afi_whatafireads's reviews
589 reviews

Terdapat beberapa fasa perasaan dalam aku menghabiskan kumpulan cerpen ini.

Pertamanya, aku tertarik dengan judul dan kulit muka buku ini. Ada sesuatu yang agak catching dengan pengolahan kulit muka bersama-sama kumpulan cerpen yang aku kira sangat unik, absurd dan membuatkan kau mempersoalkan sanity kau. Aku semacam teringat akan penulis Jepun yang aku gemari , Sayaka Murata dan karya-karya beliau yang tampak normal pada surface cerita tetapi aku kira melangkaui jangkaan aku sebagai pembaca. Judul buku ini bagi aku sangat menarik. Selalunya, orang menggunakan frasa Soul-Searching, tetapi, buku ini mengambil frasa itu dan menggantikan dengan Shell-Searching. Mungkin ia hanya coincidence atau aku sahaja yang terlalu over-analyse tajuk buku ini, tetapi disebabkan logik itulah yang membuatkan aku tertarik untuk membelinya.

Kumpulan cerpen daripada Ridhwan Saidi ini membawakan beberapa tema yang berbeza dalam setiap penceritaannya. Cerita-ceritanya pendek namun, ia mampu memberi impak yang agak maksima bagi aku. Aku seakan terkejut. And what makes the author's writing more catching? Its the way he writes his stories in such a matter-of-fact tone that the occurrences for each situation felt normal. That's why it reminded me of Murata's works. Its absurd and just very out of the world at some points, but it somewhat made sense overall.

Setiap tema yang dibawa dalam cerpen ini membawa makna yang tersirat. Aku bikin, Ridhwan Saidi membawak konsep magikal realisme ke aras yang boleh dibanggakan. Ia mengangkat sastera Melayu dan memperlihatkan bahawa terdapat banyak cara untuk kita mengolah sebuah cerita. Ia mungkin tidak dapat diterima oleh semua orang, tetapi bagi aku, cerita-cerita dalam buku ini ibarat menonton teater indie yang kau tak mungkin akan faham kesemua apa yang ingin disampaikan, tetapi, ada sesuatu yang menarik kau untuk menonton sampai ke akhirnya,

Antara cerpen yang telah menarik perhatian aku:
1) Saadah dan Mesin Timbang Saadah
2) Raslan dan Potret Raslan
3) Gerbang Neraka
4) Musang King

Setiap tema yang dibawa membawa unsur yang berbeza dan ia agak dark bagi aku. Yang aku suka adalah bagaimana setiap tajuk yang dibawa dalam setiap tema itu kena dengan dunia sekarang yang seakan tidak masuk akal juga. Ia memberi erti kepada kita manusia yang kadang ada masa, feminis tidak semuanya betul, patriaki masih hidup dan nyata, racism akan menjadikan kau seorang alien di mana-mana kau berada di muka bumi ini, pembunuh itu bukanlah hanya secara fizikal tetapi ia juga boleh dalam bentuk mental juga.

Buku ini bukanlah untuk semua orang. Tetapi ia adalah suatu karya yang bagi aku, mempunyai essence-nya sendiri. Recommended!

Personal Ratings: 4🌟

I CRIED.
I
FREAKING
LOVE
THEM
SO
MUCH
TO
THE
POINT
I
JUST
CRIED
AND
BAWLED
AND
CRIED
AGAIN

This showed a side of Aoki and Ida as they venture out to pursue their studies after high school.

and GOSH I LOVE MIO AND AKKUN'S PROGRESS LIKE FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!

this was cute as heck.

I like that Aoki and Ida just really - had their communication sorted.
The fact that Ida is not someone that is very expressive of his feelings but only to Aoki makes it cuter :')

PUHLEASE MIO AND AKKUN!!!!!!

Mio is such a sweetheart I love that so much for her.
Aida is someone that will do anything for the person that he likes but is the type that is hard to admits his feelings. I felt sorry for the both of them especially Mio but also liked that they both realized about their feelings on their own. This manga has my heart i tell you.

An enthralling experience to a wonderful sequence of proses that hits your soul even in the most straightforward way.

For someone who is relatively new in the poetry scene, I had honestly enjoyed my ride with this book. It came to a point that I felt that I was missing quite a bit for not really finding a poetry book that actually catered my taste, and this one is definitely a start to many more to come.

Divided into Five Parts , My Medicine is a collection of poetry and short stories that mostly revolves around the Themes of : Hope, Love, Loss and Gaining Your Self Again . Its interesting how each theme has been arranged according to the ‘pills’ that are ‘prescribed’ to us (readers) in forms of poetry, either to soothe us, to gain strength or mostly to explore that love comes in forms that you least expect.

I will roughly give my thoughts for each section and my whole overall experience reading through the five parts in the book, and will try to keep it as non-spoilery as possible - as the best way to go into this book is just going into it blind.

Blue Pills

Blue Pills is a collection of poetry that revolves around the themes of Love and Heartache . Out of all the collections in this book, Blue Pills reminded me of my youth, in the desperation of loving and losing someone you love. Whilst I can’t really relate much to most of them nowadays, it took me back to my emo days where a smile from my crush can make my whole day and a simple argument can make everything seem wrong. For those who is going through a heartbreak, this section of the book will be the perfect pill for you.

Happy Pills

The collection of poetries in this section revolves around the themes of Hope and New Beginnings . It gave us a sense that life is too short and there are more ways to gain hope and continue living, in the most unexpected ways.

Adrenaline Shots

I feel that for most of us, we will be able to relate to this part of the book. It revolves around the themes of Growth and the ability of us as humans to be part of something that is worth to live. I liked a lot of the poetries in this section most and it felt like someone consoling me after a long and hard day.

Psychedelics

This section of the book is one that is the most experimental and where the author’s talents in writing unleashed. I liked this section of the book where the author played with various techniques in poetry writing and it also showed that poetry is a form that is liquid and versatile. The messages from this section is what I felt the most relatable. Its a bit dark but it also gave us hope to live through tough times.

Sleeping Pills

Now this. Besides poetry, this whole section of the book is the part where the author compiled all the collection of short stories in the book. There were 7 Short Stories in total, and quite frankly , this was the most enjoyable part in the book. I loved that the author included themes that includes our time during quarantine, a dash of sci fi and mostly of hope and love. I personally loved Pseudo-Immortals the most, and honestly looking forward for more short stories from the author.

Overall, the whole collection is one that felt like being administered the correct form of drugs for the conditions that we have at the time. Heartbreak - prescribed the Blue Pills. If you need something to soothe you - well Psychedelics is the way. Happy Pills will be given if you need a smile and Adrenaline Shots for boost of happiness. Either way, each part of this book is a medicine for your sole, where each prescription in the form of words on paper can warm your heart, ease your pain and make you feel that you’re not really truly alone in this world.

And fitting to its title, its truly the best Medicine for us all.

3.75🌟 Overall for the book :) Definitely looking forward to more of the author's works!

An important story that highlights on women and I'm thankful that this work didn't out to be extinct.
Its a shame that this story whom had really wrote about the story in hand. Such- is the author's work and God, I love translated literature. Its gems like this that makes me want to explore more of the works from foreign countries.

Looking forward to more of her books. RTC
Personal Rating : 4🌟 overall - but will give a thorough and non spoilery thoughts later/

There's something about this book that started off good but then it went a bit array on the second half. But I love Theo and Winter so much and I just relate to Winter to a point that makes my heart :/

I the last two books from Elsie (and yes I'm a fan of hers) from Chestnut Springs was a bit of a letdown. I wanted to like Powerless but it didn't fare well. Reckless started off really really good, then towards the middle it kinda went a bit bland. I think the angst was there then it just fizzled? But the characters? I LOVE. THEM. TO. PIECES.

Theo Silva? God damn this man.
Winter? I just wanna give her a tight hug.

At the end of the day, there are a lot of things about this book; abandonment, raising children, being seen (winter ;/); but just the overall execution could've gone better. Still love Elsie's books but sadly the second half didn't turn out to be a fav :')

4.25🌟 for this!

Read this after the announcement of the Booker Prize 2023 Longlist that just came out yesterday, and this was my first pick and it was one that I finished in one seating.

A story that focuses on grief of a family as a whole and how they had made it through and channeled their grief with sports - specifically squash - and its a novella that highlights sisterhood as a whole and how they came together during the death of their mother. Paired with a straightforward prose, is a story of the different mechanisms for grief , family and squash .

I find that this book was easy to read; but one that interlaced with a lot more than just the mechanics of squash. Firstly, writing-wise , its one of the books that has a beautiful prose but its one that is not hard to read. The story has its own flair to it that makes the story seemed alive in its own way. I love how it creates a story of a family that is grappling with loss and how each of them had grieved in their own ways. Its interesting to read how the sport was interlaced with the family mechanics in here; and the fact that its written from the POV of a 13 year old makes the story seemed more raw and heartbreaking.

I was not that much a fan of squash, but I feel that the author had made the sport in here somewhat parallel to the feelings of our main protagonist. Its how the sport had become a bridge to save the link between her father and their children, and what kept the family somewhat at bay with the loss of their mother. I fell into a deep-hole of squash techniques and seeing the sport through the lens of the characters makes it almost poetic in its own way. There is a subtlety in Maroo's writing that makes the story; albeit short, one that touches hearts in ways that you didn't expect it would. Its a voice of a teen trying to find a place in the world where she is still trying to grasp girlhood through the help of her sisters (who are not that much of an adult themselves).

A story that took me by surprise. Definitely one that I liked seeing it in the list of the booker prize and discovering a new author and story.