Mamasan – lives behind the scenes of nightclub

Following the success of his first novel, Taikor, which was nominated for the 2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, a storyteller Khoo Kheng-Hor has launched this second novel, Mamasan, which plunges the readers into the glitzy world of nightclubbing.

With simple plot to understand, Khoo’s Mamasan takes you behind the scenes of a large Kuala Lumpur cabaret and nightclub’s life. The main message from this novel is that peoples always wearing different masks for different occasions.

The lives of dance hostesses, managers, bouncers, mamasans and customers are narrated in quite interesting, sometimes quite confusing.

Khoo spins a tale encompassing other tales covering juvenile delinquency, growing up, deceit versus honesty, love, broken homes, corruption and power abuse of police officers, rape, blackmail and murder.

As a matter of fact, Malaysia’s English literature is not very well known in international market, yet Khoo’s effort to be quite satisfactory.

To be honest, his first novel Taikor is better than Mamasan, yet I hope that Khoo Kheng-Hor will continue his urge to tell stories.

I would like to see Khoo’s novel translates in bahasa Melayu, any takers?
Good luck buddy!

Title: Mamasan
Author: Khoo Kheng-Hor
Publisher: Pelanduk Publications (M) Sdn Bhd, 2007
ISBN: 967-978-941-1
ISBN (13): 978-967-978-941-6
Pages: 506
Price: RM38