Lovers and Strangers Revisited by Robert Raymer
Taking a break from novels, I’ve decided to indulge in a book of Malaysian and Asian short stories written by creative writing lecturer, Robert Raymer. Lovers and Strangers
The title itself is captivating and I can definitely say the same about the stories compiled in the book. There are 17 stories altogether and 16 of them have been published 65 times in 10 countries. Incredible, isn’t it?
Malaysia is a multiracial country where the Malays, Chinese, Indians, Eurasians, Punjabis, Kadazans, Ibans and other races live together in harmony and tolerance. Each group has their own customs and traditions and it’s fascinating to learn about them in addition to learning about ourselves.
I’m impressed with how Raymer managed to write so well about the real essence of being a Malaysian. He certainly knows and understands the various races in the country along with their customs and beliefs. Well, he has lived in Penang for over 20 years and also married a local woman. So he had time to get to know the country. Some of the stories are based on his previous experiences here.
My favourite story is The Future Barrister where a young Indian man who looks like Clark Gable gets drunk in a local bar and starts telling shocking things to a new American friend. The ending of that story made my jaw drop literally. Haha!
The story Smooth Stones also had an ironic and yet predictable ending. A Malay woman buys three “magical” stones from a stranger who claimed that the stones had healing powers. Thinking that the stones could heal her dying husband, the woman paid a large sum of money for them, which looked like they were picked up from the nearby river.
Meanwhile, in The Watcher, a grumpy great-grandfather waits for his great-grandchildren to arrive for Chinese New Year. Sitting on an old wooden bench, he recalls the Japanese invasion into the country while watching the neighbourhood children play with firecrackers. He’ll also occasionally shout out warnings to the children.
In Lovers and Strangers, a writer meets a young woman who looks and talks the same as his former lover who committed suicide. I was waiting for something creepy to happen but then the entire story spells out CREEPY!
I enjoyed reading all the stories in the book. I enjoyed reading about typical Malaysians and our habits that we overlook every day. Raymer must have spent a lot of time writing, editing, and re-writing them. I know because it’s not easy to produce a good short story that wouldn’t let the reader get bored.
This book is highly recommended to anyone who is interested in getting to know Malaysians and also Thailand (Transactions in Thai is set there). If you also need great short story samples, then Lovers and Strangers Revisited is certainly one of the best ones.
September 28th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Josette,
Thanks for the review. Well written, too! The total has been increased to 65 stories in 10 countries. Your favorite story “The Future Barrister” was recently accepted by a literary journal in Canada, due out in 2010. So the saga continues…Also my new book, Tropical Affairs: Episodes from Expat’s Life in Malaysia (MPH), just got published and should be in the bookstores by now or very soon!
All the best!
October 5th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Great review and fun cover!
Thanks for being part of 9 for ‘09 Challenge
October 10th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
@Robert Raymer: Thanks for visiting my blog and reading my review. I’ve also corrected the numbers in my post.
Wow, that’s great! Hope that I’ll have the chance to read the journal.
@Isabel: Hi there, thank you!
October 12th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Great review! I have been into short stories of late, so I think this should be something interesting for me to check out.
Btw, how cool is that for the author of the book to comment in your blog post!!
October 13th, 2009 at 12:03 am
@Nishita: Can you recommend me some good short stories to read? Ooh, I’ve just read one short story titled ‘A Rose for Emily’ by William Faulkner. Pretty shocking ending it had! I like it!
Yeah! I was simply honoured that he’d taken the time to post a comment here. Truly, this book of his short stories is really good.
October 18th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
It’s a long review but shows how interesting the content of the book must be…
October 27th, 2009 at 6:55 am
Ooh I think I’ll add this to my TBR!
Also wanted to personally invite you to join in on my 50 followers giveaway :]
http://ireadd.blogspot.com/2009/10/very-girly-giveaway-50-followers.html
February 26th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
@dodong flores: Yes, this is a mighty interesting book! In fact, I’m reading it again for my English class.
@Andrea: Yes, do add to your TBR! And thanks for letting me about your giveaway.
February 26th, 2010 at 5:47 pm
Hi, Josette. Are you in Dr. Rashidi’s class? He spoke at my book launch in Penang, and thanks to him, because he wanted to teach my original book, I rewrote all the stories for the LSR version.
Not sure if I told you that I did a series of blogs about my writing each of those stories and the significant changes I made that led to publication and then the revamp for the “revisited” version. Let others know. Getting the other side of the story, the story behind the story, might be interesting and useful, especially those of you and your friends who have an interest in writing. Can learn a lot from it, one of the reasons I wrote the series. Lately, I transferred them all from the original blog to this one here,so they would be easier to find: http://thestorybehindthestoryoflsr.blogspot.com/
All the best, Robert