The Earnest Mask

In this Singapore Literature Prize-winning collection of stories, an aging Japanese ex-soldier, ignorant about the horrors of the Japanese Occupation, returns to Singapore for a nostalgic visit; a young boy’s sole contact with his father consists of a weekly meeting at McDonald’s; and a hopeful employee tries to win over his tumour-stricken boss with traditional Chinese medicine. Set against the backdrop of Singapore’s rapid development from the 1980s to the early 2000s, the poignant and witty stories in The Earnest Mask peel back the veneer of official history, revealing flashes of the personal stories buried beneath.

“Extra thin, extra crisp and extraordinary...[the stories] are a good snapshot of a changing society and capture the essence of being a Singaporean.”
—Rupali Karekar, The Sunday Times

“The author is a master craftsman in the experimentation of mini-fiction writing. Each work is a further expansion of the threshold of the art form. Besides being celebrated by readers for his keen observations, his stories astutely chronicle both the light moments as well as the difficult times in the forty over years of nation building. His works are like colourful mosaics that form the fabric of the Singaporean collective consciousness.”
—READ! Singapore Programme Committee