Review
I found it terribly amusing and would recommend that you guys give it a read! --KLue.com.my
This gem of a book explains the legends, origins and predilections of these supernatural spirits that often haunt our wildest imagination. Do you know that if a woman dies while giving birth, she (or rather, her spirit) faces the possibility of being either one of our bloodsucking vampires? You won't get this pivotal information by reading Bram Stoker, I tell you. And do you know how to keep your earthly possessions safe from the kleptomaniac goblin our grandparents called the Toyol? And do you know that there's a ghost that combines both Malay and Chinese cultures in order to keep the social contract in tact? I bet you don't. The concept of a Chinese ghost disliking worshippers who had just eaten pork somehow just escapes our imagination. --Gundu.com.my
This glossary of ghosts and hantu that haunt the collective imagination of Malaysians provides entertainment not unlike Ambrose Bierce s The Devil s Dictionary . Some of these spirits and emanations are presented as a matter-of-fact: short, unadorned and unembellished. Like this one-sentence entry for hantu lubang: 'The spirit of the hole which includes caves and crevices of huge, haunted stones.' Other entries, and in particular the longer ones, are presented tongue-in-cheek and with a generous dash of salt. For instance, bunian ('the elf-like community of Malay mythology said to exist in a parallel dimension that intersects with ours') receives a four-and-a-half page write up. It includes this anecdote about Isa Said who went missing for nine days in Taman Negara Niah, Miri. When Isa later turned up, he claimed in his police report to have been kidnapped by a Bunian family. He said he 'somehow managed to escape and took a bus and a van back to Kuching.' The entries, interestingly, don t just tell us what these undead are; they also reflect what we, the not-dead, are made of. As Amir Muhammad writes in the foreword, 'The ghosts we choose to believe in can also say a lot about our attitudes towards gender, the natural environment and even race.' For example, ghosts and demons which are most female, those who have died at child birth or at their own hands after being jilted. Characteristically they are hideous creatures with pendulous breasts ; long, sharp nails; and long unkempt hair like the pontianak, the penanggalan, the hantu tetek and the churel. Even though some of these undead may initially manifest themselves as demure and beautiful, shapely young women with long flowing hair (think shampoo TV commercials) and firm breasts, they quickly change into the mad hag in the attic (think Ju On). The very parts that were attributes of beauty become the reasons for revulsion. Certainly a worthwhile read, as Danny Lim has undoubtedly enlarged our vocabulary of things that go bump in the tropical night. --SH Lim, Time Out Kuala Lumpur
This gem of a book explains the legends, origins and predilections of these supernatural spirits that often haunt our wildest imagination. Do you know that if a woman dies while giving birth, she (or rather, her spirit) faces the possibility of being either one of our bloodsucking vampires? You won't get this pivotal information by reading Bram Stoker, I tell you. And do you know how to keep your earthly possessions safe from the kleptomaniac goblin our grandparents called the Toyol? And do you know that there's a ghost that combines both Malay and Chinese cultures in order to keep the social contract in tact? I bet you don't. The concept of a Chinese ghost disliking worshippers who had just eaten pork somehow just escapes our imagination. --Gundu.com.my
This glossary of ghosts and hantu that haunt the collective imagination of Malaysians provides entertainment not unlike Ambrose Bierce s The Devil s Dictionary . Some of these spirits and emanations are presented as a matter-of-fact: short, unadorned and unembellished. Like this one-sentence entry for hantu lubang: 'The spirit of the hole which includes caves and crevices of huge, haunted stones.' Other entries, and in particular the longer ones, are presented tongue-in-cheek and with a generous dash of salt. For instance, bunian ('the elf-like community of Malay mythology said to exist in a parallel dimension that intersects with ours') receives a four-and-a-half page write up. It includes this anecdote about Isa Said who went missing for nine days in Taman Negara Niah, Miri. When Isa later turned up, he claimed in his police report to have been kidnapped by a Bunian family. He said he 'somehow managed to escape and took a bus and a van back to Kuching.' The entries, interestingly, don t just tell us what these undead are; they also reflect what we, the not-dead, are made of. As Amir Muhammad writes in the foreword, 'The ghosts we choose to believe in can also say a lot about our attitudes towards gender, the natural environment and even race.' For example, ghosts and demons which are most female, those who have died at child birth or at their own hands after being jilted. Characteristically they are hideous creatures with pendulous breasts ; long, sharp nails; and long unkempt hair like the pontianak, the penanggalan, the hantu tetek and the churel. Even though some of these undead may initially manifest themselves as demure and beautiful, shapely young women with long flowing hair (think shampoo TV commercials) and firm breasts, they quickly change into the mad hag in the attic (think Ju On). The very parts that were attributes of beauty become the reasons for revulsion. Certainly a worthwhile read, as Danny Lim has undoubtedly enlarged our vocabulary of things that go bump in the tropical night. --SH Lim, Time Out Kuala Lumpur
Product Description
A compendium of Malaysia's multicultural ghosts, spirits and emanations. Discover their origins, characteristics, and, whenever possible, how to make sure they stay away from you. Among those featured are the Hantu Kopek, Toyol, Pontianak, Datuk Gong, Mohini Pisasu and dozens more. This chatty and occasionally ironic guide is sure to come in handy each time you hear something go bump, or even kak-kak-kak-kak-kak , in the night.
