Ponti

Ponti was a strange book for me. I enjoyed it as I was actually reading it, but struggled to remember exactly what was going on when I set the book aside. Individual scenes are vividly written, but I didn't manage to truly immerse myself into the story which was a shame. I think part of the problem is that the women who most fascinated me, Amisa and Aunt Yunxi, are the ones about whom we find out the least. Amisa, as an actress, portrayed a mythical monster and her role in this novel is also to be a monstrous mother. I wanted to see more of how this transformation came about rather than concentrating on the effect on her daughter. Szu, Amisa's daughter, is alienated from her classmates by her situation at home until she develops a brief, intense friendship with the new girl at school, Circe.

Ponti explores these situations of connectedness and isolation from various perspectives. Szu sees a steady stream of desperate people visiting Yunxi and Amisa for supernatural guidance, not realising just how shattered these women's lives are. We flit between the three narratives in Ponti which is sometimes confusing although I liked that each has a distinctive voice. I think Ponti is a book that would benefit from repeated reads as it has veiled layers. I should also probably brush up on my scant knowledge of Singaporean film-making and the horror genre in general. I understood a smattering of references, but am sure that the majority passed me by.