snoakes7001's review against another edition
3.0
Sarong Party Girls is about Jazzy, a young Singaporean woman and her friends. They are a hedonistic bunch, constantly clubbing and partying, always on the lookout for potential husband material - definitely rich and preferably white - to provide them with the ultimate accessory, a Chanel baby.
Jazzy's voice is spiky and sassy. The book is written in Singlish giving it an immediacy and vibrancy often missing from written English. Don't be put off by that though, it's not difficult to read, just English with the odd slang word thrown in. And it doesn't matter if you don't know exactly what the word means - you'll easily get the gist of it from the context.
For the first half or so I really enjoyed this - it's lively and fun. But after a while I started to get worn down by the content. Jazzy's world is a sexist and misogynistic place - men frequently have mistresses or even second families and women are treated appallingly. Her casual acceptance of this is depressing. Not only does she fully expect that her boss will replace her with a younger woman before she is thirty regardless of her ability, but she also knows that he seats her in his office so he can look up her skirt. Worse still, she is complicit in this - making sure that if she is wearing a short skirt, she matches it with nice underwear. Even more depressing is her belief that her only way out is to marry a rich white man and swap this life for a gilded cage in a foreign country. As her search leads her to seedier and seedier places she does finally reach a new level of awareness, but it was too little too late for me.
Jazzy's voice is spiky and sassy. The book is written in Singlish giving it an immediacy and vibrancy often missing from written English. Don't be put off by that though, it's not difficult to read, just English with the odd slang word thrown in. And it doesn't matter if you don't know exactly what the word means - you'll easily get the gist of it from the context.
For the first half or so I really enjoyed this - it's lively and fun. But after a while I started to get worn down by the content. Jazzy's world is a sexist and misogynistic place - men frequently have mistresses or even second families and women are treated appallingly. Her casual acceptance of this is depressing. Not only does she fully expect that her boss will replace her with a younger woman before she is thirty regardless of her ability, but she also knows that he seats her in his office so he can look up her skirt. Worse still, she is complicit in this - making sure that if she is wearing a short skirt, she matches it with nice underwear. Even more depressing is her belief that her only way out is to marry a rich white man and swap this life for a gilded cage in a foreign country. As her search leads her to seedier and seedier places she does finally reach a new level of awareness, but it was too little too late for me.
momey's review against another edition
5.0
excellent . loved the Singlish . really nice counterpoint to Crazy Rich Asians
freshminttea's review
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
libraryfiend21's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
charmaineac's review against another edition
3.0
This book really tosses you into the deep end of Singaporean party culture. The Singlish is strong, and you are forced to adapt quickly!
This book was fascinating. I could imagine people like this easily making for an interesting (and trashy) Netflix reality show à la Bling Empire crossed with Crazy Rich Asians. I know some big partiers, but I've never been able to live in their psyche like this before.
I also want to note that Jazzy does not make for the most... likeable protagonist. She says and does things that are wrong on so many levels. Her mindset is so skewed, yet I also understand how her society has jaded her the way it has. The social commentary is heavy-handed with this book, but the key messages did not feel out-of-left-field. It made me feel sorry for the young women forced to grow up in this kind of environment. Also important to note that this book is from 2016 — one can only hope things have improved since then? Then again, I've seen the best that Singapore has to offer in 2017 and 2018. It's hard to fathom that the glitz and glamour I witnessed could be so far removed from the lived reality of some of its communities.
I do appreciate the growth Jazzy achieved by the end of the book. It was a slow and meandering process. In a way, it felt very realistic: two steps forward, one step back. The change was so gradual that you might even miss it without some introspection. But look: Jazzy learned to be a more supportive and understanding friend. She learned to treat herself with respect. She learned the value of her own independence. And she learned to take control of her career. In those respects, I'm proud of her growth.
This book was fascinating. I could imagine people like this easily making for an interesting (and trashy) Netflix reality show à la Bling Empire crossed with Crazy Rich Asians. I know some big partiers, but I've never been able to live in their psyche like this before.
I also want to note that Jazzy does not make for the most... likeable protagonist. She says and does things that are wrong on so many levels. Her mindset is so skewed, yet I also understand how her society has jaded her the way it has. The social commentary is heavy-handed with this book, but the key messages did not feel out-of-left-field. It made me feel sorry for the young women forced to grow up in this kind of environment. Also important to note that this book is from 2016 — one can only hope things have improved since then? Then again, I've seen the best that Singapore has to offer in 2017 and 2018. It's hard to fathom that the glitz and glamour I witnessed could be so far removed from the lived reality of some of its communities.
I do appreciate the growth Jazzy achieved by the end of the book. It was a slow and meandering process. In a way, it felt very realistic: two steps forward, one step back. The change was so gradual that you might even miss it without some introspection. But look: Jazzy learned to be a more supportive and understanding friend. She learned to treat herself with respect. She learned the value of her own independence. And she learned to take control of her career. In those respects, I'm proud of her growth.
carolynf's review against another edition
4.0
Even though many of the interactions in this book, plus the behavior of the main character, are very misogynistic, throughout the story a lot of questions are raised about gender roles and double standards. I saw this book repeatedly compared to Jane Austen's Emma, but I didn't really see that. I picked it up primarily because it is written in Singlish, Singapore English, and that dialect turned out to be a lot of fun.
The main character Jazzy, is 26 and has been clubbing almost every night for the past ten years. She and her posse accomplish this by looking sexy and being good company for their male "friends" who buy them thousands of dollars of drinks each night. They don't necessarily sleep with these guys - their goal is to find a rich white husband who will buy them the high end name brands that are essential for their self-esteem. If sleeping with a guy gets them closer to that goal, then they will. If not, then they won't. Love has very little to do with it.
Jazzy is going through a bit of a crisis because her friend, Sher, had the most potential for landing a rich white husband and (in Jazzy's opinion) screwed it up. This has caused her amp up her own marriage hunting plan. Plus her boss at work is hinting that she is getting to be too old to remain his personal assistant. Jazzy is a believable but frustrating character because she seems so competent and world-wise in some ways, but she can also be petty and childish and very naive about where she really stands with people. She knows she can't sustain her way of life indefinitely and yet can't figure out what to do instead, until the end of the book when everything comes to a head.
The main character Jazzy, is 26 and has been clubbing almost every night for the past ten years. She and her posse accomplish this by looking sexy and being good company for their male "friends" who buy them thousands of dollars of drinks each night. They don't necessarily sleep with these guys - their goal is to find a rich white husband who will buy them the high end name brands that are essential for their self-esteem. If sleeping with a guy gets them closer to that goal, then they will. If not, then they won't. Love has very little to do with it.
Jazzy is going through a bit of a crisis because her friend, Sher, had the most potential for landing a rich white husband and (in Jazzy's opinion) screwed it up. This has caused her amp up her own marriage hunting plan. Plus her boss at work is hinting that she is getting to be too old to remain his personal assistant. Jazzy is a believable but frustrating character because she seems so competent and world-wise in some ways, but she can also be petty and childish and very naive about where she really stands with people. She knows she can't sustain her way of life indefinitely and yet can't figure out what to do instead, until the end of the book when everything comes to a head.
annarella's review against another edition
3.0
Even if I think this is the kind of book you love or hate I couldn't connect to the characters or being involved in the plot.
I appreciated the style of writing but it's not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
I appreciated the style of writing but it's not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
jenibus's review against another edition
2.0
I feel bad about disliking this book - I was really hoping to love it after all the 4/5 star reviews it got. But the book is now done and the main emotion I'm feeling is disappointment.
In the beginning of the book, I perhaps made an incorrect assumption that it'd either be fully comedy/satire or that if it was more serious, Jazzy and her friends would grow and change throughout the book. They have a pretty horrible worldview in the beginning and I thought that would change or at least the book would make it more evident that this isn't a good worldview. And although they did change by the end, it happened at like the very end and we had to endure a middle section that was very cynical/depressing in regards to the outside reader seeing how bad her life is and how others treat her. The book ends essentially right as she makes a life decision that will better her life and the previous chapter showed how she was coming to realize her self worth, but then it just ends. If this happened earlier and we had more book to show her life turning around and her finding value in herself, I would have liked it more. But the ratios are too heavily weighted on the depressing end with not enough payoff.
There's an argument to be made that perhaps I didn't appreciate it as much because I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to Singapore culture and that I projected my western white ideals onto the characters. I found the Singlish fairly easy to follow and although I didn't know specific meanings of words, I could figure them out through context clues.
All in all, I went in expecting a glitzy and happier novel about Jazzy learning to value herself and change her sexist and sometimes racist mindsets, and too much of the novel was bad things happening to her over and over with her justification that there's nothing she can do and not enough actual good things. I'm bummed.
In the beginning of the book, I perhaps made an incorrect assumption that it'd either be fully comedy/satire or that if it was more serious, Jazzy and her friends would grow and change throughout the book. They have a pretty horrible worldview in the beginning and I thought that would change or at least the book would make it more evident that this isn't a good worldview. And although they did change by the end, it happened at like the very end and we had to endure a middle section that was very cynical/depressing in regards to the outside reader seeing how bad her life is and how others treat her. The book ends essentially right as she makes a life decision that will better her life and the previous chapter showed how she was coming to realize her self worth, but then it just ends. If this happened earlier and we had more book to show her life turning around and her finding value in herself, I would have liked it more. But the ratios are too heavily weighted on the depressing end with not enough payoff.
There's an argument to be made that perhaps I didn't appreciate it as much because I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to Singapore culture and that I projected my western white ideals onto the characters. I found the Singlish fairly easy to follow and although I didn't know specific meanings of words, I could figure them out through context clues.
All in all, I went in expecting a glitzy and happier novel about Jazzy learning to value herself and change her sexist and sometimes racist mindsets, and too much of the novel was bad things happening to her over and over with her justification that there's nothing she can do and not enough actual good things. I'm bummed.
liliflynn's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Written in Singlish, the writing took a bit of time to get into.
I learnt a lot about an aspect of Singaporean culture and the roles of women…
The characters just weren’t loveable, and the development of them took too long and came too late.
I learnt a lot about an aspect of Singaporean culture and the roles of women…
The characters just weren’t loveable, and the development of them took too long and came too late.