The Billion Shop by Stephanie Ye

The Billion Shop Reviews

• 
  Jason Lundberg

  You know the feeling of discovering a great new band, one that's still small enough to be playing local clubs and seedy bars, but you can just tell from the quality of their music and the awesomeness of their sound that they're going to make it big someday, and that you were a superfan before they broke through? Reading this chapbook is like the literary equivalent of that experience.
  
  I've been a fan of Stephanie Ye's writing for a few years now, mostly catching her short fiction in Quarterly Literary Review Singapore, but it wasn't until her work was collected that the cumulative impact of her facility with words was made blindingly evident. The Billion Shop, constructed as a collection of four linked short stories, showcases Ye's preoccupation with individual identity and the winding paths of lifelong friendships, often within the backdrop of transnational wanderlust. Taken individually, these stories exude a quiet power, but as a collection, one which I inhaled in the gulp of a single sitting, they cohere into something greater, and form a profound statement about belief, acceptance, and those small revelatory moments that reveal the numinous in earthly existence.
• 
  Naaytaashreads

  Disclaimer: I receive a free copy of this book from Books Actually.
  
  This feeling of cosmic and cruel injustice, that of all the random places in all the world to be from, you had to be from here. This place so tiny. Insignificant. Unsophisticated. Hot. Except when it rains."
  
  I feel like this book brings back a sense of memory and familiarity.
  Being Singapore, the things said, atmosphere, culture is so relatable and remind me of my childhood at times.
  
  I understand it was short stories but I wish there was more stories of it for me to feel way more attached to the stories till the end. I love the nostalgic feeling and the story feels like it cuts my mood when it ended too fast.
  
  The ending narrative gave me goosebumps though.
  
  
  
• 
  Chawanat

  รวมเรื่องสั้น 4 เรื่องโดยนักเขียนหญิงชาวสิงคโปร์ ทั้งหมดเล่าเรื่องความสัมพันธ์โดยมีตัวละครหนุ่มสาวที่เคยเป็นเพื่อนร่วมเรียนช่วงไฮสคูลเป็นแกนกลาง ตอนอ่านจบใหม่ๆ ยังไม่รู้สึกว่ามีอะไรกระทบใจมากนัก แต่พอทิ้งระยะให้ความรู้สึกได้ตกตะกอนก็พบว่าผู้เขียนถ่ายทอดความสัมพันธ์ของ "คนกับคน" และ "คนกับเมือง" ได้งดงามมาก โดยเฉพาะฉากหลังที่สิงคโปร์—เมืองที่เป็นประเทศและประเทศที่เป็นเมือง เราสัมผัสได้ว่าความพยายามในการสร้างชาติและความเจริญทางเศรษฐกิจอย่างรวดเร็วของสิงคโปร์นั้น ในทางหนึ่งได้บ่อนเซาะ "ความรู้สึกผูกพัน" ของคนหนุ่มสาวที่มีต่อประเทศของตนให้น้อยลงอย่างไม่น่าเชื่อ แม้จะมีมหาวิทยาลัย โรงละคร หรือองค์กรธุรกิจชั้นนำไม่แพ้ยุโรปหรืออเมริกา แต่คนหนุ่มสาวเหล่านั้นก็รู้สึกว่ามันเป็นเพียงผลผลิตของการนำเข้าที่พวกเขาเป็นเพียง "ผู้เช่าอาศัยและใช้งาน" เท่านั้น เมื่อไม่อาจเป็นเจ้าของหรือครอบครองอะไรได้ เราจึงเห็นตัวละครแต่ละตัวพยายามเสาะหาทางของตัวเองในการออกไปนอกประเทศ (ไม่ว่าจะชั่วคราวหรือถาวร) ราวกับสิ่งนั้นเป็นทุกสิ่งทุกอย่างในชีวิต
  
  อย่างไรก็ตาม ใช่ว่าการดั้นด้นไปข้างหน้าจะมีสิ่งดีกว่ารออยู่เสมอไป เพราะความรู้สึกไม่เป็นส่วนหนึ่งของสังคมที่ตัวเองอยู่นั้นเป็นหนึ่งในภาวะปกติของโลกสมัยใหม่ไปแล้ว เราต่างเป็นคนไกลบ้านที่เดินทางไปเรื่อยๆ โดยไม่รู้ว่า "บ้าน" ของตัวเองอยู่ที่ไหน แต่ไม่ว่าใครก็ล้วนต้องการที่ที่จะกลับไป อย่างน้อยก็สักแห่งหนึ่ง
• 
  Faterider

  Such a neat concept, executed with élan. A charming collection of four stories that made me raise my eyebrows as I realised how the characters in previous stories were linked to those in later ones. It was interesting to read stories from both the perspective of the character himself/herself and the perspective of someone close to this character. Also noteworthy was how I could get a sense of how a character named Emma grew from a precocious eleven-year-old to a hesitant mum-to-be. Through time and space and distance, Stepahnie Ye's characters evolve - and what a treat it is to read of their growth.
  
  I also belong to that group of Singaporeans who totally relate to what she's writing in regards to just wanting to "get the hell out of the place you were born" (pg 35). Been there, done that.
  
  I award this book 3 stars, because if I may be honest, I find the characters and plots quite forgettable. I don't quite resonate with them; maybe it's because I have yet to explore the United States. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this quaint and intelligent book :)
• 
  Dave

  A great, but too slim, collection of stories. Displacement, physical and spiritual, is a theme that runs through all three of the stories here, and Ye's skill with language is remarkable. Definitely a writer to watch out for.
• 
  K Flewelling

  This book is a perfect gem of beautiful ordinariness, where the descriptions so effortlessly describe a world all at once foreign and familiar. After visiting Singapore to attend a conference early this year, I became fascinated by the short and curious history of this tiny city-state. The short lines on the back of the book described the changes the author -- a 30-year-old (at the time of publishing) Singaporean -- had experienced in her life, and these stories a paper offering to the places and people that once were. The book is composed of four interrelated short stories, each of them independently standing alone, but put together made me feel nostalgic, lonely, and expansive simultaneously. I loved it entirely, and the final sentences in the last story left me with goosebumps.
• 
  Esther Lai

  The intriguing description of the book made me purchase it, and I was pleasantly surprised as i began reading the first story. Even more so, when I realised all four stories were connected. Was delightful to travel from a character's story to the next, unpacking their friendships as well as how their outlook on life changed as they grew older. Personal favourite was The Billion Shop.
  
  
• 
  Rhea

  A short story collection from #MathPaperPress. It feels like floating midair when you jump from one platform to another. It is the seconds before things change. It is the first big fat drops of rain before the deluge. I have not read much short stories but this collection is making me feel some type of way... and it's a good one.
• 
  Judith Huang

  Deftly crafted, these four interlinked stories are a little window into middle class Singaporean JC and post JC life, its outward facing character and the tenuous connections between people when they leave school. Quite beautiful.
• 
  mellamy

  woulda given it five stars but i just wish it was longer!
• 
  Akriti

  felt like a gentle hug. slightly tinged with sadness but warm still.
• 
  Jemma

  I didn't quite get this book at first, but I'm really glad I stuck with it. Great vignettes of ordinary people drifting through their lives.
• 
  Apollos Michio

  The Billion Shop is a very short book (chapbook) consisting of four interconnected short stories. On the whole, the book does not seem to have a striking storyline, and the stories, though interconnected, don’t have any clear overarching theme. Yet, it is this lack of specificity that allows room for readers to think and ponder upon the meanings of the narrative.
  
  Like the previous book I read, From the Belly of the Cat, which was edited by the same author Stephanie Ye, I am glad the stories here also display certain facets of the Singaporean society. The experience of reading local literature (aka SingLit) deepens the Singaporean identity within me and makes me appreciate Singapore and her idiosyncrasies more.
  
  Even if the book, in my opinion, is too short to leave any impact, it is still a worthy offering.
  
  3.5/5
• 
  Aquila Michiryu

  The Billion Shop, written by Stephanie Ye, consists of four interconnected short stories that centres around the themes of lost, love and nostalgia. The stories are tender and sentimental (reminds me of some JapLit books), making it a soothing and relaxing read. My only lament is that the book is too short 😅, wished it was longer!
  
  A short and highly-readable #SingLit book that I enjoyed!
  
  My rating: 4/5
• 
  Maya Saputra

  There's so much feeling in less than 100 pages. I love it when I found out that the stories are actually interlinked, and I only realized it when I came across familiar names in the next stories. The last part brought me to fully round up a story of childhood friends, and how far the relationships have stretch after they're no longer bound by the force of school universe.
  
  Bringing (or ordering, in a case) one chapbook home made me feel like a kid carrying her unopened gift box home. I knew that it would be good, but it exceeds my expectation for its size (and price!). 'Never judge a book by its cover' - it has never been truer in instances like this :)
• 
  Hui Ping

  It was amazing how well they linked all the 4 short stories together, concluding with one of the most important elements in life- friendship.
  
  The local setting would definitely set in nostalgia for readers like us as well, "billion shops" found among shophouses. It is a pity that our small country's rapid development have been eroding many of these areas, and these stories serve well to hold memories of this place which would otherwise have been forgotten.
• 
  Ana AZ

  I bought this book during my vacation in Singapore because I wanted to read something local. What I got, though, was a glimpse of how internationally involved Singapore is. The stories span countries and cultures. I think my favorite of the four short stories is "The Billion Shop" but I like how all of the four were connected to each other.
• 
  Ray Ong

  of moments missed, due to the choices we made. life is beautiful in its mysterious ways, and Ye brilliantly illustrates this through her wonderful interlinked stories. the best stories give you insight on the human condition, and this doesn't fail on that aspect.
• 
  Charlene Lee

  Loved the way Stephanie, through reducing the most familiar local things in writing, made them into something much more than the ordinary things we have grown to neglect around us.
  
  I loved this book so much that I hate how it ended too soon.
• 
  Jon

  
  
  Really liked Cardiff and Astoria and the sense of the passing of time.
• 
  Mayee

  Five stars for Steph -- but seriously, these stories take me back to the textures of Singaporean JC (junior college) life in the '90s.
• 
  Yu-Mei Balasingamchow

  This collection includes "City in C Minor", one of my favourite short stories of all time.
• 
  Sabrina Loh

  Lovely book with sweet prose that tells neat little stories about people who desire for something more. Enjoyed it very much.
• 
  Genevieve L.

  Memorable for its emotional truths and fluid, clear language.
• 
  Priscilla

  Affecting. Evocative. Magnificent.
• 
  Jake

  How should I put this — Ye lets the emotions of her characters hover and sigh and come undone, grazing each other in their trajectories.
  
  There is something in these stories like when Jon Hopkins and King Creosote sing of prayers for a diamond in our carbon lives. There is something here like when Olafur Arnalds plays his major ninth. Something here like a glint deep in a cup.