Echoes

by Shu-Ling Chua

Genres: Nonfiction, Australia

Published January 1, 2020

Reviews

[Michael Livingston]

A short, smart essay collection on family, memory, language and cultural inheritance.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly special book. It defies categorisation, but blends poetry, memoir, cultural commentary and translation with a lush nostalgia and a contemporary sensibility. Shu-Ling Chua listens to the songs her grandmother loved - the old Shanghai torch songs of the 1940s - and finds their echoes in surprising places, including her own heart.

[joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can one physically, unknowingly inherit memories, knowledge, trauma, joy?

such a lovely little book!!!!! very warm, full of tender details and observations. i wanted to pace myself and maybe read one essay per sitting but the prose really drew me in / along.

this is a very personal essay collection so i will say that titular essay 'Echoes' is my favourite for very personal reasons; shu-ling chua mentions a number of songs which i searched on spotify as i went, and there's one by anita mui which chua lingers on and it sounds so familiar, evoking the very nostalgia and desire to explore a culture i was reading about. cantonese is strange to me because it does sound familiar but i can't speak or understand it, whilst my dad is from guangdong and so he speaks cantonese when he can but my parents speak mandarin to each other and to us. which is all to say that i don't know if i have actually heard this specific song before or i am imagining it but it sounds so familiar and i would not be surprised if it were on a cd that my dad used to play (a sensation i have felt once before listening to faye wong's 天与地). he has been working in china for a bit over a year now which makes the idea that he owned and listened to this song particularly poignant.

always wonderful to read something and feel as though it arrived at precisely the right time. wonderful collection overall, will also say it was startlingly nice to see both pinyin and chinese characters printed in text which to me exemplifies the thought and care which radiates from the pages. how good <3

[Maddie Godfrey]

"Perhaps we are seeking not glamour but what it signifies: confidence, poise, beauty, acceptance, power, access, love. To be appreciated is to be admired is to be adored"

[Sarah]

"She was," I laugh. "She used to be" (20).

There's something truly mesmirising about Shu-Ling Chua's words that leaves you hooked to this tiny lyrical essay. It's like being caught at the front of a washing machine, intoxicated by the motions and trying to understand and articulate the sensations of the clothing as it swirls.

Echoes is a careful and beautiful exploration of identity and connects the relationship of the speaker, Shu-Ling Chua, with family members and experiences of the past. It's easy to relate to, question your own past and how your ancestors have shaped you.

"Can one physically, unknowingly inherit memories, knowledge, trauma, joy?" (57).

I wish there had been more to this. I am desperate to keep getting lost in words. Regardless, I loved it. Section Three, To Fish For the Moon, was my favourite. I can't wait to read more of Shu-Ling Chua's work.

[Bonnie Huang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tender, pensive, and illuminating. This was pure comfort. Felt like echoes of my own experiences with identity, family + culture. I wanted to hang onto every word because i knew it was a short collection. Just like the vignettes, the reading experience has a lasting impact despite its brevity. I do wish there was a bit more - though I understand why the vignettes are presented like that. I like it’s scattered presentation with the photos and thoughts. Wong kar wai and mitski reference? Sign me up. Also the realisation of growing up, drinking more hot water, and liking it. Annotated in caps: SAME. Incredible .

[lou garciadolnik · Rating 5 out of 5]

The moment I began this book I knew I'd want to savour it... but I couldn't stop myself from devouring it in a day!!! These three beautiful lyric essays are like "the sound... of a mother's womb", they're soft, playful and improvisational; generous and entangled—I so badly want to stay in the cradle of this book! I miss it already. Thinking of so many ways to put Shu-Ling's opulence into words... Echoes' preface from Eileen Chang's 'Little Reunions' does it better than I ever could: "Julie loved her ancestors. They never interfered with her life; they just lay quietly entombed in her blood, and when she died they too would die again." <3

[Aline-Mwezi Niyonsenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

'This winter, I have taken to sipping just boiled water, straight from the kettle... I clasp the curved surface for warmth, holding on to small joys: a raft adrift, unanchored.'

I've quoted a very relatable moment above. (I read it and thought, "Same!" down to how it happened this last winter.) This thoughtful collection of essays reminded me of why I love reading what Shu-Ling Chua writes. The prose, the connections, and the sense of drifting on a body of water.

[Hermine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's so nice (and a little bewildering) to see parts of myself in literature.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such lyrical vignettes on finding personal identity through family, music, clothes, and visited places.

[And · Rating 5 out of 5]

can’t wait to read this again, fluid musings

[karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

a very nice and gentle morning read. Echoes makes me want to go further into identity literature. I will definitely be on the lookout for more of Shu-Ling Chua's work.

[Alli_aye · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of joy and music