Foreign Bodies

Hwee Hwee Tan's stunning debut novel, Foreign Bodies, written at the age of 23, both surprised me and gave me food for thought. The story of nine tension-filled days in the lives of three Gen-X friends in Singapore enthralled me with its discussion of the challenges of living as an ex-patriate in a country that may or may not be welcoming, the clash of two vastly different cultures, and the author's effective use of three different narrators to tell the story. I expected the novel to be a comedy of cultural manners when I started it, but I soon realized that the work, while including those elements, transcended that. The title, Foreign Bodies, very cleverly points to the central theme of the novel--that life often presents us with tensions and paradoxes that we can't always resolve into nice, neat packages. As a hard of hearing woman whose life straddles both the hearing and deaf worlds, I can especially appreciate the meshing of two cultures that makes up Singapore. Much like the Singlish that Tan uses to good effect in her novel, I, at times, communicate using a sign language that is a patois of American Sign Language conventions in an English word order. I can understand the feeling of being part of two cultures, and yet feeling not completely a part of either one. I could also relate to Mei, the lawyer in the novel, in her struggles as a woman in a male-dominated culture and in her attempts to feel a part of her family, despite traumatic childhood events that have infected her like a foreign body.Despite the novel's obvious linguistic and stylistic aim at the Gen-X age group, it has a more universal appeal due to its discussions of sin, of keeping and breaking promises, and of moral and spiritual redemption that transcends all ages, races, and the genders. I can't wait for Ms. Tan's next novel! Highly recommended.

This book was really something different. It looked interesting from the jacket, and as I read it I was pleasantly surprised to discover the pro-God stance taken by Mei. It is rare to find such a book with such references. I applaud Tan on this charming and funny novel. I hope to hear more from her in the near future.

A novel about religion, first and foremost, how it helps Andy, who goes from being a drifter, angst-ridden, and full of doubt, to someone who accepts fate, even in a Singaporean jail; about Mei, who learns to live with secrets through her religion, and about Eugene, their friend, who does not have this faith, and therefore, ultimately suffers.As an Overseas Chinese, I was amazed by the pervasiveness of the Old Culture - the Singaporean attitude to education and marriage is not just typical of Singapore - it can be found wherever there are older generation Chinese/Asians.Tan's book covers a lot of ground - anxieties faced by young people in search for themselves, the mother-daughter relationship, religion, Singapore and foreigners...It is an amazing book and the first written by a modern Asian that I have truly enjoyed.

Hwee Hwee Tan's book "Foreign Bodies" works at several levels: as a spiritual testimony, as a tragi-comic description of post modern angst, as a story of friendship gone sour, as a brilliant exposition of what it means to live in a world without borders.As someone who has tasted the life described in this book - the strange world of expatriate existence - I can say that on this point in particular there are few books out there that do a better job of illuminating what that is about - to be "in" but not "of" the world you inhabit.A brilliantly conceived novel - the best I have read for years.