Episode description

“As a kid, you don't know any of that. You're just like, wow, this sounds magical, like, how could this be the sea? How could this be land? How can that just happen? And I think that speaks to a particular quality of life in Singapore, and growing up in Singapore, and all of the changes that you see happening before your eyes…”

Rachel Heng’s new novel, The Great Reclamation, is an epic story of love and power and family (with a magical twist) set in mid-century Singapore. She joins us on the show to talk about the legacy of colonialism, rewriting (with an assist from Post-It notes and index cards), Elizabeth McCracken and the Michener Center, the histories that get told (and the ones that don’t), Crazy Rich Asians, and much more with host Miwa Messer. And we end this episode with TBR Topoff book recommendations from Marc and Jamie.

This episode of Poured Over was hosted by Executive Producer Miwa Messer and mixed by Harry Liang.

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Featured Books (Episode):

The Great Reclamation by Rachel Heng

Suicide Club by Rachel Heng

The Man with the Compound Eyes by Wu Ming-Yi

The Known World by Edward P. Jones

Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones

The Old Drift by Namwali Serpell

Featured Books (TBR Topoff):

The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy