Rojak: Bite-Sized Stories by Amir Muhammad

Rojak: Bite-Sized Stories Reviews

• 
  Pa

  Tahun-tahun lepas, semasa aku tengok dekat MPH, buku ini harganya lebih kurang RM 40 gitu. Tak mampu nak beli. Sabar, sabar...
  
  Tahun ni, beberapa hari lepas, sekali lagi aku tengok, harganya dah turun pulak. RM22. Lama aku tahan sabar. Sekarang dah mampu beli. YAAAAAHHHHHH! *taekwondo meja cashier MPH*
  
  
  
  Kulit keras ke, kulit lembut ke, berbaloi duit awak dilaburkan ke atas buku ini. Nice sekali.
  
  Cuma, yalah. Aku ini duitnya tak ramai sangat. Dah duit tak banyak ni, dapat banyakkan bersabar je la.
  
  
  
  Ok, ini bukan review.
• 
  Arif Zulkifli

  This book is awesome!
  Love the satire!
  
  This book is the peacock of certot while 40 is just a raven. Hoho
  
  Please write again amir!
• 
  Sooraya Evans

  Lame.
  Lacking creativity, the author resorts to the usual formula to appeal to the masses:
  Sex, sex and more sex.
  Towards the end, a few selected anecdotes are again retold in a slightly longer form. For what?
  I don't see the point of the accompanying illustrations either, rather than increasing page count.
  That being said, what's with the thick glossy paper?
  Don't waste your time with this.
• 
  Pak Badrul

  Buku kertas tebal yang menghimpunkan cerita-cerita satira kontot. Aku baca yang versi melayu punya. Huhu..
• 
  Khairul Hezry

  (Below is an excerpt of my review at:
  http://themalaysianreader.com/2010/07...
  
  
  An ode to minimalism, the short stories in Rojak are really short; most run no longer than two pages. But in those two pages that contain each story, we get a slice of Malaysiana that an orang asing might not be able to appreciate. Anyone outside Malaysia know anything about Mona Fandey? If so, they can appreciate My Life As An Artis. There are tales about sex, including one that revolves around tempoyak which delivers a punchier conclusion with an extended version which Amir included at the back pages of the book (two other stories are given extended versions as well). There are stories of hypocrisy like DVD and Honesty and laugh-out-loud stories like The Breakup where a jilted boy writes a self-pitying letter to his ex-girlfriend in English but with phrases literally translated from Malay. Also, do you remember the Yasmin Ahmad-directed commercial about the selfish passenger who refused to give up his seat in the LRT? Well, there's an alternate hilarious take of that in this book. Was it not supposed to be hilarious? I giggled anyway.
• 
  Atikah Wahid

  Disclaimer: I'm not really a fan of flash fiction so my rating would be considerably lower than from somebody who actively enjoys that format. I think flash fiction works better on the Internet - if you don't like a story, you can quickly jump to the next one with infinite scrolling. A book with only finite amount of stories? It's pretty difficult to write memorable flash fiction as it is and to get it right all the time is impossible. I mean, I even forgot I already read this book! I had a copy since it was launched back in 2010. Somehow I misplaced it and the book went completely out of my mind. When I found it again, imagine my surprise when I found the book signed by Amir himself, dedicating it to me. Lol!
  
  With that said, I enjoyed reading this book. The best way to describe this anthology is that it is like popcorn. I love eating popcorn, I enjoy eating popcorn - but do I have top 5 best popcorn eatery? Do I crave eating popcorn from time to time? No. But it doesn't mean that I don't enjoy it while I'm eating it, do you know what I mean? Sorry for the food analogy, it's Ramadhan right now. This book reflects Amir's voice so much. It's tongue in cheek, satirical, funny, while playing around with taboo topics like sexuality, race, and religion. Some of my favourite ones are the ones that really made me chuckle like "Mosque Slippers", "Dorm Horror Story", "My Life as an Artist" and "Cempedak". There are also ones that made me raise an eyebrow, like OH HE WENT THERE, with stories like, "Alternate Merdeka Day Commercial", "What Your History Teacher Would Tell You, to Screw With Your Mind" and "Banana". All in all, there are some very good stories in here.
  
  However, one thing that I really liked about this collection is that it reminds me of a time when indie publishing was so new that even Amir Muhammad had to print his own collection under another publishing company! This was before Buku Fixi! Heck, I even read some of the stories before this book was published, through a website called "A City of Shared Stories KL" where anyone can post up fiction about KL. It was a time when everybody was blogging and it occurred to Malaysians that we could actually write stories about us. Those were the days and I will definitely cherish this book as a reminder of that time.
• 
  Anna

  Really enjoyable read. Well curated selection.
• 
  Amal

  There are some quotes to ponder
• 
  Yin Chien 인첸

  Rojak is a collection of short stories. And by short, I mean really short, where each story consists of at most two pages. Often, the stories end so abruptly that I don't know whether I should feel surprised or out of sorts. Some of the stories left me clueless about what the author wants to express, or are there no special meanings at all? However, I love the sarcasm that is displayed in a few of the short stories.
  
  Stories like Speed, Ex-Prefect and DVD show us how the ones who held authority and power may not be as reputable as they seem to be. The letter Sham wrote to Wati in The Breakup made me laughed my head off with its direct translation from Bahasa Melayu to English. Feng Shui shows us how people tend to look in the wrong directions without pinpointing the cause of problems. Honesty is a wonderful short story; the theme is very much in touch with reality. At the end of the story, the protagonist's action betrays his character, and this creates a rather powerful effect on the reader. Dorm Horror Story is presented in the style of black humour, making readers crack up by the time they reach the end of the story.
  
  Overall, this book is quite enjoyable, but I would recommend parents to read through it first before allowing your underage children read it as it contains stories about sex. Rojak is a fun, witty, sarcastic book, but somehow I couldn't fully grasp the message the author wants to convey - if there is one.
• 
  lara_nur

  Buku pertama dari Amir Muhammad yang Lara pernah baca selain Malaysians Politicians Says The Darndest Thing. Tak mengecewakan. Cuma Lara tak suka ia dalam format nya sekarang ini. Helaian glossy paper yang tak perlu, untuk meningkatkan nilai eksklusif (mungkin?) buku ini, dari segi tema nya yang lain dari yang lain. Tapi rasanya bila bercakap tentang buku kompilasi cerita-cerita pendek sebegini penerbit Malaysia cenderung menerbitkannya dalam bentuk glossy paper dan hard cover. Lara pun tak berapa pasti ada berapa buah cerita pendek tapi paling penting semua nya menghiburkan. Ditulis dalam bentuk bahasa "rojak" sama seperti Tapai oleh Isham Rais tapi jika ditolak perasaan jengkel akan format buku ini, bolehlah dikatakan Amir Muhammad berjaya membawa Lara sebagai pembaca jauh ke lubuk minda dan pemikirannya yang selalu kreatif dan gila gila menerusi cerita-cerita biasa sebagai manusia biasa tetapi diolah dalam gaya yang luar biasa!
• 
  Kamalia Ramlan

  Saya membeli buku ini di PBAKL 2011 yang lepas. Buku ini menghimpunkan beberapa cerita pendek yang kontot. Saya merupakan salah seorang peminat cerita-cerita pendek dan saya merasakan cerita-cerita di dalam buku ini berjaya menghiburkan saya. Cerita-cerita di dalam buku ini membuka mata dan minda kita bahawa perkara sekeliling atau sehari-hari yang kita lakukan boleh diterjemahkan menjadi satu cerita yang menarik. Kisah tentang selipar masjid pun boleh dijadikan satu cerita yang menghiburkan. Jadi, tiada istilah writer's block, kan untuk para penulis. Idea ada di mana-mana.
  
  Banyak cerita yang menyindir secara halus, dan ini membuatkan saya tergelak dan ia bukanlah sesuatu yang aneh kerana penulisnya adalah Amir Muhammad. Walaubagaimanapun, ada beberapa cerita yang agak mendatar tetapi ia tidak mencacatkan keseluruhan isi buku ini. :)
• 
  Ilyani

  The book was a birthday present from a close friend of mine. I guess I'm a late reader as the book was published in 2010. (Obviously) I read it in a bus from Sungai Petani to Kuala Lumpur, all it took was a few hours to finish the book.
  
  I found it a little funny in the back of the book where it says "This is not a recipe book", because the title itself is a name of one of many Malaysian delicacies. The book is filled with sense of humour and sarcasm as I read the manglish words. Lol.
  
  When I read the first story, I knew it's going to be a really good book. Although I don't fully understand the meaning from some of the stories. Hence, the four stars. Other than that, it is a good book to fill your time. Short and simple, just nice.
  
  P/S: Sorry for the grammar.
  This is my first review in Goodreads, so please bare with me.
• 
  Khairul Hezry

  Rojak hidangan Amir Muhammad ini pernah dihidangkan di dalam bahasa Inggeris tahun lepas. Saya ada 'ngomel sedikit mengenainya di
  sini. Semua cerpen telah dialih bahasa ke Bahasa Melayu kecuali 'The Breakup' yang tidak akan mempunyai makna jika diterjemah ke BM. Cerpen-cerpen yang lucu dan sinis dalam versi Inggeris tetap lucu dan sinis bila diMelayu-kan. Satu cerpen yg lame dalam versi Inggeris ('The Dorm Horror Story') tetap 'lemah' setelah diMelayu-kan (Cerita Hantu Asrama).
• 
  Sharah

  Buku oleh @amirmu ini sangat AWESOME. As described, it tastes everything - sweet, juicy, spicy, tart, or crunchy! DAN PAHIT JUGA! The flavours of Malaysia, yes. This is the kind of book I've been looking for, can't stop reading until I reach the final page.
  
  There are few stories that I need to read few times to get their exact meaning. But mostly are damn hilarious and entertaining - yet true. Tapi sedih sebab buku saya ada kerosakan pada 7 buah cerita. Salah cetak.
  
  p.s. saya suka LIPSTIK BABI the most! SO TRUE!! LOL.
• 
  Topek Ketopekan

  Penuh dengan kombinasi antara manis, masam, pahit dan pedas. Selalunya pedas dan sinis. Memang sesuai dengan tajuk buku. Saya selalu tersenyum bila membacanya (walupun kadang-kadang ada beberapa cerita yang agak lama masa yang diambil untuk faham maksud yang tersirat). Saya cadangkan kepada yang masih belum membacanya, silalah baca.
• 
  Azam Baizen

  Well actually ak pinjam buku ni from Nabil cuz ntah nape tetibe ak nk baca buku nih. In 2 days je ak abeskan. Not bad gak r cerita2 dlm buku ni. Ad yg best n ad yg bosan but part yg ak suka dlm buku ni is part yg last skali whereby the author panjangkan cerpen2 yg pendek time mula2 dlm buku ni n also gabung certain stories dlm cite ni make it one story. Dat one is very nice and creative.
• 
  Zoul Yazix

  Aku baca percuma dekat kedai buku tahun lepas, tapi tak ingat kedai buku mana. Buku ni buat aku rasa tak malu langsung nak duduk baca tepi rak walaupun dah beberapa kali dijeling staf kedai buku.
  
  Memang kena lah tajuk dia rojak, sebab cerita dia pendek pendek, macam potongan buah buahan yang kecik kecik, boleh gigit satu satu. Terhibur.
• 
  Ashraf Rahman

  Usai membacanya, aku terasa sangap rojak. Sangap teruk. Buku yang santai, berangin, cukup berkesan dan penuh mapan dalam atmosfera tanah tumpahnya darahku Malaysia. Hmm, andai ada rojak depan aku sekarang akan di lantak lantak sehingga inzal dan puas. Rojak yang sedap tahap horny,aduh :)
• 
  Mohd Adib Mohd Aini

  Bagi aku masa baca buku ini macam engkau makan semangkuk rojak kat tepi jalan.Ada macam-macam isi dalam rojak itu,sesetengah orang kalau tidak suka akan asingkan isi rojak yang kurang digemarinya. Tapi tidak bagi aku, aku makan dan hadam kesemuanya.
• 
  Zetty Khairunisa

  Senyum sikit. Geleng kepala. Senyum lagi. Geleng lagi. Ulang baca banyak kali. Ok, got it! Banyak yg tak faham dari yg faham. Tapi apa kisah. Ini tulisan bos besar. Memang patut lebih barai, lebih messy, lebih berkias, lebih sinis, lebih ironi. Lebih lit. Lebih rare! Hoho.
• 
  Rehan Abd Jamil

  different...
• 
  Jame

  At this moment so hard to understand what Mr Amir trying to tell in his recent book called Rojak. By the way my wife propose me to read for second time for better view and understood.
• 
  Zeeqa

  Santai. Pelbagai himpunan certot(cerita kontot) yang bisa membuatkan anda tidak tidur malam. Sangat kreatif dan kritis.
• 
  Sizarifalina

  Bought the BM version
• 
  Faa

  The most hilarious, confusing, disgusting, shocking and unpredictable stories I've ever read.
  Read it and you'll know how good is it to laugh out loud! LOL!
• 
  Sarah

  Sometimes I don't really understand what the author is trying to convey. Or perhaps my mind is too innocent? :P
• 
  Ahmad Nizamuddin

  short fiction funny-weird stories. ok-lah!
• 
  SinudaMN

  tidbits of fun!
• 
  Mardhiah

  cara penulisan yang menarik...AM bijak mengunakan kiasan untuk mengkritik seseorang dan kita dapat mengenal pasti siapa orangnya dengan mudah...saya cuma kurang bersetuju dengan cara pemikiran AM