As the boundaries of mother love are crossed, universal themes of family, history, and identity help reveal the shattering effects of generational trauma.
There’s the shouting and the fighting and the unpleasantness between her parents, but it’s the little things King quietly slips in that leave your skin crawling ... This is disturbing, poignant and memorable all at once – an exploration of a very dark relationship between a daughter and her mother.
With searing writing, Ella King charts how abuse in a family affects everyone in it ... This isn’t an easy book to read. It is deeply realistic, with each of the three children coping in their own angry way. The richness of detail and depth of understanding that King gives each character is quietly masterful. There is no happy ending, only a growing awareness of how to nurture a sense of self from the ashes of a shared pathology, the cruel ties built between Mama and Daddy and inflicted on all of their children. But there is a germ of hope and sometimes that has to be enough.
King has produced a fascinatingly horrible psychological thriller. There is an addictive quality to the story, if only because you want to see exactly how deep the rot goes ... The novel delves into the dark consequences of inherited trauma and generational abuse...It is unfortunate that it also relies on an exoticised vision of Singapore, refracted through May's twisted memories and Lily's tourist perspective...Such inconsistencies may be of little note to an international readership, but for Singaporeans, it may leave a sour taste in the mouth.
