Every day is a painful struggle for Nani, the mother of Razi, a boy with special needs. As Nani finds herself increasingly frustrated by society’s lack of understanding and empathy for Razi’s condition, she is by turns swayed and pressured by her sister’s incessant cajoling to seek help from a traditional Malay healer. Nani keeps the treatment a secret from her husband – out of fear and perhaps guilt. Razi is slowly tamed into obedience. The healer sees it as progress, but is submission into silent acquiescence a cure at all?
“Razi” will make you ponder over the great lengths people would go to and the sacrifices they make for their loved ones. Readers will be tempted to weigh in on the dilemmas that Nani has to grapple with and tread along the emotional rollercoaster of her struggle and guilt. Will we condemn her choices? Or empathise with her challenges?
From NLB’s Singapore collection comes a book club with a unique local flavour. Discuss books by both well-known and emerging Singaporean authors touching on topics close to home. Get acquainted with local literature and discover national literary treasures right here at the libraries.
One Story is a project by the National Library Board to make Singapore short stories – originally written in Tamil, Malay, Chinese, or English – available in the other languages. The project aims to bring these stories to more readers beyond the language communities that they were originally written for. “Razi” is a short story by Sa’eda Buang that was originally written in Malay. This book features the story in all four languages.
VENUE: Online
LINK: To be sent to registrants
EVENT WEBSITE: Eventbrite (for registration)
DATE AND TIME
17 Feb 2022, 8pm–9pm