Book Review of The Ghost Lover of Emerald Hill and Other Stories
by Goh Sin Tub
In this book comprising
of 12 short stories, there are the entertaining works of Goh Sin Tub. The settings are in Singapore. The titles are: The Ghost Lover of Emerald Hill (storytelling), Bukit Ho Swee
Memoir (relating experiences), A Time to
Let Die (food for thought), The Brief Rebellion of Mr Phua
(food for thought), Sold for Consideration
(food for thought), David in Clover (a very interesting tale and food for
thought), What’s a Rat to do in a Rat-race? (interesting tale), Insecurity
of Tenure (amusing story), The Curse of Hai Leng Ong (amusing and suspenseful
story with a twist in the ending), Moral Turpitude at St Jerome’s (story
with well-laid background), Sayonara Sensei (story with a very good plot)
and A Killer in Our HDB Block (childish, but entertaining story).
Contribution:
All stories written in
this book have a very relaxed atmosphere, as though it was written for
the purpose of a letter to a friend. The more
interesting stories are those mostly written in a first person’s or second
perspective, which has the effect of being seemingly friendly. The author's
stories of this manner attempts to crack a few jokes, which does cause
a few smiles, and this makes the story seem more personal and amiable. In fact, they are
written so friendly that it almost seems that the writer is arrating to
you the events face to face with you.
The stories are very
short. This keeps the interest in the reader, as the reader will not feel
too tired reading an old grandmother’s story. All
the text is quite relevant to the development of the plot, and rather direct,
which makes good material for easy reading. This is also a plus for those
who read at night after a tiring day and those who are impatient.
As you probably have
inferred, the themes of short stories are widely dispersed. This does allow
for keeping the reader’s interest. One will
not feel bored as they would if the same themes are used in all
stories, for if the same themes were to
be used throughout the book, it would sort of seem to be repeating itself,
even if the plots are different.
Lee Hong Wei