Agnes Chew’s Eternal Summer of My Homeland is an intriguing collection of short stories with an excellent portrayal of her homeland, Singapore, while residing in Germany. The protagonists of all eleven stories vividly explicate different realities in one’s ordinary lifestyle. 

The opening story, Garden City, focuses primarily on Hui Shan and her father. In the aftermath of her mother’s demise, Hui Shan desperately grieves for her late mother and struggles to do her household single-handed with her newborn baby. Her father’s detachment from her and his isolation from his wife’s memories eventually disturbs Hui Shan, which grips her to find the reason behind his unusual behaviour that he secretly maintains a garden in a deep forest in memory of her late wife and fulfilling her last wish of creating an own garden. The discovery of his secret mission ends up in trouble. The heart of this story gets the attention towards the endless love of Hui Shan’s father towards her wife, which sets a great example of bonds.

Sonya, a ten-year-old girl in the story When What is Linear Meanders is diagnosed with scoliosis after a screening at school, which changes her entire life. Her forthcoming days were focused on her treatments and surgeries, wherein she failed to keep her connection with her studies and with her school friends. Later, she dropped her schooling and decided to step in as a financially independent girl. Sonya’s struggles cause the readers to meet up with self-confidence and self-assurance.  

The story All We Are at the End is Ash is bound within the happy family of Jonathan. Their life was flawless until his grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. Jonathan was compelled to choose either his profession or his family at the point when his grandmother was struggling between life and death. Fortune later turns into an unfortunate, and he leaves home for his work and desperately returns for his grandmother’s final rituals. With this notion, the writer unveils the necessity of family bonds while Jonathan remains guilty of choosing the profession over his family. 

The school-going boy, Jia Hao’s braces becomes a challenge for him in the story, From one minute on Stage. The complications he undergoes with his braces create a great impact on his daily routine while his inner battles transform him into a tenacious person. Also, the difficulty he faces in his Orchestra practice challenges his Commitment and Persistence. 

Home is a story about Lim Bee Geok, a 61-year-old lady leaves her home and arrives at Changi Airport. Her daughter’s random visits to take her back home gradually lose sight, while Lim Bee Geok finds her present place more exciting and starts occupying the place for days, months and even years while considering Changi Airport as her future home. The reader’s focus is directed to her inner conflict, which she encounters while recalling her family disputes and trying to make attempts to express them to the two young ladies who started asking her several personal questions and the reason behind her extended stay at the airport. 

The story Diary of an Employee is in contrast to other stories in means of the writing style. The epistolary form of writing adds focus to the story, while the story is woven about a hardworking man who updates his experience in written layout and becomes a permanent employee in a firm organisation, inspired by his manager’s dedication to his work. He learns various skills at his workplace and with his manager. He dedicates his fullest time to acquiring knowledge and achieving his goals at work while keeping aside his personal life. The writer’s experience and commitment towards his work and the workplace are the epicetre of this story.

A young Singapore girl, Nadine, meets a German man, Matthias, from whom she learns about love, mortality, and philosophy; this is the central portrayal in the story The Only Constant while Under the Same Sky gives a depiction of adapting Christianity as one of the primary notions in the story.

The other stories in the collection also give a vivid picture of one’s independent resolutions, as in the story Alone in Punggol, and Don’t be Foolish, while Did You Know focuses on a husband’s struggle to understand his wife’s pregnancy reactions and the idea of having children during a climate crisis. 

Simple language and insightful characterisation make the readers easily get into the story. The ordinary lifestyle of the people living in Singapore, along with different perspectives of living, is clearly bought out through the character portrayal in each story. The stories have a subtle interconnection with one another, which delves a more profound message to the readers about the realities of life. The application of Singapore landmarks makes the stories more realistic and brings a clean depiction of the cultures and traditions of Singapore, which provides a vast familiarity among creative readers. The visual representation of the characters and the places makes the readers organic with the setting of Singapore while equally framing their traditions and cultures.

The characters recalling their nostalgic splits drive the story with interest and create suspense within every character, which immensely holds the readers to capture the focal points. The long nostalgic flow of every character in the story brings the contrast switch in each character from the past to their present life.

Agnes Chew’s Eternal Summer of My Homeland delves into a wide range of themes that have a direct focus on family bonds and relationships. The notion of questioning mortality gives a slight vision which advances due to overwhelming love towards their loved ones. Revealing the main ideas through flashbacks creates a significant impact on the advancement of the story. Ange Chew discloses the facts and experiences an individual encounters with an ideal portrayal of eleven stories.

By Zuleikha Marso