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The Woman Who Turned Into A Vending Machine
A housewife turns into a vending machine. Zombies are coming for tea. An unnamed narrator dreams of a cat. “The Woman Who Turned Into A Vending Machine” is a book on metamorphosis - metaphorical and physical, calculated and involuntary. Here is an invitation to explore how myth fits with the mundane, and how we shapeshift alongside our endlessly changing environments, muddying along life as best as we can.
- GenresPoetry
60 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 23, 2020
Adunan cerita rakyat dan mitos dengan rencah moderniti. Bagaimana puisi mengajak kita untuk melihat semula naratif lama dengan persoalan "macam mana kalau?"
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February 21, 2019Filled with poetry revolving around the subject of womanhood. The theme of female dissatisfaction was especially prominent: in love, the disappointment of wanting to love the emotionally unavailable or immature; in the undervalued work of caregiving and emotional labour. There is some engagement with asian & southeast asian myths & magical realism. I do think the poems got uneven at times but the arrangement aids in the flow quite significantly. Think it would have benefitted from more editing to make it tighter.
August 7, 2018
A book that just gets better and better. Natalie wang’s poetry is steeped in folklore and mythology but often with a revisionist streak. Magical realism, love and metamorphosis. Immensely readable. Will watch out for the next one.
October 28, 2021
A short and sweet collection of books that encircle themes of female longing and dissatisfaction bound together in folklore of different cultures. An interesting concept though slightly inconsistent across the whole book as I enjoyed some of the poems and use of metaphor and folklore, while others were not particularly illuminating. A nice simple read nonetheless.
August 21, 2018
An outstanding collection straddling poetry and prose, published in a beautiful volume with feline endpapers.
Also fulfills my personal criterion for SingLit, namely that at least one piece begins in a 'void deck'.
Also fulfills my personal criterion for SingLit, namely that at least one piece begins in a 'void deck'.
April 25, 2023
It is important to take note that Wang's first collection, alike many writers before her, is not representative of her current body of work (in fact, they are even better. Find them at https://natwangthecat.wordpress.com/), yet she has produced a memorable impression of what is to come.
'The Woman Who Turned Into A Vending Machine' focuses largely on gender roles, sexuality, slice-of-life, and mythological themes. What myth exists in whichever part of the world, has thereby been reinterpreted and revised, often with a pleasant twist, such as the improvizations we see in the various segments of "Stranger Tales From The Nanyang". Personas are mostly mythological figures, usually shape-shifting Monsters struggling to find relevance in a contemporary society, which is still largely patriarchal and oppressive towards female experience, the difference being that Wang subtly uses a Feminist lens to expound upon their often fatal misreadings by men. It is of no surprise that male personas are mostly punished by the end of it, and/or are offered a grotesque subversion of feminine beauty, weaponized against misogyny. Themes of familial relationships are likewise explored, with pieces such as "My Mother Loves Me Very Much" magnifying inter-generational tensions wrought by the consequences of a society that propagates oppressive gender roles and beauty standards. Unlike many SingLit authors, Wang specializes in prose poetry, and manages to retain the brevity of poetic metaphors, interweaving them into stanzas of prose that lose their bulk while enhancing the storytelling of said metaphors.
Readers might find this volume reminiscent of the works by Tania de Rozario - Wang can be seen as continuing the torch of Singaporean mythological poetry centered around female experience and sexuality, and that they are necessarily multi-faceted and contextualized.
'The Woman Who Turned Into A Vending Machine' focuses largely on gender roles, sexuality, slice-of-life, and mythological themes. What myth exists in whichever part of the world, has thereby been reinterpreted and revised, often with a pleasant twist, such as the improvizations we see in the various segments of "Stranger Tales From The Nanyang". Personas are mostly mythological figures, usually shape-shifting Monsters struggling to find relevance in a contemporary society, which is still largely patriarchal and oppressive towards female experience, the difference being that Wang subtly uses a Feminist lens to expound upon their often fatal misreadings by men. It is of no surprise that male personas are mostly punished by the end of it, and/or are offered a grotesque subversion of feminine beauty, weaponized against misogyny. Themes of familial relationships are likewise explored, with pieces such as "My Mother Loves Me Very Much" magnifying inter-generational tensions wrought by the consequences of a society that propagates oppressive gender roles and beauty standards. Unlike many SingLit authors, Wang specializes in prose poetry, and manages to retain the brevity of poetic metaphors, interweaving them into stanzas of prose that lose their bulk while enhancing the storytelling of said metaphors.
Readers might find this volume reminiscent of the works by Tania de Rozario - Wang can be seen as continuing the torch of Singaporean mythological poetry centered around female experience and sexuality, and that they are necessarily multi-faceted and contextualized.
August 12, 2019
“The pontianak is tired of her old scare routine. People are too busy with their smartphones to notice her standing in front of them anyway. She is sick of hearing that she is a man-eating bitch with a baby fetish. This is what comes from living in a banana tree; everyone thinks she has an obsession with phalluses. The one she lives in is going to be cut down any day now, since this country prefers to build trees made of steel and multi-coloured light beams.” (The Pontianak, p. 33)
I don’t usually buy poetry books—I lean more into short stories, but for some reasons I couldn’t resist not getting this one! I was so lucky that this book came out when I was in Singapore so I just had to get this off of the BooksActually vending machine and I’m glad I did. Natalie Wang is a very gifted poet. Each of the poems in this book appeals strongly to my imagination. I think anyone who reads them will feel some type of way, especially if you’re a woman. I’m not gonna go deep into the interpretations of the poems, but there are two that resonate a lot with me: My Mother Loves Me Very Much and The Pontianak. Needless to say, this book is highly recommended for you contemporary poetry readers!
I don’t usually buy poetry books—I lean more into short stories, but for some reasons I couldn’t resist not getting this one! I was so lucky that this book came out when I was in Singapore so I just had to get this off of the BooksActually vending machine and I’m glad I did. Natalie Wang is a very gifted poet. Each of the poems in this book appeals strongly to my imagination. I think anyone who reads them will feel some type of way, especially if you’re a woman. I’m not gonna go deep into the interpretations of the poems, but there are two that resonate a lot with me: My Mother Loves Me Very Much and The Pontianak. Needless to say, this book is highly recommended for you contemporary poetry readers!
April 20, 2019
Natalie Wang's debut book of verse and prose, stories and confessions, is concise and intimate. It is a world of transformation and transition between moments of the past, present, an future. There are moments of love, moments of disgust, and moments of reconciliation that draw upon the motifs of the book. Carried images are derivative of Chinese and other folktales, creating an exciting literary world for 2018.
November 24, 2019
I tried to mark my favorite poems and I ended up bookmarking the entire book, so 🤷🏼♀️ I guess that speaks for itself.
Some of her work reminds me of Dean Francis Alfar, one of my most favorite writers of speculative fiction.
Some of her work reminds me of Dean Francis Alfar, one of my most favorite writers of speculative fiction.
December 23, 2019
3.75 stars
February 26, 2023
Thoroughly enjoyed this read - A beautiful mix of imagination with folklores, made local!
January 2, 2023
i enjoyed this book a lot as i have rather similar writing style as Natalie. not only that, the themes of poems are also relatable to ones i would personally write about. her use of allusions to folklore and mythical creatures were very refreshing to read.
May 4, 2020
Whimsy whimsy whimsy!
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews