Terracotta Bride (5 points)

I don’t think I have ever read a book that has left me as at a loss for words as The Terracotta Bride has. The tone felt akin to a YA novel up until the end where, just as I was expecting the story to start, it stops poetically. The only asian-centric media I have read are anime, so I found myself looking up a lot of words as I read. Despite that, I was entranced by this Malay-English amalgamation that was the afterlife. Hell in this novel seems to ideologically combine Buddhist and Catholic hells together to create this sort of punishment through damnation where everyone, even the spirits living in the tenth court, live though. Everyone experiences it differently: the physical torture of the lesser spirits, the constant paranoia of the wealthy spirits to keep surviving, and the romantic repression of Siew Tsin.

As a self-proclaimed tragedy lover, I honestly did not see the twist coming at the end and how resigned Siew Tsin was as a result. Most likely because of culture differences, I could not see how she became humbled so quickly after the revelation that Yonghua left her for another. However, I could sympathize with Siew Tsin’s unapologetically youthful love for Yonghua. That kind of fist love is something that I could never admit, nor could she. In a way, the story is a cautionary tale about waiting too long to confess feelings for another, which hits close to home.

Yet, I keep thinking about that ending. The way that Cho built up this world, mentioning English soul-powered automatons, made me so excited to see more of it. Yet, the story ends so abruptly, which definitely adds to the tragedy. I guess it is just how much of myself I see in Siew Tsin, being 19, queer, and definitely not happy with current state of life, that makes me want her to find something more for herself. In one way, she did, making the first decision for herself in jumping off the bridge.