"A dazzlingly immersive, energetic novel narrated by pushing-thirty Singaporean Jazzy, whose often comic quest to bag a rich Western husband shines a glaring light on sexual and racial exploitation."
Written in Singlish - “a tossed salad of the different languages and Chinese dialects that the country’s multiethnic population speaks” - this exhilarating novel follows brazen Jazzy’s mission to marry a wealthy “ang moh” (white) man. Almost 27, she warns her friends that ”if we don’t get married, engaged or even nail down a boyfriend soon—my god, we might as well go ahead and book a room at Singapore Casket… But luckily for us, we still have one big hope: ang moh guys”, because “if you wear a tight tight dress or short short skirt, these ang mohs will still steam over you”.
To this end, Jazzy’s life is an intense cycle of spending her days working for a newspaper editor who likes to “rubba rubba” his employees, followed by long nights at fancy clubs. Through her predatory attitude and enduring of a whole lot of objectification, this novel is razor-sharp on male entitlement, inequality, racial stereotypes and global capitalism. Indeed, Jazzy wasn’t always a Sarong Party Girl herself: “I would see women who are so obviously going after guys just for status and really look down on them. What kind of woman is so pathetic to chase after a husband just for the kind of handbag, car or condo they can buy them?” And then one night, it seems that enough is enough. Jazzy has an epiphany at dawn after a one hell of a wake-up call night out. What a fresh, funny and wildly acerbic treat this is.
| Primary Genre | Erotic Fiction |
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A fascinating insight into modern-day Asia through the eye of a girl trying to make her mark on the world.
Jazzy is a twenty-something Singaporean girl who starts to question her life strategy when her best friend Sher gets married. Along with Fann and Imo, the girls had always believed that they would marry a foreigner and have a 'Chanel Baby' to give them the ultimate culture status. The fact that Sher has married a Singaporean man greatly upsets Jazzy, and she sets about plans for herself, Fann and Imo to marry Foreigners.
This is a funny book, written in Singlish, about modern day Singapore. It describes Jazzy's quest to find a decent man to marry while trying to establish her own place in the world, torn between ancient customs and cultures of her parents, and the bright lights and big money of the Western world. Jazzy tries to understand how women are seen as a commodity to rich men, to be used and discarded as they wish.... Read Full Review
Just before her twenty-seventh birthday, Jazzy hatches a plan. Before the year is out, she and her best girlfriends will all have spectacular weddings to rich ang moh - Western expat - husbands, with Chanel babies to follow. As Jazzy - razor-sharp and vulgar, yet vulnerable - fervently pursues her quest to find a white husband, the contentious gender politics and class tensions thrumming beneath the shiny exterior of Singapore's glamorous nightclubs are revealed. Desperate to move up in Asia's financial and international capital, will Jazzy and her friends succeed? Vividly told in Singlish - colourful Singaporean English with its distinctive cadence and slang - Sarong Party Girls brilliantly captures the unique voice of a young, striving woman caught between worlds. With remarkable vibrancy and empathy, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan brings not only Jazzy, but her city of Singapore, to dazzling, dizzying life.
Sarong Party Girls features in the following genres: Erotic Fiction, Book Club Recommendations, Books with reviews by our Reader Review Panel, Debut Books of the Month, Debuts, Humorous Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
Sarong Party Girls is available in Paperback
Sarong Party Girls was written by Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan and published by Allen & Unwin an imprint of Atlantic Books
Sarong Party Girls has 308 pages
£8.99
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