~Ponti, by Sharlene Teo ~
The name of this novel (set in Singapore) is an abbreviation of “pontianak”, a Malay/Indonesian word denoting a ghost, or a monster; a femme fatale which usually preys on men, and is usually depicted with wild hair, white robes, lips dripping blood, a popular myth in this part of the world. Perhaps the title was chosen not just because one of its protagonists acted as the leading actress playing the role of a ‘pontianak’ in a film trilogy (Ponti!, Ponti 2, and Ponti 3), but because its three female protagonists may relate to that feeling of being an outsider, somehow a threat to their societies, even if not quite as sensationally.
This is a two-generation novel which starts with the tale of Amisa, a girl from some backwater village (kampung) in Malaya, called Kampung Mimpi Sedih (Village of Sad Dreams). She is one of eight siblings, and ‘escapes’ to Singapore city in the 1960s when she is still in her teens. Amisa’s life seems pretty much predetermined by her extraordinary cold beauty, which seems to have shaped her personality as well as people’s reactions to her, particularly male reactions.
The other two protagonists are Amisa’s daughter, Szu Min, and Szu’s school friend, Circe. The novel is structured chapter by chapter from the point-of-view of one of these three women/girls, so it oscillates back and forth in time, but not symmetrically. Amisa’s chapters are mostly set in the 1970s, while Szu’s chapters are in 2003, when she is 16. Circe’s story is told in the near future (2020), where Circe is 33 years old, newly divorced, and asked to work on some media material about the old film trilogy, which her once-best friend’s mother Amisa had starred in.
Szu is brought up in a house her father won on the Toto (pools), before leaving home when she was 7 years old. Her mother lives with her, along with ‘Auntie’ Yunxi, whose profession is fortune telling. In this household, Szu feels unloved by her mother, and before meeting Circe, had no companionship in school either, seeming the outcast in public and private domains alike. That said, her angst is low key, and she is depicted as a fairly unremarkable, unsympathetic, unattractive character. The friendship between her and Circe is equally unremarkable, more based on expediency than any real connection between the two girls. For most part, the novel just chugs along, without much point seemingly, three unhappy girls/women at the core, unhappy for different reasons and in their own different ways, low grade, dragging, mundane unhappiness and dissatisfaction.
Although set in Singapore, there isn’t that much of a ‘feel’ of the city, and the story is certainly not told in a way to feature any uniquely Singaporean atmospheres or landscapes. The fact this is a tropical landscape is the most prominent feature, with descriptions of heat, humidity, the effect on the protagonists, and mainly in negative terms. There is mention of food, particularly Chinese food. But this really could have been set in any number of locales, it is not distinctively a ‘Singaporean novel’ as such. Surprisingly, given that this spans two generations, there is not much discussed or depicted of the rapid changes Singapore underwent in this time period. There are occasional uses of ‘Singlish’, when a character may suddenly say “Where got?” for example. But these interjections come across as rather forced, sitting oddly because inconsistently used; the dialogue, the characters’ thought processes, are mostly not in Singlish. The local colour and flavour, what little there is, feels similarly awkward, though not artificial exactly.
Although the novel has a very clear structure in terms of each chapter being from the perspective of one of those three protagonists. it lacks direction. The reader is constantly wondering, “So what?” There is no point to the story, no purpose, nothing is revealed, no denouncement, the storyline goes nowhere. All the many details add up to nothing. The would-be-meaningful specifics lead nowhere, do not tie back in eventually, do not contribute to the reader’s understanding or growth of the characters or plotline development, not even right to the end of the novel. The novel could have done so much – explored gender roles, family dynamics, youth issues, the fast changing socio-economic conditions in Singapore, (multi)culturalism, generational divide, modern day tensions, etc etc, but it really does none of this.
The ending is a utter disappointment – it does not even manage to be stultifying, or frustrating, or confusing – just a dead end, flat, an end simply because there is nothing more thereafter. It is not that the novel is tedious, but it is pointless, and therefore, ultimately, unrewarding as a read. It tells a lot but shows nothing, and all the telling was apparently for nothing too. A great pity, as it would have been wonderful to welcome an interesting new writing voice to the Singaporean literary scene.
Ponti, by Sharlene Teo. Picador, 2019
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