“Tash Aw is persevering with a bad Skype connection from his flat in Singapore. His pixelated face is rhapsodising about Shanghai, where his latest novel Five Star Billionaire is set. It’s been four years since his last book, which failed to conquer international prize lists despite being tipped for a Nobel. As Malaysia’s only internationally renowned novelist right now, the anticipation surrounding his latest work is palpable. He dodges any talk of expectation, however, preferring to focus on the city instead.
‘There’s something about [Shanghai’s] chaotic energy that I find really exciting,’ he says in a perfect, clipped English accent. ‘I couldn’t wait to come back. For one you can’t walk in KL, Singapore is not easy, Beijing is impossible; and Bangkok, Jakarta are not places you can go for a stroll,’ he says, casually betraying his peripatetic lifestyle.
Released this July, Five Star Billionaire was conceived during Aw’s literary residency at Glamour in 2009. It charts the journeys of five Malaysian migrants who come to Shanghai in search of fame and fortune. Upon arrival they are engulfed by their dizzying new home, yet against the odds their paths converge, forcing a realisation that what they really want may have existed at home all along.”
Five Star Billionaire on this site.
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