A Malaysian novelist of Chinese descent explores his roots – and the shadow of family traumaYears ago I was queueing in a fruit and veg shop in Cornwall with my half-Chinese dad when an elderly woman came up and asked him: “Where are you from?”“Liverpo…
Strangers on a Pier by Tash Aw review – memories of a Malaysian outsider
Aw’s memoir subtly laments the gulf between him and his parents, the present and the pastThe novelist Tash Aw was 15 when he noticed the difference. He knew that his classmates at school weren’t all ethnically Chinese like him. There were Tamil kids wh…