St. Patricks Society Bookclub Singapore

Author information

2011-04-30T01:41:00.000-07:00

You can find out more about Catherine Lim the Author of our most recent bookclub book by visiting her website at http://catherinelim.sg.

The Teardrop Story Woman

2011-04-30T01:23:00.000-07:00

Our most recent book is The Teardrop Story Woman by Catherine Lim.

Some information about the book:
Set in the 1950s, this atmospheric and moving love story by Singaporean author Lim (The Bondmaid) chronicles a Chinese girl's coming-of-age during the British occupation of Malaya. Mei Kwei, the Teardrop Story woman, was born "doubly cursed": not only is she a girl, but she has a teardrop-shaped mole beside her eye, a harbinger of suffering, according to Chinese folklore. Although her father scorns her and unsuccessfully attempts to have her adopted by another family, the resourceful Mei Kwei survives by charming those around her, from her loutish Big Older Brother whose affection for her has sexual overtones to the three men whose attentions later change her life. The first, a rich man known as Old Yoong, courts her by paying off her father's opium debts and rescuing her family from poverty; predictably, Mei Kwei quickly rebels against his possessiveness and finally spurns him for Austin Tong, a wealthy young entrepreneur. It isn't until Mei Kwei meets the unconventional French priest Franois Martin, however, that she finally falls in love.

Book Review - 'The Help' by Kathryn Stockett

2011-01-23T00:46:00.000-08:00

In contrast to our last book, this months “The Help” was thoroughly enjoyed by all. A tricky subject by first time author, Kathryn Stockett, the book chronicles the lives of three very different women in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. Two of the women, Aibileen and Minny are maids, both very different in character, but each very lovable. The third is a young white graduate, Skeeter, who against all norms, and crossing all “lines” succeeds in getting Aibileen and Minny along with many other maids to describe their work and employers which she then compiles into a manuscript and succeeds in having the book published, forever changing a town and a society and the way it treats its Help. A riveting story as seen through its main character, Aibileen, and told in pitch perfect language, it is sad, funny and hopeful. Many parallels were drawn with life for the maids/helpers here in Singapore and in Asia and we felt the book had huge relevance in today’s society. In 50 years we concluded that, sadly, not a huge amount had changed. The irony that employers were always suspicious of maids and regularly accused them of stealing and forced them to use separate toilets etc. whilst yet allowing them to become chief carers of their babies and children –in the book this was the seventeenth child Aibileen had raised- was not lost. On a slightly critical note there were reservations about the “chocolate pie” plot and whether the cancer story was believable. Everyone was impressed with the author, in many ways the book is a biography of her own earlier life and a thank you to her beloved maid whom she adored. This novel is set to become a movie which we will all certainly look forward to seeing.