The Weight of Our Sky - MPHOnline.com

The Weight of Our Sky

Author: Hanna Alkaf
ISBN: 9781534426092
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RM65.90
Product Details

Publisher,Simon & Schuster
Publication Date,
Format, Paperback
Weight, 221 g
No. of Pages, 304

Melati Ahmad looks like your typical movie-going, Beatles-obsessed sixteen-year-old. Unlike most other sixteen-year-olds though, Mel also believes that she harbors a djinn inside her, one who threatens her with horrific images of her mother's death unless she adheres to an elaborate ritual of counting and tapping to keep him satisfied.

A trip to the movies after school turns into a nightmare when the city erupts into violent race riots between the Chinese and the Malay. When gangsters come into the theater and hold movie-goers hostage, Mel, a Malay, is saved by a Chinese woman, but has to leave her best friend behind to die.

On their journey through town, Mel sees for herself the devastation caused by the riots. In her village, a neighbor tells her that her mother, a nurse, was called in to help with the many bodies piling up at the hospital. Mel must survive on her own, with the help of a few kind strangers, until she finds her mother. But the djinn in her mind threatens her ability to cope.

 

About the Author

Hanna Alkaf is the author of The Weight of Our Sky, Queen of the Tiles, The Girl and The Ghost, and Hamra and the Jungle of Memories, as well as coeditor of the young adult anthology The Grimoire of Grave Fates. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and has spent most of her life working with words, both in fiction and nonfiction. She lives in Kuala Lumpur with her family.

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Customer Reviews

Based on 4 reviews
75%
(3)
25%
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M
Miera Nordin
Delighted

This book can be a bit heavy for some, but overall the story is good and entertaining. This book also what leads me to read morr on the May 13 tragedy.

A
Angelina Alexander

The Weight of Our Sky

A
Azman Tahir
Local talent ~masterpiece

This book is a great proof of how great Hanna Alkaf writings are. Packed with emotional and historical setting, I love everything about this book. The cover -great, the content-awesome, the experience-priceless. We should give more highlight on local talent like her ~ our one and only Hanna Alkaf

N
Nadirah R
An amazing debut

I appreciated this portrayal of the events of 13 May 1969, in what was probably the bleakest day in Malaysia's history, and one that had scarred the psyche of many Malaysians. Hanna did not hold back on some of the more shocking aspects of it, so do mind the trigger warnings (TWs) for this if you're planning on reading this. It's hard to imagine such a bloody situation happening in Kuala Lumpur now, so the shock of reading about the bloodbath that occurred and the toll it took on the community drove the point home.

Despite my reservations on some of the aspects of the book (like the rushed ending etc.), I do think this is a great effort for a book that touches on an important event in our history. I would recommend it for any 12yo+ and above so that they would understand Malaysia's history and use it as a lesson to better our society.