The story closes with the news that Clare has been cut from ear to ear after smug gling a scalpel, the new girl waits until lights-out and slashes Clare's throat. A new girl arrives who is promptly beaten and abused by brutish, burly Clare and her associates. It speaks (as do many of the stories here) of the unspo ken: a personality-disorder clinic or 'Home,' as the protagonist tells us. The first story, 'Fireworks,' is gripping and takes Singaporean fiction in new directions. 'Turning a Blind Eye' is unforgiving in its tale of domestic violence and alcoholism 'Smoking' is candid in its depiction of a mother dying of lung cancer and 'Exodus' is far from gentle in its telling of Yichang's move to Singapore to make a bet ter life for himself?the story end ing with his treatment of a sexually transmitted disease after nights (and dollars) spent on prostitutes. Deep loss, grief, struggle, and sorrow frame the stories here, and such emo tive narratives deal with big themes. Never Been Better starts with arguably the best of all the stories in the collection, 'Fireworks/' The book's title is taken from this opening tale, the closing of which reads: 'You feeling okay?' 'Never been better.' And yet not all the stories in O Thiam Chin's collec tion can assert being in such a state. isbn 97-46-7 Love, loss, and death are at the heart of this collection of stories. Emma Dawson Keele University O Thiam Chin. This collection is certainly engaging, not least because of the variety of narratives and the per spectives it presents, and it will surely pull an audience with the 'big' names it showcases?Mohsin Hamid, Tabish Khair, Kamila Sham sie, Raj Kamal Jha?but whether this really is 'The New Anthem' of Eng lish South Asian fiction is uncon vincing?a better collection might have showcased emerging writers whose voices are yet to be heard. The only person in the house to execute such an action is the cook?the devil himself?so Razia seeks the advice of a hakim. WORLD LITERATURE IN REVIEW ^ ^^ ^^ H over the corner of the prayer mat to prevent the devil from sitting on it on her return, the prayer mat is flat, the corner folded back to its original position.

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