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Riley is your virtual thrift companion, and here to help you find your next favourite read. You can also find in-stock similar reads linked by topic and genre here!

Widely regarded as the first Singapore novel, If We Dream Too Long explores the dilemmas and challenges faced by its hero, Kwang Meng, as he navigates the difficult transitional period between youthful aspirations and the external demands of society and family. Shy and sensitive, he feels detached from mainstream life and is unable to identify with the values that animate his friends. Kwang Meng takes refuge in dreams of exotic faraway places, and imagines merging himself with the sea, which he loves. Yet amidst this uncertainty, the reader feels that all is not lost, that the young dreamer will eventually find his way. Kwang Meng's experiences reflect the author's fascination with the question of self amidst the dreariness and aimlessness of an increasingly urbanized and materialistic Asian society. This book also provides a fascinating portrait of Singapore as it was in the 1960s, a landscape and society that have undergone many changes but remain faintly visible in modern Singapore.Since its first publication in 1972, If We Dream Too Long has moved and delighted generations of readers. This much-loved novel has been used as a text in university literature courses in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and has been translated into Tagalog and Russian.

If We Dream Too Long

ISBN: 9789971694456
Publisher: NUS Press
Date of Publication: 2010-01-01
Format: Paperback
Regular price Our price:   $12.28
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Goodreads rating 3.63
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Note: While we do our best to ensure the accuracy of cover images, ISBNs may at times be reused for different editions of the same title which may hence appear as a different cover.

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Riley is your virtual thrift companion, and here to help you find your next favourite read. You can also find in-stock similar reads linked by topic and genre here!

Widely regarded as the first Singapore novel, If We Dream Too Long explores the dilemmas and challenges faced by its hero, Kwang Meng, as he navigates the difficult transitional period between youthful aspirations and the external demands of society and family. Shy and sensitive, he feels detached from mainstream life and is unable to identify with the values that animate his friends. Kwang Meng takes refuge in dreams of exotic faraway places, and imagines merging himself with the sea, which he loves. Yet amidst this uncertainty, the reader feels that all is not lost, that the young dreamer will eventually find his way. Kwang Meng's experiences reflect the author's fascination with the question of self amidst the dreariness and aimlessness of an increasingly urbanized and materialistic Asian society. This book also provides a fascinating portrait of Singapore as it was in the 1960s, a landscape and society that have undergone many changes but remain faintly visible in modern Singapore.Since its first publication in 1972, If We Dream Too Long has moved and delighted generations of readers. This much-loved novel has been used as a text in university literature courses in Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines, and has been translated into Tagalog and Russian.