Island Voices

Quotes from Island Voices
Paper
"What's wrong with this house we're living in?" pg 2
"Do you know, Mother, if I sold all my shares today, I would have the money to buy fifty terrace houses like the one you have?" pg 5

The Martyrdom of Helena Rodrigues
"had the meek gentle face of a nun, and the force of personality of an Empress Tzu Hsi..." pg 12
"Helena's tactics enabled her to tyrannize most people-with normally sensetive consciences." pg 12

Sundowner
"There's no need to keep calling me 'tuan', Aman. I prefer to be called Mr Das." pg 21
"Yes, tuan. Whatever the tuan says." pg 22

Tanjong Rhu
"I know I have everything I need." pg 30
"Those see-far glasses of yours, can they see Tanjong Rhu?" pg 31

Evening under frangipani
"I would rather take it from mine own hand." pg 57
"I don't suppose you have much in the way of soup at home. Difficult to drink soup with your hands." pg 59

Lee
"Don't you remember anything about your country?" pg 86
"How come you never wrote?" pg 91

A History of tea
"A storm in a teacup," pg 119
"Uncle Raja was the oily man." pg 112

A Dream of China
"Could I get him out of China?" pg 123
"I didn't know he ever meant to go back to China," pg 128

Release
"Principle of the thing or not, it's done and there's nothing we can do about it." pg 141
"Why do you always speak for someone else?" pg 143

An Obituary for Fifth Aunt come late
"Do you remember your aunt?" pg 149
"The grown-ups always told us we were meant to be seen and not heard," pg 149

Corridor
"Who says I'm not happy?" pg 164
"There's nothing that I want." pg 164

Mid-Autumn
"now she can be a doctor, make big money, find a good husband." pg 181
"You go to Uganda, and this will be the last meal you have with us." pg 182

Hamid and the Hand of Fate
"Long-forgotten friends called on him." pg 195
"Pak Li, do you think it's for my money?"

The Move
"Did you really have this since we were born?" pg 206
"Are you sad, Ma?" pg 209

Pastime
"Anyone here. Tell me their story." pg 213
"So they leave him to rot in prison." pg 214