Reviewer: IGW Anonymous Date: 08/22/07 - 03:42PM Title: Chapter 1

What a crisply written and moving piece - a chilly dissection of grief and loss which goes deeper than the characters and evokes the bitter cold of separation which any of us might one day know.  Such a flowing prose style, unflinching yet lulling at the same time, is a pleasure to read even when it conjurs such painful things.  Even lines which might otherwise seem too plaintive are exactly right and stand out like a memorial - apt, timeless and true.  "You know that anywhere that was not with you was, always, the wrong place": it's a great line - haunting, uplifting; quotable, unbearable.  This is quality writing. It doesn't just 'play with the characters', it delves deep into the psychology of grief and separation - and leaves us pained yet pleased. Silken, spiritual, steely and sparse, Wongkk's prose brilliantly plunges us into places we'd rather not go, bringing us face to face with losses we'd rather not remember, rather not meet.  But so precisely written that you feel safely borne into the heart of darkness - and beyond.