Lovelier, Lonelier

by Daryl Qilin Yam

Finalist for the 2021 Epigram Books Fiction Prize

Comet Hyakutake, the Great Comet of 1996, passes closer to the Earth than any other comet in 200 years, while inexplicable and magical incidents occur across Kyoto that result in the disappearances of multiple people. For a journalist, an actor, a gallerist and a ryokan manager, these events will reverberate for the next two decades in Singapore and Japan, and change their lives forever.

Genres: Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Novels

466 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 24, 2022

About the author

Daryl Qilin Yam (b. 1991) is a writer, editor and arts organiser from Singapore. Shortlisted for the Singapore Literature Prize and nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award, he is the author of two novels, a novella and the bestselling short story collection Be Your Own Bae (2024). He co-founded the literary charity Sing Lit Station, where he presently serves as the managing editor of its publishing arm AFTERIMAGE.

His writing has appeared in periodicals and publications such as the Berlin Quarterly, the Sewanee Review, The Straits Times and The Epigram Books Collection of Best New Singapore Short Stories anthology series. His first novel, Kappa Quartet (2016), was selected by The Business Times as one of the best novels of the year, and was described by QLRS as “[breaking] new ground in Singaporean writing… an immensely sympathetic and humane exploration of our existential condition.”

Reviews

[Shelbye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Man. I got this book along with 'Shantih Shantih Shantih' (part of a bundle) and I feel completely rearranged by both books – but in different ways? (Maybe they shouldn't have been released together – can't help but think readers will just compare the two...)

Aside from it being so damn beautifully written (the number of sentences that made me gasp! the scene where Isaac describes Jing's footsteps as being filled with light along the beach! daniel's sentiment that something beautiful can arise from something tragic!), this novel to me was a treatise about Singapore culture (Mediacorp, The Substation, fictional Cultural Medallion winners), friendship, time (a doozy), knowledge (foresight, self-acceptance, reckoning, etc). By the end, I had to put the book down and walk around for a bit.

[WQ Tay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hi there. I don’t like Goodreads, but I’m here anyway to talk about this book. (If you know who I am pls don’t disturb me here lol.) I was already halfway done with it, dreamily coasting along its pages over the New Year period. But I was compelled to finish it furiously after coming across what I thought was a misguided ST review. Now that I am done, I’m glad to confirm that the review was indeed misguided.

First things first: I just like books. I don’t feel the need to shout it from the rooftops, which is why I don’t bookstagram, which also has a way of replicating its own groupthink. You know it’s true!! So don’t shoot me. Second thing I’d like to state up front is that I am a Daryl Qilin Yam stan. Now you can shoot me twice? Haha. Third thing is it really sucks to see a writer who is so clearly different from the rest of the pack become diminished for his very difference. That sucks.

In any case, I don’t want this review to be a detailed refutation of that ST review — but I must must must mention that all of the things the reviewer found confusing about Lovelier, Lonelier were all the things that I loved about it. “Unmoored”? That’s life, honey! "Unknowable”? That is also life pls. And that’s the whole project of this book. By the end of the novel, it’s clear as day that LL is about illusions, yes, but also distractions: the things that we foolishly allow ourselves to be bamboozled by when we’re unable + devastatingly unwilling to deal with the reality of the present.

This is a pattern that all of the characters attempt to overcome, to various degrees of success: Mateo and his struggle to love Daniel and mourn Tori (and hold his friends accountable); Isaac and his struggle(s) to adapt to a reality he literally doesn’t belong in, as a result of him wishing to leave his actual reality; Jing and her inability to mourn her mother, morphing into a very very long affair, which unfortunately doesn’t give her the meaning / answers / escape she thought she was looking for; and Tori, whose fate I think the universe knew it could exploit. Girl! But the main thread is Jing and Isaac’s marriage, and how they struggle to love each other in a way that finally finally feels genuine / authentic / responsible. The ups and downs of that rs were rightfully frustrating but also fun and freaking honest. Just as fun is also all the science fiction bits, which also sketch how people can progress so far, only to be done in yet again by their refusal to address their obvious problems.

But the key to a DQY book isn’t about trying to solve the universe. Pls. It is about trying to figure it out, a process that DQY renders magnificently with every sentence. Some of his best sentences come in entire passages, which would be too wordy to quote in this review. But they are very very shiok. I do think his best moments arrive in the form of sentences that allow his characters to slip through memory and recall past versions of themselves in their present moments, which Isaac has plenty of. One example that gave me straight up chills was when Isaac saw a live telecast of the Nicoll Highway incident that became a triggering reminder for the Great Hanshin Earthquake:

“He remembered imagining, wishing, for Singapore to experience something like that too. And as he thought about this he stared at his co-star, the actress Sherry Wong, convinced somehow that the collapse of the Nicoll Highway had been an incident of his own making—that what he had wished for in the past had fired like a bullet, one that he had shot into the air and was careening, finally, back down towards the earth after a span of eight years. And as he looked at what it had cost, at the destruction he has caused, just by wishing for something like this as a young man, he became deathly afraid of himself, of what he was capable of, and deathly afraid too of losing everything he had as a consequence of his actions.”

What!!!! Epic!!

okay i’m done. i hope whoever is reading this enjoyed this book as much as i did. if u hate it PLS just SHADDUP cos it's frankly queerphobic. yep I said it. and daryl, if you’re ever reading this (i’m shy): gambatte!! Let’s meet at the hotpot restaurant with the white t-shirt. Can't wait till you bring me back there next time.

[nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

READING VLOG

The comet has an aim, creating one conscious streak of light to divide a sky. Which side of the sky do you stand under? Is the moon different in your eyes? From mine? Do you live by time? Or space?

I'm experiencing something other. I'm othered. I'm trying to find my place here and there. Here or there. I can't decide which side I'm on, which side is better, easier. I'm making this hard for myself.

The experience of this is cold. Not like Kubrick's 2001, but Tarkovsky's Solaris. There's still a humanity wrought with much memory in the way this slowburn read covers years, years, and many lives. Dreamlike moments that take patience to decipher pages after. You are given puzzle pieces, not all at once, but at moments that feel like sun flares, glimmers of hope, openings, that become pockets of opportunity to solve the mysteries at hand.

Talking monkeys. Women gone missing. A space opera. Daryl's sophomoric novel is ambitious, maybe too ambitious. In its genre-bending Murakami knock-off plotlines, Daryl leaves us little ground to situate ourselves in the narrative. Time jumps, confusions to who is speaking, where in the timeline we're in. They are there to disorient us, to put us on the fence about who and where we need to go along with the lost characters. This works, but when it goes on for 400 pages, you feel as distant as a star by the end. By the end you feel empty. By the end you are lost. By the end you are nothing but dust and distant and matter no more. This works if you feel connected to the characters, but they merely act as caricatures or drafts. They are something becoming unable to become, meant to be trapped in the unwriting before they are supposed to be written.

Also, there seems to be issues with narrative as well. The voices of the four characters feel so unsure of who they are as they begin as cardboard voices without personality. They speak in ways that make you feel like deep sleep, but lend nothing to the characters, Mateo being the exception. It's only until the middle of the book does Daryl seem to understand how his characters should speak to one another. The beginning seems to be scattered with meaningless dialogue that adds little value to the text at hand.

By the cap at 400 pages, the book ends with a self-awareness in 3rd person omniscence that cheapens the book, makes it feel rushed, makes it feel like it could've ended 100 pages sooner (which could've been edited down if Daryl wasn't so concerned with his own travel-writing that inserted itself in places where character development could've taken effect). Heck, it takes 200 pages for a deus ex machina (Deepika) to ground us a bit, let us understand what the book is about, which, in the end, feels more like a tool than anything else.

Too ambitious for its own good. Truly beguiling.

[Karen O]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway. I’m grateful to the publisher, but, unfortunately, this book is not for me. DNF

[Delphine · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every star is a sun has an Earth has a person”
▪︎
“And while the cosmos was mappable, no matter how vast it actually was, the same could not be said of the heart. And the same, surely, could not be said of the soul. How far could the soul go… before it was finally out of reach? Before it could be free from the hurt, the suffering, and the knowledge that love, even love, was finite?”
▪︎
“(He) had hoped that married life would represent a kind of horizontal slate, a prevailing, unchanging state of affairs, when truthfully it felt more like a cycle, a pendulum that swung between fulfillment on one end… while a sheer and cold ambivalence lay squarely on the other.”
▪︎
“I could see that it was possible to be loved, and to be surrounded by love in a way we know we do not deserve. If you are big enough of a monster, you just know. And if you are good enough of a person, you will not settle for simply knowing the fact. You will also walk away.”
▪︎
‘Lovelier, Lonelier’ by Daryl Qilin Yam was a sweeping and surreal read that gave me Murakami and Wong Kar Wai vibes (specifically that of 2046, where you have a story within a story and timelines intercept and overlap). It took me months to get through (not because I didn't like it, in fact I liked it very much) because I had so many questions while reading. When it ended, I was left feeling strangely bereft but hopeful. I look forward to reading more stories by Daryl.

[Apollos Michio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovelier, Lonelier is a strange and trance-like book that presents the lives of four friends who meet in Kyoto and their multiple entanglements proceeding the passing of Comet Hyakutake in 1996. 💫

With non-linear narratives that arc in trajectories unlike that of the comet, this book embraces the uncertainties of life’s unknowns, providing no easy answers despite a constant questioning and contemplation of what happened and what went wrong between them.

Personally, I would have liked the novel to be further compacted and less sprawling in all its possibilities, although it dawned on me that such is like life, a confluence of characters and stories with no distinct starts and ends. You go through it, and ascribe as much meaning to it as personally possible.

Rating: 3.5/5

[Leafartt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75. wow. i m so impressed. i honestly didnt think singlit cud be THIS good.(what an idiotic statement amirite) m now a daryl yam stan 😭

[Sometimes IRead · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of those books which made me sit back and breathe out really slowly before going wow when I’d finished it. There was a sense of emotional fullness which is quite a feat considering how many open endings it left behind.

Lovelier, Lonelier by Daryl Qilin Yam loosely follows a group of friends after their trip to Japan in the 90s. Elements of magical realism and space opera quickly enter the mix and it was breathtaking. There are talking monkeys, immortal aliens, and alternate universes. It was trippy to say the least.

The one thing I grappled with was the jumping timeline. Although Yam indicates quite clearly which year we are inhabiting, it wasn’t the easiest to follow to me. This was especially so when Jing was listening to the story of the Horvallan and the narrative cuts rapidly between the story and the present Jing was in. It definitely took a bit of effort to orientate myself.

Still, the story of the Horvallan was one of my favourite parts of the book. There’s just something tragic about an immortal forced to live on while everything around him dies. Yet, it still throws up more questions than answers, but Yam leaves these open ended, choosing instead to focus on the characters’ selves. Each of the group are beings unmoored, searching for answers as to how to navigate the maze that is life. I think it is precisely because of this focus that I wasn’t particularly upset about the openness of the ending. It doesn’t really matter what choices the characters make. They have undertaken their journey and have come to peace with who they are and what they want. If anything, they are ready for whatever craziness life throws at them.

Diversity meter:
Asian characters

[Jen Han · Rating 3 out of 5]

had high hopes fr this cuz of the rating. but found myself struggling to get through even the first half because of the constantly changing narratives (between the four main characters and oscillating between past an present) rendering it next to impossible to make sense of. gave up on the book about 2/3 of my way in as I was simply not invested enough after being completely bamboozled by the incoherent plotlines.

however! there are redeeming factors. the sheer complexity and confusion do add to the overall atmosphere of mystique. the story, which begins with an innocuously normal congregation of friends in Tokyo rapidly transitions into an otherworldly & unfathomable adventure where the main cast find themselves treading the line between alternate? realities, even seeing themselves projected into a separate millennia. the appearance of animal-like beings (a fish-head conductor) & the plot's centering around an anomaly known as Comet Hyutakke does bring to mind a weathering with you likeness. Daryl's decision to use Japan as the backdrop for the paranormal sequence of events that unfold before the MCs is certainly wise, given it's peoples's deep & continued reverence for the spiritual world even today.

overall, the book is enjoyable as an aesthetic piece. however, the sheer amount of mental effort required to properly process & invest oneself in the plot is to me, not worth the reward. one would find themselves having to pause mid-chapter in order to recap and string the pieces together. personally, I like my books relaxing and accessible, allowing me time to ponder on themes raised, rather than mentally exerting.

[Shelved by Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

as usual dqy writes with this sense of dreaminess, transporting you to an ethereal realm. there is a tinge of murakami-esque elements in his writing, with the whimsicality intertwined with some fantasy elements which has always been a consistent since kappa quartet. i’ve enjoyed both kappa quartet as well as shantih shantih, but to be honest this book was a difficult read. i do love the switching of narratives and openness of his writing, leaving you with several interpretations and understanding but this book does seem too vague as if it was deliberate on dqy’s part to ground himself and be concise with his writing. to me only when you reach the ending portion is when all his main characters are given sudden yet abrupt endings that don’t exactly explain the situation or give the readers any understanding of how any of the conflict has been resolved. who is the person jing was entangled with in her affair? what is the horvallian truly referring to and who is truly the main character in that book? what happened to jing and her estranged relationship with her mother? where did tori go? do jing and yong-he never return back to singapore? im left with many questions, unsatisfied, and personally after reading many other reviews, i feel many of us share the same sentiment that this book took way longer than it needed to convey certain ideas and that a good chunk or beginning of the book feels redundant and does not necessarily add to the story. i really wanted to love this book but it didn’t seem to impact me the same way his other titles have.

[Gillian Lim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a dreamy read—throughout the novel, I resisted the urge to pinch myself to figure out whether I was awake or dreaming—and I felt like I was lounging on a pool float that was left to drift endlessly in a water park's lazy river. The plot itself is a sprawling, glorious mess, flitting between different time periods, parallel universes and vague character references. Best read with a glass (or bottle) of wine in hand, me thinks, to thoroughly enjoy the dizzying experience. I loved the little enigmatic quotes littered throughout the novel: "Everyone is made out of the same stuff as stars", or Deepika's lovely anecdotes on photographs and time.

I do wish, however, that the plot was a little bit more neatly compacted—there were some parts where it was hard to follow, and I found myself skimming through the narrations on the Horvallan because it was a bit of a stretch.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

just, wow. what a wild ride. had to take a deep breath when I got to the end. the way it was set up reminded me a little of Cloud Cuckoo Land with Japanese magical realism and Singaporean settings and colloquialisms all coming together. was bizarre to read a novel where Lorong Chuan and Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 play such key roles in the plot (since these are roads right in my neighborhood). I guess that's why I find reading Singlit so cathartic. these are worlds and settings and voices that I am intimately familiar with :') and it makes me reimagine my world as a place where such stories could happen and are worth telling.

[Chen Ann Siew · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find myself enjoying this quite a bit, with its nuanced and subtle writing. The overlapping timelines and shifting perspectives take some effort to follow, and the science fiction elements can be a little challenging to grasp. But beyond these, I enjoyed the overarching theme — which I interpreted as longing: longing for freedom, and freedom from shame, guilt, and pain. In this pursuit, there is no definite answer, much like the book’s ending. And along the way, we will inevitably hurt others, and ourselves. But that’s life — and life is not perfect.

[carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

this novel is captivating to read in that it is like a meandering narrative that brings you on an emotional journey with the characters and you never quite figure them out. but it gets confusing when the novel introduces a sci fi story concerning the horvallan in the middle of the novel— never quite figured out what the purpose of introducing this story was and for me it muddied the situations of the actual characters in the novel.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Characters and plot are impossible to follow after the first 100 pages. Language, esp the use of Singlish comes across as contrived and not quite how Singlish is being used at all in Singapore. I cannot imagine a good looking man like Issac responding with “can” instead of a simple, “yes.” I think this is one of those books no one has to feel guilty about having tried it, and not completing. After all, life is too short to waste on 446 pages of obfuscatory text.

[Anne Ong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious and wide-ranging, and yet so intimate too. I felt for each of the characters, my favourites being Tori and Daniel. But I do love that this was written by a Singaporean.

Following Jing's journey was like walking through darkness, while Isaac's was like being confronted against a harsh light.

[florence ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

there were definitely parts where i legit didn’t know what was happening in this book but it did an incredibly accurate job of capturing the loneliness that comes with young adulthood and growing up. i haven’t read Sing Lit in a while, glad to have “restarted” with this book!

also the prose in this was just *chef’s kiss*. so poetic i loved!!

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

loved the whimsical and lyrical writing. the constantly shifting point of view and jumping back and forth of timelines made it a bit difficult to follow, but i loved the writing so much it didn’t really bother me.

[Alessio]

great title

[nicholas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this, and wanted to keep loving it till the end. The creativity and sensitivity of the prose is outstanding. But the sense at the final pages is one of novel waiting to be completed