____w____'s review against another edition
4.0
this was so funny. knowing that a bunch of the stories are about singapore makes it feel like a hilarious private joke
hafpie23's review against another edition
5.0
Capital Misfits consists of 7 short stories each exploring different themes and ideas. Almost a satire of the modern day issues, political and otherwise.
The very first short story in her book is titled the trading floor in heaven. The story essentially follows a woman who finds herself on the 7th floor of heaven only to discover that it is a trading floor.
A place for you to trade in your karma before you are re-birthed again. As you follow her, you see how much people are willing to trade off on their karma, " 2 years in prison" for " an early death"
As i was reading, a lot of the time i was thinking " well is that a fair trade?" and often times it is not but that the thing because we always think what we have is always much worse than what someone else has and you would do anything to get rid of it but as a reader, you can see so many people making bad choices.
and ofcourse there are the karma-brokers. the stockbrokers of the otherworld who help you to get rid of your karmas and the only way to pay them is by relieving them of their own bad karma.
you also get to see how someone " crashed" the 'mental illness karma stock' and watch everyone bidding off their own pre-existing, a far less bad karma ( like having a bad habit of biting nails) in exchange for some depression. you see, these people beg for depression and it is so eye opening because we see it in the real world too.
the story forces the readers to confront their own privilege and the " disadvantage"they are burdened with is not as big as they may think it to be. an eye opening message on the fact that we are so full of ourselves that we cannot recognize our own privilege.
i believe that the 7 different stories were a reimagination of the 7 deadly sins and the way julie koh explores them in today's world is truly beautiful and unique.
Julie Koh's writing is style is eloquent, in the sense that the book itself is less than a 100 pages and her stories, even shorter but somehow the impression and messages they leave you with is far more lasting and meaningful than most full length novel can hope to accomplish in 300 pages and that is one of the most telling signs of a talented writer.
i advocate the idea that the books belong to their readers so perhaps, my interpretations may not be the same as yours but even then i insist that you do pick it up because even if you end up not liking it, this is not the kind of book you will have nothing to say about. the stories will haunt you whether you loved them or not and everytime you read it again you find something you left out the previous time.
The very first short story in her book is titled the trading floor in heaven. The story essentially follows a woman who finds herself on the 7th floor of heaven only to discover that it is a trading floor.
A place for you to trade in your karma before you are re-birthed again. As you follow her, you see how much people are willing to trade off on their karma, " 2 years in prison" for " an early death"
As i was reading, a lot of the time i was thinking " well is that a fair trade?" and often times it is not but that the thing because we always think what we have is always much worse than what someone else has and you would do anything to get rid of it but as a reader, you can see so many people making bad choices.
and ofcourse there are the karma-brokers. the stockbrokers of the otherworld who help you to get rid of your karmas and the only way to pay them is by relieving them of their own bad karma.
you also get to see how someone " crashed" the 'mental illness karma stock' and watch everyone bidding off their own pre-existing, a far less bad karma ( like having a bad habit of biting nails) in exchange for some depression. you see, these people beg for depression and it is so eye opening because we see it in the real world too.
the story forces the readers to confront their own privilege and the " disadvantage"they are burdened with is not as big as they may think it to be. an eye opening message on the fact that we are so full of ourselves that we cannot recognize our own privilege.
i believe that the 7 different stories were a reimagination of the 7 deadly sins and the way julie koh explores them in today's world is truly beautiful and unique.
Julie Koh's writing is style is eloquent, in the sense that the book itself is less than a 100 pages and her stories, even shorter but somehow the impression and messages they leave you with is far more lasting and meaningful than most full length novel can hope to accomplish in 300 pages and that is one of the most telling signs of a talented writer.
i advocate the idea that the books belong to their readers so perhaps, my interpretations may not be the same as yours but even then i insist that you do pick it up because even if you end up not liking it, this is not the kind of book you will have nothing to say about. the stories will haunt you whether you loved them or not and everytime you read it again you find something you left out the previous time.
leftofthedialmp3's review
4.0
A collection of dark short stories, mostly centered on capitalism and its failures. I read the whole thing in one sitting, but could've done without some of them. I loved the Trading Room Floor for its creative interpretation of the afterlife and the Level Playing Field, which was a rather heavy-handed metaphor, but had a killer ending.
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