Heart Of Glass

by Ivy Ngeow

Chicago 1980. Li-an Donohue’s luck changes the instant she meets a mysterious Italian businessman in the Drake Hotel. Hearing her play, he offers her a job in Macau on the spot.

She’s there in a heartbeat. From a drab Chicago winter to swimming pools, Sémillon Blanc and lobster. It seems perfect. Li-an has her own private pavilion on the estate of a colonial gothic mansion. But easy livin’ is harder than she thought. She’s homesick. Lonely. And beginning to think it might not be all it seems.

Until she meets slick New Yorker DJ, Ben. He is the ring-a-ding, the daddy cool of the club scene who shares her passion for – her obsession with – music. An island in China isn’t fun when you’re desperate to cut a recording deal, make it big in disco, he says. Ben has a secret plan. But it sure doesn’t sound like music to Li-an’s ears…

ebook

Published June 1, 2018

About the author

Ivy Ngeow was born and raised in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. She holds an MA in Writing from Middlesex University, where she won the 2005 Middlesex University Literary Press Prize out of almost 1500 entrants worldwide. The American Boyfriend, published by Penguin Random House Southeast Asia in 2023, was longlisted for the Avon x Mushens Entertainment Prize for Commercial Fiction Writers of Colour 2022 and the winner of the Singapore Book Awards 2024 for Best Marketing Campaign. Her debut, Cry of the Flying Rhino (2017), was awarded the International Proverse Prize in Hong Kong. Her novels include Heart of Glass (2018), Overboard (2020) and White Crane Strikes (2022). She is the commissioning editor of the Asian Anthology New Writing series. In Safe Hands was shortlisted for the Joffe Books Prize 2024. She lives in London.

Reviews

[Giuseppe Porcaro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have loved to be in Chicago, on that 4 November 1980, US elections night.
I might have not been celebrating Reagan's win over Carter. But would have probably be in the same club of Li-an as she accepts a piano-playing job in Macau offered by Italian restaurant businessman Paolo. I might even have been that businessman Paolo. A great disco book from a rocking Unbound author. Recommended!

[Patrick Kincaid · Rating 5 out of 5]

There's an extent to which Heart of Glass is a book you've read before. Or maybe a film you've seen. A noir, told in the first person by an outsider, someone able to maintain an ironic distance from their surroundings, from the people they meet, and even from the things that are happening to them. What's different - what makes this so original - is the reason the narrator is an outsider, and the nature of the environments she finds herself in. Ngeow never let's us rest, culturally, for a moment. Like Li-an, we have to keep shifting from one country, one language, one way of seeing the world, to another. She's a chameleon, hiding in plain sight, taking opportunities as they arise. As such, she's the novel's femme fatale as well as it's heroine. Not entirely Asian, not entirely American, she is the best tour guide to the seamier sides of both continents. All of her relationships - whether with various dodgy bosses, with her mentor/mother figure, Dallas, or with her enigmatic lover Ben - are full of dangerous ambiguity. Ngeow's creation of her voice is a brilliant performance, a tour de force that is maintained to the end. It's like nothing you've read before - and afterwards, you'll want to visit Macao (or McCow), eat some Portuguese fusion food, then find a bar and listen to the music...

[Geoff Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fiendishly bad characters, you'll want to see what happens to them. A fast-paced, strong tale of obsession and blindness caused by greed. Well set in the 80s disco period. An excellent psychological understanding of frustrations and desires. Ivy Ngeow uses glittery exotic settings to evoke the dark side of humanity. Riveting read!

[Lulu]

Pacy and classy, neon-trashy glamour and adventure - with heart; bitter-sweet pangs of coming of age and learning about the nature of love - whether it be love for the guiding star of music or just people. Great characters and a fast-paced plot. Truly enjoyable.

[Calzean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Li'an gets a shovel and digs herself a hole, she digs it deeper and deeper. Fuelled by stupidity, an easy life provided by petty crime, a love of the music of the 80s and a lot of luck, Li'an finds herself in Macau. There's a confusion of shady characters all trying to cheat and beat each other. The start of the book drew me in but gradually it became a jumble of insensitive selfish folk within a washtub of doubtful storylines.

[Ewan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heart of Glass has one of the most distinctive narrative voices of any novel I have ever read. It's natural since "Madison", or Li-An as it says on her documentation, is of mixed Asian-Caucasian-American parentage. Madison rattles off her story in a quick-fire combination of hard-boiled simile and musical metaphor. Amid the double-crossing amorality of the music biz- and "family business" milieux, HOG explores what it means to be an immigrant, an emigrant and someone with a foot for ever in two camps.

The settings from seedy night-time Chicago to the glitter and grime of Macau (or Macao if you're a fan of the Bob Mitchum/Jane Russell film- as no doubt Paolo, Madison's not quite sugar daddy is) are extremely convincingly depicted through Madison's somewhat jaundiced eye.


Some won't care for Madison/Li-An's moral standpoint, I feel it's irrelevant. Sometimes naive, at others, deeply cynical, her self-deprecating schtick (as she would almost certainly put it) won me over from very early on.

Thoroughly recommended, more fun that an 80's night in Manchester: so I couldn't put it down. Go read it.

[John Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read. I read this in paperback but for some reason I am only allowed to write the review in Kindle. An original tale of an American Chinese girl who finds herself playing the piano in an Italian restaurant in Hong Kong surrounded by gangsters. This story is full of twists and turns so keeps you turning pages. But its more than a ripping yarn. Set in the 1980s it is full of references to 1980s tracks, as well as jazz and classical - and the odd Roland drum machine. Despite the 80s setting it has all the elements of a noir novel too. So a rich mix and the writing builds up the persona of the protgonist. I will be looking for more work by this author if it is as original as this one.

[Marc Faoite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart of Glass is an energetic fast-paced novel set predominantly in 1980s Macao. It hits the round running and seldom pauses for breath, following the adventures of a young musician trying to find her way both in life and in her musical career. But things are not plain sailing for Li'an. Gangsters and death lurk behind the scenes and she gets involved in things much riskier than deviating from the standards of the American Songbook. Despite the title there is not much Blondie (though there are a few brief mentions) and (thankfully?) no sign of Werner Herzog whatsoever. This is a fun book, at times a funny book, and definitely a very entertaining read. Two thumbs up.

[Lel Budge · Rating 4 out of 5]

At 23, I was too old to be naive and too young to be retired to a grey-haired playground “

Initially set in Chicago, 1980 and Li-an is a hustler, she drugs men so her friend, Dallas can empty their pockets….

But then one night she meets Paolo, who, after hearing her play the piano, offers her a job in Macau..after a few too many drinks, she agrees. Li-an is whisked off and lives in own villa on Paolo’s estate but she’s bored, lonely and homesick…she ends up meeting Ben, a musician and they plot a robbery…..what could go wrong?

Well….pretty much everything and more escapades rush past in a heady mix of 80’s music, pop culture and many drugs and dubious people…

Ivy Ngeow herself is a musician and there are many music references which are fun to pick out. ( I’ve seen her piano playing video’s on Twitter ).

Heart of Glass by Ivy Ngeow is a wonder of language…it’s fast, staccato sentences from Li-an’s perspective, her internal thoughts feel real….how our thoughts jump, our emotions, those thoughts we keep to ourselves…..this is such a unique piece of writing and I can’t get it out of my head …..one of my favourites for 2019 and is going to be a must read !

Thank you to Anne Cater and Random Things Tours for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour and for the promotional materials and a free copy of the book. This is my honest, unbiased review.

[Michael Eidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a ride!

I usually read science fiction and fantasy, but every so often I like to read outside my favorite genre. I'm glad I read Heart of Glass. Having met the author on Twitter and becoming intrigued by her tweets, I decided to buy and read her book. Not really knowing her, I can't help but wonder how autobiographical her novel is. It reads like a story that could have happened in real life, with all its twists and turns. I did guess right about some things, but didn't know for sure until the very end, and I didn't see everything coming. I enjoyed the integration of music into the story and its tie to the book title. Well-written and edited, the one thing that distracted me from my reading on occasion was the use of single quotes around dialogue instead of the usual double quotes. After a while I got used to them, kinda. A minor issue and not one to detract from my rating of 5 stars. When I have the hankering for another read outside my favorite genre, I won't hesitate to give another Ivy Ngeow novel a try. If you like suspense, drama, and the like, you can't go wrong with Heart of Glass.

[Pheadra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this story which commences in Chicago with a hustler of Chinese origin Li An, meeting a dubious Italian businessman. The tale moves to Macau where she is employed to play the piano and sing in his pizzeria. Her life change from scrounging and stealing to living in luxury with a driver at her behest does nothing to alter her lack of scruples. She has two loves, herself and disco. Like those she associates with, she is greedy, selfish and self-obsessed and her decisions from drug use to plotting a burglary send her life spiralling downhill fast. Her excuse encapsulated in the line “You can take the girl out of Asia but you can’t…” is a cop out. The story might appeal to those who want to reminisce about music from the 70s and earlier who love to spin vinyl records.

[Di Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A compelling story, written in a different style, for a different time. Set in the eighties, and revolving around music, you at times feel sorry for Li-an, the heroine with some serious issues, but more often, frustrated at her naivete and stupidity. But she's resourceful and likeable. All the characters are well defined, and while, at times I found the style difficult to read, it's interesting and adds to the ambience of the story.

[Lauren rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ivy Ngeow writes another compelling read with an original and fast paced writing style. We follow the heroine, Li-An, as she begins her journey in Chicago during the 1980s. Ngeow writes in such a talented way that you are completely immersed in the time and setting of her book. The characters are incredibly flawed and are ultimately bad people, yet it makes such a fascinating read because you have to see what will happen. Ultimately, this story is about greed, desire and power.

[Ewan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't think I would like this after a few pages, but it really grew on me. I liked Li-an, even as her dubious decisions led her further and further into trouble. I think it benefited from my watching The Deuce just before I read it - it evokes the same time (if not place) very well.
Also, I wouldn't have found this book except that the author followed me on twitter, I checked her out and the book was £1 for kindle - so social media does work!

[Em-Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anything to do with nostalgic 80's disco, and shady characters, and I'm in. Heart of Glass follows our narrator, Madison or Li-An as her papers say, from the heady lights of Chicago, to the shady shores of Macau.

So who does the heart of glass belong to? It could be any of the characters, even our 'heroine' of the piece.  I struggled with Li-An at first, as she fought her way up the social ladder, like a modern, criminal Becky Sharp.

She wants to get ahead in her musical career, and is offered an opportunity right at the start, to start a new life playing piano in a restaurant in Macau with a mysterious Italian businessman.  What could possibly go wrong - honestly, it's completely plausible isn't it.....? Of course it isn't... poor Li-An.

It's sometimes hard to sympathise with the characters in the story, because there's no clear moral guideline in this novel; Li-An is out for what she can get, living off the criminals and gangsters she surrounds herself with. She's not shy about it. It's that struggle with your own mindset that makes you decide whether you root for her or dislike her.... she's no different to many modern women you see in our national media nowadays... sorry, but it's true! She's chasing the dream. Somehow she scoops you up and drags you to the disco with her. When she meets DJ Ben she tries to change, but should she bite the hand that has fed her so far? Will it all go to plan....? This is the bit where I shut up.

I loved the authentic voices that Ngeow creates, I was  speaking like the characters of Goodfellas in my mind throughout - I don't know whether that's appropriate, but I mean it as a massive compliment to Ivy's writing and characterisation skills. This is the 'American Dream' gone awry, the street paved with gold with the mysterious man... with apparently no strings attached.  We all know it doesn't work that way.

At the end of the day, this is a story about greed, gangsters, drugs and a desire to reach the top, with a few diversions inbetween to keep us entertained... I didn't expect to like Li-An's character, she's ambitious but also naive, and I think the readers will find that intoxicating - I enjoyed the ride through the 80's with her....

[Miles Hudson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ivy Ngeow’s melting pot of post-colonial Macau is permeated by so many voices: early eighties’ pop culture references, the narrator’s part-Asian Chicago girl, Italian-American folk, a variety of lowlife sorts from all over, plus a bunch of Macau locals and expats.

Li-An, a Chicago grifter, for once in the kind of dazed mental state that she had used on wealthy old men to make her living, gets spirited off to Macau to work for Paolo. Tables turned, turntables. His new pizzeria, probably mob-funded, needs a piano player, and in return Li- An gets her own villa on Paolo’s estate, and the promise of a big salary. But she can’t get away from her old ways, and teams up with Ben to rip off Paolo. Ben is a masterful musician but a rubbish person, constantly cooking up new drug-fuelled schemes to rectify the problems from previous ones. Once the Paolo plan goes wrong (armed robbery with a snake could never go right!) adventures ensue (further spoilers removed!) Ngeow manages to make all of these both implausible and believable at the same time!

I’m a big Blondie fan, so enjoyed many of the subtler references, and as a total 80’s nerd I was often struck with the feeling that Ngeow had got something wrong. Checking up on things like the development of the fax machine and the Walkman, it of course turned out that I was the mistaken one. With one exception – Paolo gets an MRI scan after a stroke, but MRI machines were not used in hospitals till later in the 80’s. Haha, gotcha!! Naturally, the only one I got right was the physics one!

Early on, I felt that the whole narrative approach wasn’t really my thing. But without really realising it, the book got under my skin. I kept coming back to read a bit more, more and more often, until I came to finish the second half in just a few days. After more and more crimes and criminals are revealed, the story concludes quite nicely; although it does have the first denouement I’ve ever read that takes years. Not years to read, years to denoue (?!).

[Books Beyond The Story · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the blurb and wanted to dive right in! Did it live up to my excited expectations? No… it blew them away!!!

This book has it all- interesting characters, a plot that drives you crazy, and a chic noir atmosphere you can’t help but obsess over. Ngeow’s imagery and detail is what ties this book together. The reader is plunged straight into the 80s music scene, jumping from one place to another. Li-an is an attractive character for two reasons: 1) she develops herself throughout the novel creating a thick plot for you tear through; and 2) as a reader, you make a strong connection with her immediately so you reflect on how Li-an acts and feels. It’s a very intense story with a lot going on, but you don’t feel overwhelmed. Instead, you feel excited to continue this thrilling tale of travel, hope, and the sinister side to human nature.

The plot is well crafted but was not created around the characters- instead, they move along with the story, as if another force is compelling them. This aspect I really enjoyed as it kept me continuously guessing what was going to happen. The writing needs to be highlighted here as it is fantastically written with in depth emotive language heavily explored in the novel. It is simply stunning!

With a heart-racing plot and twist upon twist of cliff-hangers, this book is a brilliant read. If you want to try and read something different to your usual genre but still want a story to pull you in, this is definitely the book for you.

Recommendation

Fans of all genres will enjoy this book as it has elements of everything- crime, thrills, travel, romance, drama (so much drama!). Ngeow is definitely the one to watch as I thoroughly enjoyed this creative and inventive novel!

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book very hard to get in to - the characters aren’t at all likeable and the story was quite confusing in places. The language used in the story was also quite hard to follow. The main character Li-Ann is very immature, takes lots of risks and lots of drugs, and it showed. If that was the aim, then that aim was well and truly met!
Thanks to The Pigeonhole and the author for my copy of this book.

[Anna Underground Broke The Camel's Back · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written with colloquial, compelling, gorgeously vivid and seriously impressive language, Heart Of Glass is the literary equivalent of an evening with a flamboyantly articulate friend and far too much champagne. Only without the hangover the next day.

Full review here: https://murderundergroundbrokethecame...

[David E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this in 3 days, actually nights because I only have time to read late. That’s why I now have bags under my eyes. Why did I buy this book? Well, I liked the author’s twitter feed and thought she was smart, plus she played the piano. As I am tone deaf, can’t play a note and I think anyone who can is a genius! So, ipso facto her books must be good too, right?
Opening up the Heart of Glass I plunged right in. Plunging would not be the accurate description of my introduction into the mélange of drama and intrigue that manifested itself in this tome. It was more like me dipping my toes in and suddenly being gripped in a current that refused to relinquish any part of me to come up for air.
The pace of the action, the complications of the plot itself, and the language of the hip age delivered in machine-gun style had me totally engaged on a level very few stories can. As an older person, I wanted to grab this young naïve Li-an and shake her like a wayward daughter and ask her how could she get herself into these dangerous situations, not just Stateside but in Macao and Hong Kong. I was mentally lecturing her, “What were you thinking about signing an unread contract with Paolo and later tying up with the ne'er-do-well American, Ben?” But of course, Li-an had had no father and thus it became obvious her naivety and inexperience in her earlier life came on to haunt her. Nevertheless, her toughness, perseverance and street smarts saved her in the end.
The interaction between these three characters kept me up so late at night I need a couple of days of sleep to catch up. Some of the redemption and conclusions at the end seemed a little contrived but did satisfy me with explanations of the parts of the plot. I thought Ben should have been allowed to die off with all of his wounds, but to have mysteriously brought him back years later in New York for a one-time coincidental chance meeting in a shop and then just as mysteriously vanish again, did nothing for me except to say, why? Maybe a sequel and we will see him again?
I was in this Li-an character’s head throughout the book. I was angry when she was angry, I was close to tears when she was crying, I was frustrated when she was frustrated, and I laughed at her ironic humor and quips.
Get this book, it’s a very good read. Just make sure you have no urgent appointments before starting it.