| Title | : | Chasing Curtained Suns |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9789810721015 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 98 |
| Publication | : | First published May 1, 2012 |
The poems — which invoke subjects as diverse as childbirth, celebrity culture and National Service — extend beyond a struggle for acceptance amid the transience of modern Singapore and into the universal territory of teenagehood. Growing up suggests an inexorable shift to adult sensibilities, but this transition is fraught with countervailing tensions of moving on, letting go and leaving behind. Yet, the collection ends with an optimism that is both agonising and courageous in its desperation for hope.
Alternately lyrical and experimental, confessional and incisive, Yam flexes his poetic versatility by combining ruthless introspection with hard-won catharsis. The ensuing redefinition of boundaries, between what must be left unsaid and what seeks reiteration, holds testimony to a voice that is unafraid of frankness — a voice ready to spearhead the next generation of Singaporean literature.
"Jerrold Yam’s poems sparkle, yet underneath all that lustre is a fledgling spirit eager to build bridges out of uncertainty, loneliness and self-doubt, before arriving at a still point of equipoise and wonder."
– Cyril Wong
Chasing Curtained Suns Reviews
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Yam's debut takes the reader into the psyche of a young man trying to escape - prodigal - and finally finding a sense of inheritance. The theme of family is at once its linchpin and, upon further reflection, undoing - for even as the unsettled nature of his confessionals and images make at times powerful statements, it feels as if the elevation of the everyday does not always reach transcendence.
For Yam it is the intense focus on the moment, the impression, that forms the seed of most of these poems. I'm eagerly anticipating a sophomore effort that manages to look at the wider world through these same lenses. -
It just didn't cut it for me. I didn't really 'connect' with his works but there were a couple of good ones upon closer inspection.
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Couldn’t bring myself to finish this tbh
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Will be getting this soon!
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Nah.
