 |
|
paperback HK$65.00
Chameleon Press
Paddyfield.com
Printable version (PDF)
More reviews by David McKirdy
Readers may purchase reviewed books from Paddyfield.com, Asia's online bookseller.North American readers may prefer to buy US editions from Powells.com.
|
|
|
Raincheck Renewed by Kavita Jindal
In RAINCHECK RENEWED, a collection of 34 poems, KAVITA JINDAL explores themes ranging from superficiality in the section 'Aspiring to be a tai tai' to painful self analysis in 'My father's life in mine'.
Jindal manages to be a detached analytical observer and, simultaneously, an active participant -- and it is this quality that gives her work the very desirable element of surprise. By rights, KAVITA JINDAL ought to be wearing a mask! She sweet-talks the reader with whimsical or pleasant introductory lines and stanzas and then ambushes them with a cynical twist.
With her tongue firmly in our cheek in 'Dressing up for the salesgirl', Jindal describes a topsy turvy world, where the consumer herself is reduced to the level of a commodity and the power to grant or withhold entry into the exclusive club of patrons is in the hands of the lowly-lofty salesgirl.
There is a narrative quality about the work where even those pieces that are essentially impressionistic somehow have a forward momentum and a resolution.
'My father's life in mine' is the section that resonates the most with me. Although each piece is listed and numbered as a separate poem they are definably linked. Her deceased father's character and their relationship and their effect on her comes through stronger for his absence. She digs deep into her emotions and the projected possibilities are more redolent than actualities could ever be. Although stylistically Jindal is very different, her relationship with her father has Sylvia Plath like qualities of melancholy and missed opportunities.
RAINCHECK RENEWED is a welcome addition to the burgeoning collections of work by Hong Kong based poets.
- Editor's note: 'Raincheck Renewed' is published by Chameleon Press, affiliated to The Asian Review of Books.
David McKirdy
24/01/2004
|
David McKirdy is a Hong Kong-based poet and an organiser of the Hong Kong International Literary Festival. His work appears in the collection Accidental Occidental. |
| |
|
