misspalah's review
4.0
And so he spent years listening to them from his room. The non-Malays. He heard them mock his race: The only race in the world to have themselves constitutionally declared lazy, they said, in reference to affirmative action policies for the Malays. Of course, had the young Suleiman understood them, he would have realized that the Indians, ranting away in Tamil, also said that the Chinese would sell their mothers for a few extra sen, greedy bastards that they were, forever hounding them to pay-up their beer tabs and overcharging for their Hokkien mee. And that the Cantonese-speaking-Chinese, playing their mahjong, cursed the Indians for staying on long after the designated closing time, ordering beer after beer, wailing away about their self-inflicted troubles before finally going home to take it out on their wives.
- Devil’s place by Brian Gomez
.
.
If Netflix Asia intended to produce any show or film that truly illustratinf what Malaysia supposed to look like - this is the book that they should have adapted in their screen play. The kleptocracy, the prejudices among its citizens emboldened by the religion, race and class identity, the layback approach on the internal security issue and the interference of foreign power under the pretense of common good. Of course, the plot took you along the journey of our Mc, the unfortunate Terry as he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He met Ning, a Thai Sex worker that just murdered her own client. Things became more bizzare as this client were connected to one of the wanted terrorist that has been in the CIA list for so long. This is where Agent Chavez decided to pursue them relentlessly. Ning’s employer, Fellatio Lim were suspected in the murder’s involvement as he went to the hotel looking for her. If you have watched Delhi Belly, this book has the same vibe like the film. So much chaos ensued and to top it off, Terry’s friends were killed because of it. On the other hands, Terry’s fiancee assumed that he cheated on her because of Ning and Terry’s assumed that her fiancee’s father put a target on his back seeing that Police and Media Outlet intended to brand him as a criminal. Too many things going on, Too many characters involved in this situation yet Brian Gomez managed to steer its readers to keep on reading. This is fun, thrilling and enjoyable book if i could summarize it in 3 words. I also believe this should be read in one sitting to avoid confusion on characters that kept on appearing in the story. Overall, I would recommend it if you want to read ‘A truly Malaysian’ book.
- Devil’s place by Brian Gomez
.
.
If Netflix Asia intended to produce any show or film that truly illustratinf what Malaysia supposed to look like - this is the book that they should have adapted in their screen play. The kleptocracy, the prejudices among its citizens emboldened by the religion, race and class identity, the layback approach on the internal security issue and the interference of foreign power under the pretense of common good. Of course, the plot took you along the journey of our Mc, the unfortunate Terry as he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He met Ning, a Thai Sex worker that just murdered her own client. Things became more bizzare as this client were connected to one of the wanted terrorist that has been in the CIA list for so long. This is where Agent Chavez decided to pursue them relentlessly. Ning’s employer, Fellatio Lim were suspected in the murder’s involvement as he went to the hotel looking for her. If you have watched Delhi Belly, this book has the same vibe like the film. So much chaos ensued and to top it off, Terry’s friends were killed because of it. On the other hands, Terry’s fiancee assumed that he cheated on her because of Ning and Terry’s assumed that her fiancee’s father put a target on his back seeing that Police and Media Outlet intended to brand him as a criminal. Too many things going on, Too many characters involved in this situation yet Brian Gomez managed to steer its readers to keep on reading. This is fun, thrilling and enjoyable book if i could summarize it in 3 words. I also believe this should be read in one sitting to avoid confusion on characters that kept on appearing in the story. Overall, I would recommend it if you want to read ‘A truly Malaysian’ book.
athirah_idrus's review
5.0
The Devil’s Place is about “terrorism, prostitution, politics and other funny stuff”.
So it said on the blurb, which is fine, except that none of the elements happened to be the things I look for in a book. Or so I thought. When I heard of #cucukbersamafixi, where I could claim a book for free after my vaccination, I went through all the titles online and dug deeper into each to decide which would be the one I’d be bringing home. Despite the description on the blurb, the book got an almost resounding ‘YES!’, judging based on the comments and ratings on Goodreads. This time, I let the majority decide for me and boy, I had no regrets!
Devil’s Place is about Terry, a failing musician who was about to quit his music to marry his girlfriend, the daughter of a very prominent Malaysian politician, no less. His closest friends decided to celebrate his coming marriage with a night of entertainment which involved Ning, a Thai prostitute. The night took a different turn when Terry and Ning got tangled up in a wild chase involving an Arab businessman, Chinese pimps, the cops and the CIA. Terry made a desperate attempt to figure out the predicament he was in, all the while running to save his life.
In my opinion, the story was constructed as if it was written for a movie. Short paragraphs flitted from a scene to another, back and forth between the many characters involved as Terry tried to outrun his pursuers. Even so, the plot was fast-paced that it was easy to get into, and I felt like I could imagine this turned into a movie so well. What I loved most about the book was how ‘so Malaysian’ it was, the characters were colourful and brilliantly portrayed Malaysians without trying too hard. The characters were so relatable that I could just imagine them in real life.
The lines too were funny, almost as if written in a satirical fashion to poke fun at the questionable things in Malaysia, but those we know too well to exist in real life. Corrupt politician, anyone?
Sure, the story was not perfect, especially the scenes at the police station and the rookie CIA agent. They were too convenient and would only happen in the movies or in this case, this book. But without them, the plot wouldn’t work and I still enjoyed reading it. This was a surprisingly pleasant find for me!
So it said on the blurb, which is fine, except that none of the elements happened to be the things I look for in a book. Or so I thought. When I heard of #cucukbersamafixi, where I could claim a book for free after my vaccination, I went through all the titles online and dug deeper into each to decide which would be the one I’d be bringing home. Despite the description on the blurb, the book got an almost resounding ‘YES!’, judging based on the comments and ratings on Goodreads. This time, I let the majority decide for me and boy, I had no regrets!
Devil’s Place is about Terry, a failing musician who was about to quit his music to marry his girlfriend, the daughter of a very prominent Malaysian politician, no less. His closest friends decided to celebrate his coming marriage with a night of entertainment which involved Ning, a Thai prostitute. The night took a different turn when Terry and Ning got tangled up in a wild chase involving an Arab businessman, Chinese pimps, the cops and the CIA. Terry made a desperate attempt to figure out the predicament he was in, all the while running to save his life.
In my opinion, the story was constructed as if it was written for a movie. Short paragraphs flitted from a scene to another, back and forth between the many characters involved as Terry tried to outrun his pursuers. Even so, the plot was fast-paced that it was easy to get into, and I felt like I could imagine this turned into a movie so well. What I loved most about the book was how ‘so Malaysian’ it was, the characters were colourful and brilliantly portrayed Malaysians without trying too hard. The characters were so relatable that I could just imagine them in real life.
The lines too were funny, almost as if written in a satirical fashion to poke fun at the questionable things in Malaysia, but those we know too well to exist in real life. Corrupt politician, anyone?
Sure, the story was not perfect, especially the scenes at the police station and the rookie CIA agent. They were too convenient and would only happen in the movies or in this case, this book. But without them, the plot wouldn’t work and I still enjoyed reading it. This was a surprisingly pleasant find for me!
mobyskine's review
5.0
Antara buku paling menarik yang aku baca tahun ini. Jalan cerita yang disusun elok dengan karakter-karakter yang sungguh 1Malaysia. Konspirasi yang penuh dengan hilarious coincidences, I could puke rainbow bunnies from laughing too hard.
One well-written book. You should read this too!
One well-written book. You should read this too!
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