Ponti by Sharlene Teo

What is it about?

In 2003 in Singapore, two lonely teenagers, Szu and Circe, develop a close friendship, while Szu’s mother Amisa, a former actress who starred in three horror movies, is dying.

OK, but what is it really about?

Amisa Tan used to be an actress, starring in three horror movies as “Pontianak”, the spirit of a woman who died while she was pregnant and a well-known figure in Malay mythology. Amisa had dreams about becoming a glamorous movie star – after all, she seemed to be predestined for a career in film thanks to her otherworldly beauty. But the films flopped and new offers never came. By the time the story begins, Amisa is a recluse, an eerily beautiful and silent occupant in her house. 

She doesn’t seem to have a lot of affection for her teenage daughter Szu, an outsider at her high school without any friends. This changes when Szu meets Circe and the two girls strike up an intense friendship. 

Many years later, Circe – having just gone through a divorce – works as a social media consultant. Her latest work project revolves around creating a PR campaign for a remake of the “Pontianak” movies, and she is catapulted back into her adolescence, remembering the days she spent with Szu during the months and weeks before Amisa passed away.

Told through three different perspectives against the backdrop of a hot and sweltering Singapore and with some supernatural elements, “Ponti” spans several decades, from the 1960s until present day, following the fates of three women who were once closely connected to one another.

Is it any good?

There was a bit of controversy around “Ponti” shortly after it was released. The Observer published a harsh review, calling Sharlene Teo’s debut novel “a lesson in the limitations of a creative writing course” and finishing with the shattering conclusion: “If a more vivid, elastic and relaxed Sharlene Teo is hiding somewhere beneath all this knotty verbiage and MA creative writing-speak, then I wish her lots of luck – and a much tougher editor – for her next novel.” 

I did read this review after I had purchased the book and thought it was pretty abrasive, yet at the same time, it made me want to read “Ponti” even more. Reviews are extremely personal, and many of the other articles about this novel were much more favorable.

I’m happy to say that I don’t agree with The Observer’s review at all. I find Sharlene Teo’s words carefully chosen, at times even poetic – yes, she is heavy on metaphors, but that didn’t bother me one bit. Instead, I thought they fit the story well: a story of lost opportunities and redemption, regrets and second chances. 

The author paints a vivid picture of Singapore throughout the decades, portraying the city state as a melting pot where tradition and modernity co-exist, but sometimes also clash. Having had Singapore as a sort of second home for many years, I could perfectly imagine Circe’s flat in hip Tiong Bahru in 2020, and the movie theatre in Bugis in 2003. Experiencing Singapore through Amisa’s eyes from the 1960s and 70s was an added bonus for me: when I closed my eyes, I could take in the scent from the market she worked at, and see the streets of Geylang, an infamous area even back then.

Szu’s chapters are set in 2003, and there is one paragraph that seems horribly foreboding when reading it now, during a global pandemic: “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome had broken out in Guangdong the year before and coughed and hacked its way around the region. People had died from it. Everyone was afraid of getting infected.”

Favorite character?

It’s hard to name a favorite character in a book where everyone seems to be so misunderstood, miserable and melancholy, yet I did feel connected to Szu the most. Abandoned physically by her father, and neglected emotionally by her mother, she also struggles with teenage angst and develops an eating disorder. She is an extremely intense and complex person, and while she apparently lacks the striking beauty of her mother who has enchanted everyone she ever came in contact with, Szu is just as appealing and fascinating as a character.

Most memorable quote?

“Szu and I were citizens of nowhere. We never felt a belonging. Not with the happy nor the popular nor even the outliers, the rebels. We were too gawky to be mysterious, too cautious to be wild, and too self-conscious to stand out. We thought our alienation was unique, and felt secretly enlivened by our discontentment; it meant we weren’t sheep.”

Conclusion? 

“Ponti” is not an easy read, often raw and brutally honest. The main characters are flawed human beings, driven by jealousy, ambition and desperation. But if anything, their flaws make them more real. I’m curious to see what the author will write next.

This is the first novel I have read for this month’s #stanasianauthors readathon, and if the remaining books on my list are as engaging as this one, I can only congratulate myself for my clever selection.

Trigger warning: death, depression, eating disorder

AT A GLANCE

Title: Ponti

By: Sharlene Teo

Published by: Picador (2019)

Pages: 304

Language: English