for each other … you actually want to consume them, which is also why sometimes love can be suffocating and draining. You can lose your identity in love when someone has trapped you so much and has taken everything out of you. ”
- Grace Chia, in an interview with BooksActually
Grace Chia captures snapshots of Singaporean life, effectively dissecting them and revealing intricate human connections, as fragile and precious as they may be. Her careful depictions recreate power structures and the almost vampiric nature of human relationships from a distance, at once immersing the reader and then pulling them out to take a breath to observe these stories as they unfurl.
Her poetic, lyrical writing style is demonstrated throughout the book, with passages that leave the reader in awe of how she manages to encapsulate her ideas through such evocative yet simple images. Her writing never bores and the reader is constantly left contemplating the symbolism behind such passages. One can only admire how beautifully she writes. I was infinitely glad to have read this book, because it was not only an eye-opener, but it is a perfect embodiment of local literature: it captured my life as a Singaporean in such vivid and accurate detail that I was left hungering for more - so much more. Complex, delicate, fiercely passionate and gentle at once, Every Moving Thing That Lives Shall Be Food is a glimpse into modern-day, multicultural Singapore where postcolonialism still colors the interactions between East and West, a peek into the culture and lifestyle of a people perhaps far-flung from you, but no less worth reading about nonetheless.
Does it boil down to this? The stayers versus the leavers? The fighters versus the quitters? The patriots versus the exiles?
Is it a testament of the largeness of one’s love to the nation which option one chooses?
If you leave home, does it mean you love home less?
Disclaimer: This review was originally written by me for Raffles Press
March 29, 2017
An earnest exploration of the interior lives of Singapore Gen Xers. Through her youthful and often cynical female characters, Chia expresses the confusion and angst of being Singaporean in a multicultural, transglobal world where postcolonialism still colours interactions between East and West. The two most entertaining stories were "The Cuckoo Conundrum", which looks at how Singaporeans both desire and fear life beyond the Lion City, and "The Dying of Abel" one of the few stories from a male perspective, which paints a somewhat uncomfortable picture of Singaporean masculinity. An energetic and emotionally colourful collection that reveals a thing or two about about how Singapore sees herself in relation to the rest of the world.
April 27, 2020
How is it possible for each story to be unique and at the same time so similar? Maybe if I had read the stories separately over a longer course of time, they wouldn't have seemed to blend together.
October 24, 2021
“All that we are, is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thoughts, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him” — Gold Water, the chapter i enjoyed the most in this book. #SGLitFTW books’ another worthy of read. Each story depicts the realism of human nature, of human behaviour.. of relationships. The way the stories were told is so verisimilitude. The author delineate each character very relatable… as if it is your own friend, your own family, your husband, wife, or yourself. I am the reader, but i felt their pain as much as it is depicted in every story. The author’s words, transcends so much warmth, that it stretched through my heart.
October 24, 2018
Amazing the inspiration of the stories with the food both in a subtle and intense way. You feel the smells, the tastiness, you can identify with the characters through this universal act of eat and drink.
A fusion of occidental and Asian characters, feelings and culture with the common point that they are all humans that eat drink love and live.
A fusion of occidental and Asian characters, feelings and culture with the common point that they are all humans that eat drink love and live.
July 16, 2020
Bought this at Books Actually in Singapore during a visit. The author writes with such colorful wit and explores themes of love and affection as it relates to locals and expatriates alike. Enjoyable read!
July 27, 2020
This anthology covers stories that ranged from being centred around love, relationships, family, desire, coming-of-age, studying perspectives on lifestyles and personal philosophy - all from a Singaporean lens.
The writing is beautiful - very descriptive and vivid. I enjoyed the range of story types and themes. There were a few hits (and they felt like big hits!) and few misses that were enough to sadly drag my overall view of the entire book down significantly.
The stories that stood out particularly were Gold Water and Galaxies . I feel almost like those two stories alone carry the book for me. After this would be The Dying of Abel and Old Man Young. In the good stories, the important aspects were the beautiful prose, the engaging, well-developed characters (for a short story!), and that reading it felt like a message was being sent across. The story was trying to, and succeeded, in saying something. The exception to the last criteria would be for Galaxies - I had absolutely no idea what was trying to be said but it was a thoroughly entertaining read.
I loved Gold Water - how you see the coming of two different people with different personal philosophies in the backdrop of Taiwan, reminding me of the feeling of having friends that have beautifully foreign perspectives and principles that I dwell so much on in my head but barely half of my thoughts actually make it out loud in conversation with them. There were beautiful conversations and thoughts in this story. Old Man Young was another one that was beautifully written. I have some qualms about the way the employer/foreign domestic worker dynamic was described, supposedly a typical one in Singapore, but I'd leave that one out of this review.
Galaxies was just written magic in my eyes - it was so 'out there' and strange, in a way that I felt disconnected and did not understand these characters, but I was riveted. Super kooky story and very entertaining writing!
The other stories honestly fell flat - I was bored, nothing felt realistic, writing felt like it was trying too hard, some descriptions felt vulgar and TMI, and most importantly, I personally did not see any message from it. I was left with no reflections, no newfound ideas, nothing. It was particularly difficult to get through these because it felt like had the book excluded them (and it was about half the book), it would've felt complete and high quality. These were The Scents of Sweat, I Think I'm Alone Now, The Boy Who Couldn't Wait and Bait - these were particularly bad in my opinion. The rest of the unmentioned stories were somewhere between good and okay.
Overall I'd recommend it to anyone who firstly is Singaporean and needs their dose of local literature or someone who isn't and wants an different/interesting perspective on familiar themes, plus enjoys descriptive, vivid writing, but not someone who necessarily requires very deep and interesting characters - I think it's possible to create that in a short story (some of these stories do have this) but many of the others don't, and the stories are a bit strange and pointless in my opinion.
The writing is beautiful - very descriptive and vivid. I enjoyed the range of story types and themes. There were a few hits (and they felt like big hits!) and few misses that were enough to sadly drag my overall view of the entire book down significantly.
The stories that stood out particularly were Gold Water and Galaxies . I feel almost like those two stories alone carry the book for me. After this would be The Dying of Abel and Old Man Young. In the good stories, the important aspects were the beautiful prose, the engaging, well-developed characters (for a short story!), and that reading it felt like a message was being sent across. The story was trying to, and succeeded, in saying something. The exception to the last criteria would be for Galaxies - I had absolutely no idea what was trying to be said but it was a thoroughly entertaining read.
I loved Gold Water - how you see the coming of two different people with different personal philosophies in the backdrop of Taiwan, reminding me of the feeling of having friends that have beautifully foreign perspectives and principles that I dwell so much on in my head but barely half of my thoughts actually make it out loud in conversation with them. There were beautiful conversations and thoughts in this story. Old Man Young was another one that was beautifully written. I have some qualms about the way the employer/foreign domestic worker dynamic was described, supposedly a typical one in Singapore, but I'd leave that one out of this review.
Galaxies was just written magic in my eyes - it was so 'out there' and strange, in a way that I felt disconnected and did not understand these characters, but I was riveted. Super kooky story and very entertaining writing!
The other stories honestly fell flat - I was bored, nothing felt realistic, writing felt like it was trying too hard, some descriptions felt vulgar and TMI, and most importantly, I personally did not see any message from it. I was left with no reflections, no newfound ideas, nothing. It was particularly difficult to get through these because it felt like had the book excluded them (and it was about half the book), it would've felt complete and high quality. These were The Scents of Sweat, I Think I'm Alone Now, The Boy Who Couldn't Wait and Bait - these were particularly bad in my opinion. The rest of the unmentioned stories were somewhere between good and okay.
Overall I'd recommend it to anyone who firstly is Singaporean and needs their dose of local literature or someone who isn't and wants an different/interesting perspective on familiar themes, plus enjoys descriptive, vivid writing, but not someone who necessarily requires very deep and interesting characters - I think it's possible to create that in a short story (some of these stories do have this) but many of the others don't, and the stories are a bit strange and pointless in my opinion.
May 3, 2025
Great collection of unique short stories.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews