The Ayam Curtain by J.Y. Yang

The Ayam Curtain Reviews

• 
  Tamara✨

  I absolutely ADORE the concept of centering a speculative fiction anthology on the idea of a bird flying in and out, allowing the reader to swiftly visit several realities of one place. It’s so Singaporean as well as it reminded me mostly of the strange phenomena of the birds on Orchard Road.
  
  How every evening, around 6pm, they get up and start flying around squawking like mad (in Singapore). That is definitely a moment that I can see as being supernatural or paranormal and that all the birds are simply popping in and out of dimensional pockets, returning to whenever or wherever home is.
  
  Under 160 pages, this books is REALLY worth it. Great for the kind of person who either doesn’t have a lot of time to sit down and read, is in a reading slump, enjoys scifi and fantasy but craves diversity or a Singaporean who is missing home.
  
  FULL REVIEW HERE:
  https://hercommonplaceblog.wordpress....
• 
  Tanushri Saha

  The concept of this book is really fascinating- if birds could fly across multiple timelines in Singapore, what would they see? And how would they convey these visions of the many times they occupy to us? I really enjoyed the 'Speaking Bird Language' one page micro-fiction pieces at the start. Very concise and conceptual, and they gave me small glimpses into different imaginations of Singapore, both past and present, as well as potential Singapores of the future. Part 2 (The Ayam Curtain) was less tight to me conceptually, but still made for a nice read.
• 
  Jericho Eames

  My luck with anthologies have been pretty great lately! All these local literature that I've been picking up have been really good and boy did I enjoy myself, it's really a pity that the stories were all short and thereby stopped short the fun. I feel that they could have been developed into full length novels that might explore a very, very interesting Singapore.
• 
  Carey McCormack

  Interesting concepts but these stories should be called micro stories not short stories. Very little provided to sink your teeth into.
• 
  S.B. Wright

  Ayam Curtain is an elegant book, in conception, construction and content. A delight to read and perceive. It’s one of those joyous books that is a work of art because of the words on its pages and how those pages are presented.
  
  I first became aware of the project after stumbling across one of the editors, Joyce Chng(@jolantru) on twitter. She, as well as all the writers in the collection are worth checking out - from the Alvin Pang’s to the Clara Yeo’s.
  
  I rarely give out 5 star reviews, generally a work has to really hit me emotionally or be doing something clever or original.
  
  Being a collection Ayam Curtain doesn’t carry the emotional punching power of a novel, but there are pieces that peck at my emotions, stories that that flit in and out of my perception, evoke memories and images that fade with beat of tiny feathered wings.
  
  Ayam Curtain is split into two distinct parts, the first, Speaking Bird Language or kong jiao wei (translated as a cock and bull story, a flight of fancy), is a collection of micro fiction that gives the reader short fluttering glimpses of alternate Singapore.
  
  They can vary wildly in construction and tone from JY Yang’s Interview (which is lucky if it’s more than 100 words long), which manages to cover class, control and language as an inhibitor, to, They called me the hyacinth girl by Victor Ocampo, a haunting passage of a Crow’s flight.
  
  

  Dejected, rejected it returns to the parliament of trees, the ninth circle of hell where Indian Troops sing to the dead of Changi: Manasu marugudhey, manasu marugudhey

  
  
  Yet the sum is greater than its parts, with each of the small pieces forming a cacophony of bird calls that seems to have a distinct sound about it, nostalgia seems to perch easily, side by side with perceptions of the future.
  
  The second part of the book, The Ayam Curtain, features longer works of up to 1000 words. The effect is much the same, diverse tone and style but with an overall synthesis that gives a tangible sense of speculative Singapore.
  
  Woodwind by Clara Yeo points a feathered wing at Singapore’s deforestation, as a young child imagines that she can hear the story of a Rosewood table. While JY Yang posits the real reason for SMRT train breakdowns in The War going on Beneath Us.
  
  The intention of the collection was to
  
  1. uncover the diversity of writers voices in Singapore
  
  2. and to explore local issues
  
  all under the larger wing of speculative fiction. The editors have achieved this vision. I step away from the book with a number of new (to me ) writers that I want to follow up and a tangible sense of the issues that are foremost in the minds of the speculative fiction community of Singapore.
  
  This book deserves wide circulation. I encourage you to purchase and enjoy. To enrich your literary experience with the birdsong than is Ayam Curtain.
  
  This book was a gift borne on steel wings, from the Lion Fish City. You can purchase it from Books Actually, Singapore’s number one independent bookstore.
  
• 
  Guan You

  The tenacity to hold on to such visionary themes of speculative fiction must be lauded, and the collection of short stories is breath-taking in quality. That said, I actually enjoyed the front half of the collection, more so than the latter and longer stories by the more established (ahem?) authors.
• 
  Crookedtalks

  The anthology is split into 2 parts: the first part, titled “Speaking Bird Language”, features 20 different “bite-sized microfiction pieces” that are about a page long, while the second part, titled “The Ayam Curtain” features 17 longer pieces that span a few pages.
  
  The reason why it took me so long to read this anthology was due to the fact that I was rereading the first part of this anthology multiple times. Unfortunately, probably due to how short the pieces were, the first part was enjoyable but mostly forgettable. I would say that many of the pieces in the first part feel more like thought experiments to me, which was a pity because I wished some of these were more fleshed out and explored further in greater detail. Most of the pieces in the first part had a futuristic sci-fi element to them, and out of those many had post-apocalyptic/dystopian theme, which I thought was an interesting coincidence. With so many stories that shared these similar themes though, the voices of the 20 writers were luckily distinct enough that the stories did not risk seeming like regurgitations of each other.
  
  For the second part of the anthology, my favourite stories were Her Name Was Jane by Joses Ho, Taungaruda by Ivan Kwan and The Goldfish Bowl by Liana Gurung. I loved the twist (no spoilers!) in Her Name Was Jane; the suspense was done very well and I did not see the final reveal coming at all. I love detective/crime/mystery shows, so Taugaruda was right up my alley, and I wished I could have read the whole thing, the ending felt like such a cliffhanger. The Goldfish Bowl was surprisingly poetic, and the language used hit me in the right places. I think it will resonate with people who had close family members with Alzheimer’s.
  
  The strength of the collection, which was clearly present in the stories in the first part as well (despite my gripes about their lack of impact), was that most of the stories had something very Singaporean threading through them, whether it is the characters and their voices, the language used, the setting, or even the scenarios described that are so familiar to locals but which may seem strange to others. I think this really pulled the stories together into a coherent collection and became something easily identifiable as a common quality to all the otherwise vastly different fictions. As I entered this anthology wishing to discover more local writers that I like, I am really glad that I picked up this anthology in the end because this anthology helped me do just that. I think this is a great anthology for people who want to get into local lit but have no idea where to start, and I would recommend it to anyone who would like a taster of Singaporean literature.