Alfian Sa'at

This is my second time reading this collection of short stories by Alfian Sa’at. I was only meant to read two stories that were part of the Singapore literature syllabus in NTU, but couldn’t help finishing the book. Architecture and space figures strongly in the stories, with moments of intimacy, longing, anger, jealousy and disenchantment happen in corridors, toilet cubicles, void decks and discos. These are spaces so decisively planned in our city-state, meant to plan our daily activities and work in state-approved ways, but so much happens in these spaces that fall outside the parameters of what is planned.

One of my favourite realisations provided by a student is how a “typical singaporean” character in the story 'video' likes to buy chestnuts before going to her mum’s house. In Malay, chestnuts are called “buah berangan”, berangan is to dream, daydream, it has a sense of the unattainable. So much of our lives here are whiled away, lost in dreaming for what feels unattainable because it has perhaps been made unattainable. This sense is often present in the stories.… (mere)