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The Howling Silence: Tales of the Dead and Their Return
The living and the dead - there is something that binds them. For the living are endlessly fascinated by tales of the dead, whether they are about an ancestor whose ghost reputedly haunts an old ancestral house, or an airline pilot whose ghost is forever condemned to roam the earth with that of his mistress for an unspeakably cruel suicide pact that plunges a hundred others to their deaths. The dead too appear to be fascinated by the living. They want to come back to reassure, console, seek revenge, seek forgiveness or simply to connect across an immense gulf of darkness and mystery. Death may bring silence but it is a howling silence with the urgent needs, hopes, desires and torments on both sides.
- GenresFiction
127 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1999
2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Lim
51 books79 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
林宝音 in Chinese
Catherine Lim Poh Imm (Chinese: 林宝音; pinyin: Lín Bǎoyīn, born 21 March 1942) is a Singaporean fiction author known for writing about Singapore society and of themes of traditional Chinese culture. Hailed as the "doyenne of Singapore writers", Lim has published nine collections of short stories, five novels, two poetry collections, and numerous political commentaries to date.
(from Wikipedia)
林宝音 in Chinese
Catherine Lim Poh Imm (Chinese: 林宝音; pinyin: Lín Bǎoyīn, born 21 March 1942) is a Singaporean fiction author known for writing about Singapore society and of themes of traditional Chinese culture. Hailed as the "doyenne of Singapore writers", Lim has published nine collections of short stories, five novels, two poetry collections, and numerous political commentaries to date.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 27, 2018
I've heard about Catherine Lim since my secondary school days but this is the first time that I've actually read any of her books. Lately, I've been on a roll, reading horror books. I must say, this book is far from the typical horror that we know of. Written in well-thought-out prose, the short stories deal with things we cannot explain but not of the downright gory horror or boogeyman type of stories. Sophisticated yet simple enough to make you think, I finished this book in one sitting. Yes, it's a thin book! For those who prefer a more nuanced supernatural tales, pick this book up!
December 30, 2024
Some thoughts/observations on these stories:
Great-grandfather with Teeth - A young man visits an old, abandoned family house in hopes of seeing the ghost of his great-grandfather, who once superstitiously plucked out all his own teeth to ensure the man’s safety. 🦷
In Lieu of a Dream - A woman whose fiancé dies in an airplane crash reaches out to her in the afterlife not via a dream, but through something more special. 💍
Song of Mina - The ghost of a prostitute returns every year on the anniversary of her death to the brothel at which she was murdered in an attempt to seek revenge. 🔪
Temple of the Little Ghosts - A woman who underwent an abortion previously visits a temple enshrined for the souls of aborted babies to assuage her guilt. 🧎🏻♀️➡️
The Colour of Solace - A woman realises her respectable husband’s affair at his funeral, igniting her ire to taunt him with her slinky and sexy red dress which he complained about when he was alive. 💃🏻
Adonis - A woman visits a medium to seek forgiveness from her handsome close friend who died young. 🙏
The Gift - The protagonist in this story wishes to be like his friend, who has the ‘third eye’ and can see the supernatural. 👁️
Tribute - A wealthy owner of a chain of eating houses spends an exorbitant amount of money to create the biggest and most luxurious ghost-house for his dead mother as a tribute. 🏠
Alien - An Indian PR living in Singapore sends off three little Chinese ghosts haunting his flat with the help of his Chinese friend and temple mediums. 🧑🧒🧒
Gentle into the Night - A poignant story of a soldier who died in an NS freak accident visiting his grandmother (who doesn’t know he is dead) on her deathbed. 🪖
The Ghost of Miss Daisy Ooi Mei Lang - Miss Daisy Ooi Mei Lang is a school principal who now, as a ghost, roams the premises of the secondary school she worked at. 🏫
The Seventh Day - On the seventh day after the death of an uncle, the protagonist visits the room prepared for the uncle’s return. 🛏️
Elemental - Lovers who die in suicide pacts fascinate the protagonist, who realises the elemental nature of these suicides—how they involve fire, earth, water, and air. 💔
The Child - A mother helps her dead daughter with a ghost marriage and receives a ghost-child thereafter, whom neighbours avoid but then ironically flock to when they know about the luck she can bestow. 👰🏻
Catherine Lim’s The Howling Silence is a pleasure to read, especially for a horror lover like me! This collection of stories leans more towards the supernatural compared to the other three collections of Lim’s I’ve read recently—Little Ironies; Or Else, The Lightning God; and They Do Return… But Gently Lead Them Back. 😬
I particularly like how the stories here are more contemporary than those in the other three books, likely because this book was published later. Additionally, Lim’s prowess in depicting local culture and attitudes remain a highlight here. Whenever I miss Singapore and thirst for nostalgic local stories, I know who to turn to: Catherine Lim! 🇸🇬
4.5/5
Great-grandfather with Teeth - A young man visits an old, abandoned family house in hopes of seeing the ghost of his great-grandfather, who once superstitiously plucked out all his own teeth to ensure the man’s safety. 🦷
In Lieu of a Dream - A woman whose fiancé dies in an airplane crash reaches out to her in the afterlife not via a dream, but through something more special. 💍
Song of Mina - The ghost of a prostitute returns every year on the anniversary of her death to the brothel at which she was murdered in an attempt to seek revenge. 🔪
Temple of the Little Ghosts - A woman who underwent an abortion previously visits a temple enshrined for the souls of aborted babies to assuage her guilt. 🧎🏻♀️➡️
The Colour of Solace - A woman realises her respectable husband’s affair at his funeral, igniting her ire to taunt him with her slinky and sexy red dress which he complained about when he was alive. 💃🏻
Adonis - A woman visits a medium to seek forgiveness from her handsome close friend who died young. 🙏
The Gift - The protagonist in this story wishes to be like his friend, who has the ‘third eye’ and can see the supernatural. 👁️
Tribute - A wealthy owner of a chain of eating houses spends an exorbitant amount of money to create the biggest and most luxurious ghost-house for his dead mother as a tribute. 🏠
Alien - An Indian PR living in Singapore sends off three little Chinese ghosts haunting his flat with the help of his Chinese friend and temple mediums. 🧑🧒🧒
Gentle into the Night - A poignant story of a soldier who died in an NS freak accident visiting his grandmother (who doesn’t know he is dead) on her deathbed. 🪖
The Ghost of Miss Daisy Ooi Mei Lang - Miss Daisy Ooi Mei Lang is a school principal who now, as a ghost, roams the premises of the secondary school she worked at. 🏫
The Seventh Day - On the seventh day after the death of an uncle, the protagonist visits the room prepared for the uncle’s return. 🛏️
Elemental - Lovers who die in suicide pacts fascinate the protagonist, who realises the elemental nature of these suicides—how they involve fire, earth, water, and air. 💔
The Child - A mother helps her dead daughter with a ghost marriage and receives a ghost-child thereafter, whom neighbours avoid but then ironically flock to when they know about the luck she can bestow. 👰🏻
Catherine Lim’s The Howling Silence is a pleasure to read, especially for a horror lover like me! This collection of stories leans more towards the supernatural compared to the other three collections of Lim’s I’ve read recently—Little Ironies; Or Else, The Lightning God; and They Do Return… But Gently Lead Them Back. 😬
I particularly like how the stories here are more contemporary than those in the other three books, likely because this book was published later. Additionally, Lim’s prowess in depicting local culture and attitudes remain a highlight here. Whenever I miss Singapore and thirst for nostalgic local stories, I know who to turn to: Catherine Lim! 🇸🇬
4.5/5
October 25, 2021
Catherine Lim is one of Singapore's greatest writers. I've wanted to read her books for a while. When I discovered that she has written a collection of ghost stories, I thought it would be a perfect read for this Halloween week.
'The Howling Silence' is a collection of 14 ghost stories. The stories aren't the scary type in which the ghosts come and scare people (and the reader). Many of the stories are suggestive, which is the best kind of ghost story. In some of the stories, it looks like the ghost has made an appearance. There is one story in which a woman is grieving and it appears that she gets a gift from the netherworld from her beloved. It was one of my favourite stories in the book. In another story, a woman keeps in touch with her dead daughter, while her dead daughter is growing up in her own world. And at one point, the two parallel worlds interact (or it looks like they do) in a surprising way with some interesting consequences. That story made me smile, because it looked like a story straight out of Pu Songling's strange tales collection, because that has many stories in which the two worlds interact with surprising consequences. In another story, there is an Indian-Singaporean whose apartment is haunted by three Chinese ghosts, and he tries to figure out how to placate them. One of my favourite stories was that of a dead principal who haunts her school and tries to continue her work like she is still alive.
One of the things I loved about the book was that the stories were realistic. This is the kind of ghost story and haunted story that people will talk about during family gatherings, about haunted houses encountered during their childhood and the ghost of the young woman in their street who couldn't marry her beloved. Singaporeans seem to have a strong belief in ghosts and haunted houses and many of the stories touch on that.
I loved 'The Howling Silence'. If you want to read a book of ghost stories where the stories look real, and are written in a literary style, you'll like this book.
Have you read 'The Howling Silence' or other books by Catherine Lim?
'The Howling Silence' is a collection of 14 ghost stories. The stories aren't the scary type in which the ghosts come and scare people (and the reader). Many of the stories are suggestive, which is the best kind of ghost story. In some of the stories, it looks like the ghost has made an appearance. There is one story in which a woman is grieving and it appears that she gets a gift from the netherworld from her beloved. It was one of my favourite stories in the book. In another story, a woman keeps in touch with her dead daughter, while her dead daughter is growing up in her own world. And at one point, the two parallel worlds interact (or it looks like they do) in a surprising way with some interesting consequences. That story made me smile, because it looked like a story straight out of Pu Songling's strange tales collection, because that has many stories in which the two worlds interact with surprising consequences. In another story, there is an Indian-Singaporean whose apartment is haunted by three Chinese ghosts, and he tries to figure out how to placate them. One of my favourite stories was that of a dead principal who haunts her school and tries to continue her work like she is still alive.
One of the things I loved about the book was that the stories were realistic. This is the kind of ghost story and haunted story that people will talk about during family gatherings, about haunted houses encountered during their childhood and the ghost of the young woman in their street who couldn't marry her beloved. Singaporeans seem to have a strong belief in ghosts and haunted houses and many of the stories touch on that.
I loved 'The Howling Silence'. If you want to read a book of ghost stories where the stories look real, and are written in a literary style, you'll like this book.
Have you read 'The Howling Silence' or other books by Catherine Lim?
December 20, 2020
A nice read, I wouldn't pick it up if it didn't jump on me from the library shelf on the day of Halloween. I'm glad it did, it gave me an idea what I could do after I die. My plan is to make pranks on people on the trail where I usually go rollerblading. It's a nice trail by the water.
October 29, 2024
Well-written, smooth and easy read which can be finished in far less than a day. Stories are well-paced, setting the context in an approachable manner. A fascinating exposition on the superstitions which surround life in Singapore, the near-obsession with ghosts and ghost stories.
July 21, 2020
Fourteen ghastly tales
Supernatural stories
Keeps you at the edge
Supernatural stories
Keeps you at the edge
March 8, 2022
Easy read
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews