The Weight of Our Sky | Review

I'm from Southeast Asia and as most of you have always known, we are kind of like the part of Asia no one gives a shit about. Except for Singapore. Anyway, when people mentions 'Asia' nobody really regards the SEA as asians. We don't look 'asian' to some. So, knowing the fact that some people don't even know us, kinda proves, we are often overlooked, we lack representations. Heck, I've never read an English novel with a character that resonates with me as much. Until I read The Weight of Our Sky.

So for those who doesn't know about this book, it tells a story of Melati. A girl with OCD who was caught up in the middle of the race riots of Malaysia in the year 1969 and her persistent in looking for her mother.

First of all this book is really important to me, as a Malaysian who learned about the race riots in our history book texts about how bloody it was, how much it was filled with hate and the effect it had on the country. The Malaysia's 'Rukunegara' (National Principles), was instituted by royal proclamation due to the racial riots. If you ask any Malaysians, they would tell you about how they had to recite the National Principles at least once a week during assemblies in school. Children were taught the principles in order to educate people to avoid any racial riots ever happening again. Through this event, the efforts to ignite unity among Malaysians of all races were strengthen.

So, reading this book, about a historical event that I KNOW, I deeply connect to historically and culturally, I felt belonged. I felt as if, in this world of fiction books, I exist. It felt damn good to be seen, heard and to have your stories told. I just feel so proud. I would like to thank Hanna Alkaf for the amazing job she has done, the beauty of her words and just for writing this book. It means so much to a lot of people, including me.

Excuse my work station, it is messy but that's my copy of the book I pre-ordered from Book Depository.

THE REVIEW

Here's my review on the book. I'm just gonna go straight to the point.

First of all, Hanna Alkaf really went all out with how she describes and portrays Melati's character. The method she used to show how severe Melati's OCD was, definitely left a strong impression on me. At some point it made me felt a bit anxious. To me, the details she puts in Melati's character is beautiful. Honestly, I have never came across a character like Melati. She was different. And it is good. She's a breath of fresh air. I sympathize by how she puts on a lot of responsibilities on her shoulders over events that she had no control over nor was it her fault. The death of her friend, the fear of bad things happening to her mother and people around her.

I love how Vincent's character had so much love and understanding. Although he's all the nice things we could wish upon anyone, he's after all a human with limits. He did get overwhelmed by Melati, he did got afraid of the consequences of the time for his actions. He was humane and I just love characters with so much human qualities in them.

Story wise, the racial riots were the main highlights of the story. It was a riot between the Malaysian Malays and Chinese. This book was unbiased and it told the ugly truth that both parties was equally flawed in the tragedy. Loved how transparent it was about the issues both races had against one another. Besides that, Hanna Alkaf mentioned the position Indians were put in when the Malays and the Chinese were off rioting. The story depicted how badly racism could affect every individual and how dangerous is it.

This is a Malaysian story. It happened to us. This was a dark history that happened to us, that hopefully we learned a lot from. This story is so close to my heart. As bad as it was when it is told to anyone, it is a part of us. The part that shaped Malaysians who we are. A lesson learnt.

The only issue I had with the novel was that I felt as if the resolution of the novel happened so fast. I was expecting it to have a bit more story to it but it was quite, short and simple. I feel like Melati had a lot to lose, a lot of issues to resolve but somehow it felt as if the resolution had more to tell. I feel like Melati has more she wanted to say, to tell. That was the only issue I felt reading the book.

I would rate the book 4/5 !

If you have a chance, do check it out and read it anywhere you get your books from. Bookstores, e-Books, etc. Go ahead!