“Everyone has been taught this : Allah gives, Allah Takes and Death is everyone’s fate”.
- King of the sea by Dina Zaman
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Dina Zaman wrote 9 wonderful short stories that takes place in Terengganu that is not time-specific but as a reader, i believe we can decipher it by the details of each story. I was not expecting that some stories can be downright depressing (‘The rainstorm’, ‘Alia’ & ‘The Translator’), some is totally mind boggling (‘’Her hair’, ‘And she become an angel’ & ‘Man of the Jungle’) and some stories were brief but impactful (‘Masbabu’ ‘King of the Sea’ and ‘Nah The Masseur’). As Dina wrote these stories because she missed her hometown while she was away studying at Lancaster University, it made me wonder what i will write about Ipoh if i ever left Malaysia in a certain period of time. The common themes that i found in these stories would be grief and love intertwining with passion, obsession and jealousy. The way of rural folks living in Terengganu (whether they believe in myth/shamanism or the jealousy over outsider or even the way of living) were portrayed fairly in the eye of someone who grew up there. The occasionally Terengganu slangs in the dialogues made the stories more lively and authentic. Although predominantly sets in Terengganu, I feel it can represent the many types of Malaysian Muslims there is - that is if one is curious, you can pick up this book. It gives you every shades and colors - the faithful one, the nonchalant one, the chill one and the passionate one. Overall, i thoroughly enjoyed this book and managed to finish it in one sitting.