Queen of the Tiles

by Hanna Alkaf

She tolerated my music for approximately twenty-three minutes (a playlist heavy on K-pop, indie rock, and Taylor Swift) before making me switch to her favorite radio station (playing “easy listening hits,” which seems to translate to “absolutely no songs from the past ten years”)

Omg actually seeing this in a book is wild. Kpop and taylor swift...especially because my playlists for the last 8 months (2 years) have been heavy on kpop, indie and taylor swift.

Alina sat with me in the living room with the curtains drawn and we watched every episode of Gilmore Girls from beginning to end, munching on murukku and rempeyek that my mother bought along with the groceries from the wet market every Sunday morning and writing a definitive ranking of who on this show was The Worst. (We disagreed on a lot of things, but number one was, of course, Rory. Always Rory.)

...so ive never seen gilmore girls (i know!) but i know enough to know that she's the worst (even though we all love her) Like the e fact that they actually disagree that Rory is the worst character, here in print, as it should be, means I def need to (buy this book) watch it.

I sat down and picked up my old Totoro plushie, patting the faded round curve of its belly.

I don't know why this stuck out to me but as someone with a totoro plushie and seeing it mentiomed in an actual book is wild! I've never really read contemporary YA and certinly not during this new shift in the early 2020s, so i def feel so dated and behing, cuz of course YA track to current stuff, but this makes me smile so much?! Glad I picked this book!

No speculation. Just facts.” “Okay, Detective Najwa.” “Like Poirot.” “I was thinking more along the lines of Pikachu.” He winks at me. “He’s cuter.” I can’t help it; my lips betray me with a small smile.

Okay this made me giggle. All of the classic mystery investigatos but the detective Pikachu got me. The Pickachu move is cute and funny. I'm not sure how many teenagers in 2023 know about Pirot but then again i dont know much about him either and they're scrable nerds so it makes sense.

Remember when she snuck an entire nasi lemak into the movies one time when we went to watch Captain Marvel?

Wow it's wild to think that this book is recent enough that they're referencing a Marvel movie from...2019 (wow that was 4 years ago now and i had to look it up cuz I genuinely got scared that this movie was older than i remember. But also Covid changed everything time wise. hm. I wonder if this is like saying 'before the war' As an american born at the end 1990s we don't have anything we can culturally reference like that, like a war that's global amd compltely changes the way we think and live for years. that the time before seems like a different world a life time ago. Wait! There's no Covid in this book?! I mean its Malaysia so probaly VERY different from my apocalyptic American experience but wild. I guess like books we remember and act the Covid was just a blip (like Marvel) and live in a now and reference the before and not the between.