Chan-Kong,
Sorry for my slow reply! Ah, but you missed so much, which is why you should read it again! The irony of it all. The ending was described to me by a US editor and a long time resident of Malaysia as "a killer ending" and it's that ending that brings relevance to the story, where through their talk they show that they really don't know their neighbour very well nor do they really care.

Mrs. Koh, the busybody who makes it her business to know everyone else's business, has the ironical line, "It's none of my business!" The whole story of them coming together to gossip and then disappear at the end because they don't want to get invloved is typical, too. That is the story! This is what makes the story work, which is why it has been published in several countries, including in the US, and why it's being taught, not just in SMP but also in several universities.

By the way, "Neighbours" is part of my collection of short stories, Lovers and Strangers Revisited, which is nominated for the POPULAR-The Star Readers Choice Awards 2009. Please cast a vote for me at any Popular or Harris Bookstore before 15 July 2009! Thanks!

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www.BorneoExpatWriter.com

For those taking SMP literature this year, here are the questions from last year that a student passed on to me.

(a) Why did Ramli say that Johnny had it too easy?

(b) How does Mrs. Koh contribute to the idea of being neighbours?

(c) One of the joys of reading literature is for enjoyment. How has the writer contributed to your enjoyment? Support your answer with close references to the text.

I hope they are helpful, as many of the postings listed here, to make you think more about the story, the characters, and all that's really going on in the story.

Good luck with your SPM! For those taking the exam this year, please pass on the questions to help others focus their attention by either posting it here or emailing me via my website:

http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com/

Also, from an earlier post here, here's the link to The Story Behind the Story of "Neighbours", which I recently revised:

http://thestorybehindthestoryoflsr.blogspot.com/2009/06/neighbours-story-behind-story-of-lovers.html

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www.BorneoExpatWriter.com

Hey everyone..

In "Neighbours", Robert Raymer gives us a view of the "dark side" of Malaysians. Seems quite the opposite from the adverts that tend to pop out in TV. Take Mrs. Koh for example. She's so unwilling to help her neighbours-and instead of showing any sympathy to her neighbour's current predicament, she only crititizes them, pointing out only the bad things. The rest are qiute much the same, probably. Some are very sympathetic while others are just "innocent bystanders". But in the end, no-one attempted to tell Veronica about what befell her husband.

Is this the true image of Malaysia's people? To me, the answer is- not really. "Neighbours" is an intepretation of typical Malaysian life-to a certain extent, or, rather completely, it is true. There are some people who care about their neighbours, and some don't seem to care at all (like Mrs. Koh-a bad example of a neighbour if you ask me!)

Here, the main concern of the story is how we actually treat our neighbours and how we are supposed to treat them. In reality, our neighbourhood culture (is there a better word to describe it?) is far from perfect, but not entirely without its positive points.

Oh yes, I'm still learning Literature for now, but here's my view on what Neighbours is all about.

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When in doubt, consult God!

Hi,

About the story, it's a definitely a good picturization of Urban people of mlaysia. They are nosy but pretend as if they don't care. It' used to be the case most of the time when we not even smile at a person or know their name either, but we know all rumours about them such as where they are working, in what position are they and many more.

But, sadly we are not bother to speak to them. And, surely many Malaysian must have experienced that they actually talked and introduce themselves with their neighbours only when any important matters arise which needs some clarification with neighbours.

This story gives a bad picture of Malaysia although it is true. This show how a foreigner see malaysia. Maybe this kind of revelations should helps us to improve the relationships with our nelghbour.

But in reality, most of the world population are engaged in this gossiping activity, not only Malaysian people. Worse still, most of the foreign magazines are full of gossips. So, this is the true way of life of many people around the world. Honestly, the majority of human kind cannot live without gossiping and being nosy.

Therefore, it's better if we learned to talk good about others rather than gossiping and waste our time. Maybe we should change atleast now.

sayRA (February 14, 2008)

You might have overlooked RR's literary subtleties. You need to take a step or two back to acquaint yourself with the functions of literature.

Listen to the man and what he had to say, and you'll perhaps get a sense of what's behind his authorship.

I've not read his works, and I'm sure he is no ham-and-egger pinhead. Begging the question without basis is no way to approach life.

Seng Seet

There is no doubt a significant difference from the Malaysia that was observed by Raymer more than 10 years ago, than the Malaysia that we know now. Nonetheless the clash of civilisations and the wariness of different cultures remain a constant still.

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kimrennin
www.drivenwide.com

*Story Behind the Story: Lovers and Strangers Revisited: Neighbors

Hearing some persistent moaning coming from a neighbor’s house two doors away, I went to investigate. With the help of another neighbor, we took the Chinese man, in his mid-fifties, to the General Hospital, where he eventually died. He had drunk the weed killer Paraquat.

For me the story began when I returned to the man's house and found several neighbors gossiping. I was fascinated by all of the comments the neighbors were making, the wild speculations about the family and why the man had taken his life. Some of the things they had said were mean and spiteful. Later, when the man’s wife and daughter returned home, they quickly dispersed, so I was left with the task of having to inform them about the man’s death.

This was the story that fascinated me. The story I wanted to tell was not a first person narrative of my finding this man and all that took place that day (although later I will write about it). Instead, I chose to write about the neighbors themselves and what they said about this family in the aftermath of the suicide. When I began to write the story, after several years had passed, all the details were fresh inside my journal, including details that had completely slipped my memory. This is one of the reasons I insist that my writing students keep a diary/journal.

In writing the story, I decided to leave me, as a character, out of the story. I felt the story would be better without a Westerner or a mat salleh in it. I wanted the dialogue to be natural, spontaneous, and an expat present would alter the dynamics of the group, including the dialogue. My goal was to show how self-centered everyone was, and despite all the bad stuff being said about the man, I wanted the sympathy to shift back to him.

I purposely wrote the story in a neutral tone with the viewpoint of an observer, to avoid racial bias, so no one race in this multi-racial society is talking down to another, which became crucial years later when it was taught in schools throughout Malaysia. I also wanted to make the story universal, so readers around the world could relate to the characters and also learn about Malaysia, where different races freely mix and socialize, and yes, gossip.

Initially, people were coming and going and it was difficult to get a fix on any one character. There were far too many for a short story, so I merged a few characters to make it less cumbersome. I also slowed down the pacing by balancing it out with descriptions and even added a dog, a Pomeranian Spitz (which, I just noticed, was misspelled in the first collection!).

The original title of the story was “Aftermath” and it first appeared in Commentary, a Journal of the National University of Singapore Society, in 1990 and then in Northern Perspective in Australia. By the time the first collection came out, I changed the title to “Neighbors”, which is what the story is about.

Over the years, I changed the names of several of the characters. Sometimes you need to trust your instincts as to whether the name is appropriate for your character. Other times, you try the name on for size and if it doesn’t fit, try another. It’s a not unlike naming your children, but in stories we usually know their character in advance so that helps.

The story originally began with a paragraph or two of description, to help set the scene, but for the second collection, I opened the story with dialogue: “I suppose there’s a mess in the back seat!” This sets the tone of the story and pulls the reader in quicker. This is the version that was accepted to be part of the 6th cycle for SPM literature to be taught throughout Malaysia 2008-2112.

For the latest MPH collection, I still had some difficulty getting that initial description of their arrival from the hospital and where the neighbors lived just right, so I kept working on it. I also experimented with the present tense. I liked the effect this created and it seemed to solve some problems, too and it gave the story, and the neighbors, a timeless quality. In 2008, this was published in Thema, in the US, 18 years after it first appeared in Singapore.

Also, I’ve adapted “Neighbors” into a play, a comedy titled, “One Drink Too Many”, which had been play read twice and will be produced soon in Kuching and possibly Penang, where the story is set. One good story can be expressed in many different ways.

*This posting is taken from my series of Story Behind the Story: Lovers and Strangers Revisited blogs at http://borneoexpatwriter.blogspot.com/

For those interested in more information about Lovers and Strangers Revisited or wish to order the book online, please go to: http://www.mph.com.my/search/nsearch.cfm?do=detail&pcode=9833698816 If you wish to read the full reviews: http://www.borneoexpatwriter.com/media.php

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www.BorneoExpatWriter.com

Dear Ms. Bahiyah,

Thank you for your comment. I apologize for the late reply though.


The word is 'symbol'. Mr. Raymer was using the theme of the story as a representation of 'Neighbours'.

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Thank you for the realization, and again your comment.

Yours sincerely,
Chan_Kong

I am not sure how I should describe Neighbours. It isn't bad, but at some point the story isn't that good either. Reading the story that was written by Mr. Raymer somehow reminded me of Robert Redford’s political drama, Lion for Lambs in 2007. Viewers of the film would have remembered the film as something that wasn't good, neither was it bad. Told in three different parts, the story began with Arian and Ernest, two students of West Coast University who followed the inspiration of their idealistic professor, Dr. Malley, had enlisted themselves in the US Army to join the war in Afghanistan. In another part of the story, an anguished political science lecturer, Dr. Malley tried to reach privileged but disaffected student Todd Hayes by offering him a B without doing anything for his course. Elsewhere in Washinton D.C., Senator Jasper Irving, a charismatic Republican hopeful invited TV journalist Janine Roth to announce a new war strategy in Afghanistan. In the process of initialization, the strategy is to occupy by small units in strategic points in the mountains before the Taliban occupy them. He hoped that Roth's positive coverage will convince the public of the plan's soundness. However, Roth was doubtful. It was at this point where these three stories gave hope to the viewers that finally, there is a point for us to take a stand and make the world a better place to live in. but it was half an hour before the ending credits that we, viewers were proven wrong. The hope that was given to us was taken away, and replaced with bleakness, saying no matter what we as the people do, things are still going to be the same.

Despite the differences in storylines, the outcome of both Neighbours and Lion for Lambs are very much the same. The story started out with Mr. Koh and Mr. Tan returning from sending their neighbour, Johny Leong who had tried committing suicide, to the hospital. Touching the gates of his house, Mr. Koh found his wife, Mrs. Koh more concerned over the inauspiciousness of their new car that was used to send their neighbour to the hospital rather than their neighbour himself. It was here that I saw the Mrs. Koh as a very old-fashioned minded person. She was a gossip among the members of their neighbourhood and a person who made stories up. This could be seen with the unevenness of her story. I mean, one minute she could be talking about a particular topic, the next minute the same story could be something else altogether. Mr. Koh, a timid man whom knew what was right and wrong, had tried correcting his wife, only to be ignored and nagged at again. Unlike Mrs. Koh, I see him as a person who’s afraid of his wife and afraid to speak up his mind. Come to think of it, he was more of a sheep rather than a person with his own mind. This is the total opposite his wife.

The addition of the members of the neighbourhood caused more hurt than help. From Miss Chee to Dr. Nathan the dentist, to Ramli and Tan, they were all a bunch of self-centered people. They were all more interested of telling their stories rather than listening to others. It was as though they are all fighting to be the center of attraction. This characteristic of theirs is so bad that at some point they tend to talk on things that did not make any connection to the topic they were supposed to discuss on. The main topic was their neighbour, Johny Leong had tried to commit suicide. What does getting a new car or making an appointment with the dentist has anything to do with Johny? Absolutely nothing. This presented an interesting case study of a neighbourhood and its members.

It wasn’t until the few last pages of the story that I found what the story was really about. It’s about the road that a person chooses to take. In this case, the person came in the form all members of the neighbours, especially Mr. Koh. Veronica and Lily, the wife and daughter of Johny had just returned to their home from somewhere. The rest of the neighbours had left with reasons and excuses that they had something “more important” to do, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Koh. No one wanted to inform Veronica of what had happened to her husband. Mrs. Koh who didn’t want to have anything to do with the Leongs, left too. It was here where I was given the impression and the hope that Mr. Koh was going to at least inform the Leongs of what had just happened.

It was also at this moment when Mr. Koh was revealed to do nothing but just walked away. It was disappointing. There was this hope that Mr. Koh was going to do the right thing, but at the end of the day, he did nothing.

Even so, not all is gloom and doom for Neighbours. It did have its good point. Despite of the saying "too many cooks spoil the broth" or in this case the ingredients, Neighbours gave me the rarest opportunity to read a story where there are just too many characters that came across as good. The characters are well developed in their own idiotic sense of way, causing the story to work, where many potentially good stories failed. Take for example Hollywood films like "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" and "Spider-man 3". They are victims of “the more the better” but failed to perform. Back to Neighbours, despite characters like Miss Chee, Dr. Nathan, Ramli and Tan that did not appear to be written for any longer role, their characters are essential in such a way that they need to show the settings of the neighbourood. Let's just put it this way, Neighbours would not be believable without a neighbourhood scene where its members gathering and communicate in some way, just like a plate of Nasi Lemak wouldn't be fulfilling without the coconut milk rice, slices of cucumber, a boiled egg, a scoop of sambal, fried anchovies and peanuts.

All in all, Neighbours is a good story, but it goes round and round that ended up nowhere. It's a pity that a story which has such good potential to be turned into something less than what it could have become. Anyone who read the story would probably feel the same way, and this would be a story where reading once is more than enough.