Quotes from Island Voices

1) Paper
"It burned brilliantly, and in three minutes was a heap of ashes on the grave." - pg 9
"He wanted a beautiful house all his life; I shall give him the beautiful house now!" - pg 8

2) The Matyrdom of Helena Rodrigues
"Well, Helena had the meek gentle face of a nun and the force of personality of an Empress Tzu Hsi." - pg 12
".."she brought him up to believe that to insult his mother's devotion to him was the ultimate blasphemy." -  pg 13

3) Sundowner
"It's the children I think about most, Jhn. The coolies spend all their money on drink and the children are just skin and bone and riddled with disease." - pg 25
"Yes, tuan. Whatever the tuan says." - pg 22

4) Tanjong Rhu
"I know I have everything I need." - pg 30
"The veins seemed thicker and greener on her fists, pulsing desperately." - pg 37

5) Evening under Frangipani
"...jostling with teenagers on parade, the sharp scent of glue in their decaying minds." - pg 53
"Treats, treats, that's all you Singaporeans ever think about." - pg 72

6) Lee
"..what's saddest is the way you get these big concrete office blocks owned by ITT or something standing next to this zinc hut where you see a guy in the doorway selling a tent." - pg 90
"Hey, I'm on hiatus from conventions." - pg 91

7) A History of Tea
"A storm n the teacuo." -  pg 119
"Then she would pour another cup for herself, filling it from the kettle kept hot on the small stove of burning charcoals." -  pg 121

8) A Dream of China
"Without the human experience of your forefathers before you it is hard to build a strong future." - pg 127
"A country is only as good as it's men. My father is a good man ... whichever country can claim him as it's own." - pg 138

9) Release
"Everyone's having new babies. Our bitch has got four." - pg 142
"She sat down, blinded by the scream that filled her mind." - pg 148

10) An Orbituary for Fifth Aunt Come Late
"She was my aunt but I didn't make it a point to be her niece." - pg 149
"We don't have a photograph of her." - pg 161

11) Corridor
"Which means also to say that the man could have been killed any time at all." - pg 167
"And like an answer or a question the warm amber lights in her living-room came on." - pg 175

12) Mid-Autumn
"It's a calling from God. It's a fire in my bones. If I don't go, I'll just burn and die." - pg 186
"I don't want her to treat me like her lantern. The lantern made her shout, clap , dance. But when she lost the lantern, she said, "Forgte it, never mind." She once said I was her best gift. But now that she has left me, what will she say?"

13) Hamid and the Hand of  Fate
"..it's not wrong to accept gifts if people show you they are grateful for your help, right?" - 198
"Young women these days ought not to be trusted." - 202

14) The Move
"Too bad the pomegranate has grown so big." - pg 205
"Remember how Melissa and I would wait forever for the first pomegranate of the year to turn red? Did you really have this since we were born?" - pg 206

15) Pastime
"Then one day --  just like that -- they decide to release him. You don't matter anymore, they tell him. You're history." - pg 214
"It's a hobby, a pastime. It's not real life." - pg 220