Foreign Bodies

by Hwee Hwee Tan

Book Overview

This first novel about international Gen-Xers is set in Singapore and follows three friends caught up in a mystery that ends in a spiritual quest. It heralds the arrival of an exciting new writer. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671041703
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 0.8" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Between two worlds...

Hwee Hwee Tan's stunning debut novel, Foreign Bodies, written at the age of 23, both surprised me and gave me food for thought. The story of nine tension-filled days in the lives of three Gen-X friends in Singapore enthralled me with its discussion of the challenges of living as an ex-patriate in a country that may or may not be welcoming, the clash of two vastly different cultures, and the author's effective use of three different narrators to tell the story. I expected the novel to be a comedy of cultural manners when I started it, but I soon realized that the work, while including those elements, transcended that. The title, Foreign Bodies, very cleverly points to the central theme of the novel--that life often presents us with tensions and paradoxes that we can't always resolve into nice, neat packages. As a hard of hearing woman whose life straddles both the hearing and deaf worlds, I can especially appreciate the meshing of two cultures that makes up Singapore. Much like the Singlish that Tan uses to good effect in her novel, I, at times, communicate using a sign language that is a patois of American Sign Language conventions in an English word order. I can understand the feeling of being part of two cultures, and yet feeling not completely a part of either one. I could also relate to Mei, the lawyer in the novel, in her struggles as a woman in a male-dominated culture and in her attempts to feel a part of her family, despite traumatic childhood events that have infected her like a foreign body.Despite the novel's obvious linguistic and stylistic aim at the Gen-X age group, it has a more universal appeal due to its discussions of sin, of keeping and breaking promises, and of moral and spiritual redemption that transcends all ages, races, and the genders. I can't wait for Ms. Tan's next novel! Highly recommended.

Different

This book was really something different. It looked interesting from the jacket, and as I read it I was pleasantly surprised to discover the pro-God stance taken by Mei. It is rare to find such a book with such references. I applaud Tan on this charming and funny novel. I hope to hear more from her in the near future.

Foreigners, Secrets, Guilt - Foreign Bodies in Singapore

A novel about religion, first and foremost, how it helps Andy, who goes from being a drifter, angst-ridden, and full of doubt, to someone who accepts fate, even in a Singaporean jail; about Mei, who learns to live with secrets through her religion, and about Eugene, their friend, who does not have this faith, and therefore, ultimately suffers.As an Overseas Chinese, I was amazed by the pervasiveness of the Old Culture - the Singaporean attitude to education and marriage is not just typical of Singapore - it can be found wherever there are older generation Chinese/Asians.Tan's book covers a lot of ground - anxieties faced by young people in search for themselves, the mother-daughter relationship, religion, Singapore and foreigners...It is an amazing book and the first written by a modern Asian that I have truly enjoyed.

Brilliant book!

Hwee Hwee Tan's book "Foreign Bodies" works at several levels: as a spiritual testimony, as a tragi-comic description of post modern angst, as a story of friendship gone sour, as a brilliant exposition of what it means to live in a world without borders.As someone who has tasted the life described in this book - the strange world of expatriate existence - I can say that on this point in particular there are few books out there that do a better job of illuminating what that is about - to be "in" but not "of" the world you inhabit.A brilliantly conceived novel - the best I have read for years.