One Travel Book Down, Thirty-Two Left to Go

My second to last night in Philadelphia and my last meal with the family without fuss, a nice dinner at the kitchen table with chicken shish kabob, sweet wedges of red, green peppers sandwiching each piece of meat between them. The first words out of my sister's mouth the moment the food is whittled down to a few of the more burnt bits of meat no one is going to touch is my sister saying "What language do they speak in Singapore? Singaporese?"

And for the ten-thousandth time I try to tell her Singapore speaks English, just like Canada, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand... only to get a stare from her that hints what I'm saying isn't getting through. So I offer her up one of my travel books, the first one that I really finished, the one my Singaporean boyfriend gave to me when he first wanted to introduce me to his home country after the decision to move abroad became official.

Her inquiry on my opinion on the book inspires this post... my first travel book on Singapore... out of the thirty or so that I've gotten.

Notes From an Even Smaller Island by Neil Humphreys. I found it to be an informative book, definitely hitting several topics of both history and cultural significance that I have yet to see in most other books.

What really hit home was the kiasu phenomena among the population. This odd Singapore phrase struck me so much for some reason, since its translation literally means "scared to fail." It resonates so much with the old American phrase "keeping up with the Joneses," a fact I find more ironic since that is my surname. People in Singapore are so worried that they could lose at something, be second place or end up with any less than perfect, they are willing to do anything, even if its entirely illogical and possibly outright insane in attempting to achieve even 'perceived' success. Its continued appearance as a theme throughout the book really helped to color the culture of the country and even prepare me when I could deal with a similar situation. Read more here.

Humphrey's humor really helps to move the book along and his details on the Aunties/Uncles, the Singaporan tendency to value security over the lime light or the exception to eat all your food or appear rude are tiny tidbits that I feel all the better for know... and secretly concerned about.

Now on the con side, this book would definitely been tossed into my "To Be Sold at Bargain Store" after the first chapter or so because I did not find Humphreys' writing style all that appealing. He was informative but the tone set throughout the whole book was largely of complaining, of humorous events of culture shock and misadventures that can keep you interested for a bit. Yet fifteen chapters worth and I could hear myself muttering at the end "Shut up! Just shut up already!" in a bitter tone of annoyance that I hadn't found myself saying to a book since the time my high school made us read Catcher in the Rye... damn I still want to punch that whiny Holden Caulfield in the fact!

I'd recommend it to anyone (sister's included) but with a healthy warning of what to expect. Off onto his three sequel books, Scribbles from the Same Island, Final Notes from a Great Island and Return to a Sexy Island. Wish me luck at not punching someone... damn... too late...