Kopi Soh shared her childhood and family memories with KULit Baru, who later translated them into black and white drawings for the book. He said if I made the wrong choice, she would never let me go. “I have memories of my dad warning me that if this infamous lady with humongous breasts who lives in the longkang (drain) were to catch me, she would ask me which one I wanted, the breast with sweet milk or the other one with sour milk. In this book, she recalls many of the taboos and superstitions she grew up with, for example the “Hantu Tek Tek” tale her father used to tell her. Unsurprisingly, this has stuck with her throughout her life, alongside other gems like asking permission from the spirits before relieving yourself behind a bush or by a tree in the forest, or while swimming in the deep blue sea. “I experimented a few times and yes, my ears almost always get cut when I point at the moon and I don’t know why!” she says. Well, Kopi Soh (aka Cheah Swee Lian) still has both her ears but they have felt the wrath of whatever it was she angered, when as a kid, she pointed at the moon. How many times have we heard from our parents or older relatives not to clip our nails at night, to finish all the rice in your bowl lest you end up with a pockmarked face, or to not point at the moon or risk getting your ears chopped off? Author Kopi Soh’s Looking After The Ashes might be a work of fiction, but for readers who grew up with the superstitions, old wives’ tales and stories mentioned in this book, it will feel like home.
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