Ponti

This is a lively read - strong characters bring the story of a faded z-lost actress to life. But first and foremost, I have to praise the cover design. I try not to judge a book by its cover, but this bold and bright best stuck in my head and made me read.

I loved this book so, so, much. Sharlene Teo is my new favourite author and I urge everyone in the world ever to read this, her debut novel. Her writing is amazing, she is so clever and funny. She is just extremely sharp-witted and all her characters are like wonderful caricatures with such colourful personalities.

This book is based around three characters: Szu, her mother and her best friend. All the characters tell their stories from different times; their timelines do not overlap but they are all relevant to one another and come together into one big picture. Szu is in the present; her mother Amisa is in the past when she was a young girl and growing into a woman and mother, and her best friend Circe is in the future when she has grown older and is looking back to the past. Szu's mother was once an actress in a B movie: "Ponti!" Although it was a complete flop and nobody has ever even seen it, Amisa is forever a bitter and proud superstar.

All three of these characters are funny and sad. They each have their own unique problems and ultimately they are similar in many ways, but the author does a really good job of differentiating their voices and personalities so it is never confusing or dull. They all have interesting and unusual relationships with each other. The characters have love for one another in strange ways, and I love the way they interact incredibly awkwardly and think weird, crazy things - ultimately just like real people.

My favourite character is Szu. She is so awkward and I can relate to her so much, I guess because she feels like she has nobody to talk to and her mother is such a huge presence that she feels completely overshadowed by the ever present memory of her mother's stardom. And, of course, she is not beautiful and graceful like her mother is, and that is such a disappointment to everyone, especially Szu.

Ultimately, this book is about awkwardness and ageing, family and friendship, success and failure. If you have ever been human, there is something you can appreciate in this book. The writing is amazing (have I said that already?) and just makes it so special and enjoyable to read. This is my new favourite book of all time and I would give it 6 stars if I could.

In 2003 Szu is a teenager living with her mother and aunt in Singapore. A bit of a loner, Szu is often seen as an outsider until one day she befriends Circe and the two quickly become close. The narrative also follows Szu's mother Amisa in the 1980s as she struggles to become a famous actress, with her only credit as the monster Pontianiak in a low-budget horror and its sequels. Finally, in 2020 a recently-divorced Circe is forced to confront her past when she is part of the advertising team of the rebooted Ponti films.

The three different perspectives are incredibly well-written. Each sheds new light on the past and the other women involved in the story. As a reader you see these characters from different angles, making them feel very fleshed out. None are wholly good or bad, but rather have moments that attract sympathy or disgust. Teo also gives each of them a distinct narrative voice, making them feel like individuals rather than just a plot device. You are always very aware of whose perspective you are following and Teo never slips up going back and forth between the characters. However I found Szu to be quite unrelatable at first. Her first chapter I found a bit of a slog, especially compared to Amisa and Circe. When you get further into the plot you do begin to understand her, but at the beginning she is a hard character to connect to.

The novel shares its name with the film Amisa stars in, and there does appear to be horror elements within Ponti, particularly body horror. The most obvious example is when the reader first meets Circe in 2020, she goes into detail about her tape worm. Her strange fascination felt uncomfortable to read and Teo explores this notion of the body throughout the text. There are constant mentions of sweat and scabs, with Amisa at one point comparing her body to beef patty. The juxtaposition between this incredibly over-the-top horror movie and the average body was fascinating. No matter how horrific the events depicted in film are, reality feels much more gruesome.

Of course Teo explores the flip-side to this idea of body horror. Szu is constantly comparing herself to girls at school, whom she considers flawless, and Circe works in advertising where looks have a great importance. In a way this is itself a kind of body horror; a desperation to look a certain way, a fixation on beauty. It makes you question whether Szu's dislike of her body comes from within herself or whether external pressures to be beautiful are affecting her perspective.

Teo's writing here is very evocative and lyrical. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel, as some passages within Ponti are stunning. As a reader you are transported to Singapore and Teo describes it so vividly it feels like you're there in the bustle of the city or the lush greenery of the countryside. The imagery is beautiful, imaginative and I wish I could underline so many passages in my copy. Not a word feels misplaced or haphazardly thrown in; a lot of care and patience has gone into each chapter and it shows.

Ponti is an incredible novel. Without going into spoilers Teo deals with very serious topics yet I found reading the novel a very uplifting experience. The characterisation of the three main leads was excellent and they were very well-developed. However the main strength of the novel lies in Teo's writing style. It is haunting and imaginative, letting you explore a part of the world which doesn't often appear in literature, particularly in the Western world. If you can get through Szu's first chapter, then Ponti is certainly a worthwhile read.

A coming-of-age novel set against the relentless modernisation of Singapore, where air pollution is measured daily and reeks of rotten eggs, or burnt barbecue.
In Ponti, men are largely absent or feckless. This is a novel about three women and told in three time perspectives. In the early 2000s Szu is sixteen, tall, awkward and ostracised by everyone; even her own mother is a monster who rejects her. She eventually finds a friend in Circe, another loner who is equally unpopular. There are brilliant descriptions of the 'mean' girls, the in-groups who tease and bully Szu and Circe: They are as idle and cunning as crocodiles ... Every morning, in unison, they twist their shampoo-advert hair gently in their hands and draw it over their shoulder like a rifle sling.
As well as a monster for a mother, Szu is also coming to terms with a missing father, and the knowledge that now her mother is dying, she'll never gain her affection or approval. She'll be left with only the mysterious Aunt Yunxi who works as a medium, with Amisa as her assistant.
In the 70s Amisa, young, poor and impossibly beautiful, is spotted by a film director and promised international stardom: Her face would grace billboards in Hong Kong, Paris, Hollywood ... she would be immortal. She makes a series of three shlock horror films starting with Ponti! about the Pontianak, a vampire-like monster who lures men to their deaths with her ethereal beauty. But when the films are released, horror is unfashionable; everyone wants American sci-fi movies like Close Encounters. The films are a flop. Amisa never hits the big time and her short film career defines the rest of her life.
In 2020 Circe, estranged from Szu, is working for a cutting edge media company promoting a reworking of Ponti for a contemporary audience. But she's living with a medical condition more typical of developing countries - a tapeworm that she feels moving inside her, symbolising the monster she feels she is and the guilt that she was disloyal to Szu when her mother died. Circe also felt the strange mystical bond with Amisa - What linked us was something real and true and rare. Szu wouldn't understand.
Writing in the Observer, Julie Myerson was damning about Teo's knotty verbiage and MA creative writing-speak; while I think she's heavy handed in her criticism, she does have a point about the language; but only on a very few occasions.
Overall this ambitious debut novel is a success - it took me back to the sometimes gruesomeness of life as an angsty adolescent. Painfully sad but sometimes humorous, Ponti is an eye-opening read about the effects of rapid modernisation on a developing country and the people who have to live with the consequences.

I was really struck by the sense of place in this book. Having read it, I feel like I’ve been to Singapore, and that I could tell you what it feels like and looks like and smells like. I also loved the way the author was able to create the strange, push/pull feeling that is so particular to teenage friendships. At times the level of description was a bit overwhelming for me, but generally I loved the details that Teo chose to pick up and linger on. She doesn’t hide or gloss over any uncomfortable details, which I found refreshing. Reading this book was a truly sensory experience.