Pieces of You by Tablo

I'm not giving any reviews yet for this book because I'm still searching for it. (With help and reference from Wiki)

Who's Tablo?


Tablo's a South Korean singer (hip hop, not those dance-y ones) whose English name is Daniel Armand Lee. He's a Stamford University graduate in English Literature and Creative Writing. He met Mithra Jin, originally a poet and they became good friends because their views for music and also writings.

So basically, Tablo had written Pieces of You (which was written originally in English and later, Tablo himself translated it in Korean) when he was still in Stamford around 1998-2001. Pieces of You has ten short stories: Andante, Counting Pulses, Break, The Rat, Matchbox, A Glass of Victory, The Walls of Our Worlds, Hate Crime, Coup de Grace and Strawberry Fields Forever.

The Korean version of Pieces of You was released three months earlier than the English version and both versions of the book were best-sellers as well.

The latter claims that the setting of New York City didn't much, so he added some element of fiction in his stories.

About.

Andante: it is about the conflict between the father and the son. The son is greatly influenced by his father who is a prominent pianist, and he eventually follows the identical path as his father. Upon watching his father confront Alzheimers, he becomes more worried about his life and his family. In the end, the son becomes hopeful when his father keeps asking what song he can hear while his father's recorded version of Fur Elise is being played, and the son realizes that he can hear his father's breathing within his music.

Counting Pulses: it is a story about the son and his mother. The son is always conscious about taking care of his sick mother who needs his care even when she is in need of taking medicine. At one night, the son brings his friend to his house and they start smoking weed while the mother is in sleep. Due to excessive inhalation, the son starts suffering from a respiratory problem resulting him into a critical situation.

Break: it is a short story compared to his other stories which is about the teacher who takes a break from his students. During this short break, he starts feeling overwhelming pain; here the word "break" literally means a break which he has now, but it can also mean the life and the condition that he is in, which breaks him.

The Rat: this is a story where the casting director of a movie with nude scenes invites the main actress to his house. As he invites the cast to his house, he notices that there is a big rat staying in his bedroom. He becomes paranoid of the fact that there is a big rat in his bedroom which it reminds him of the girl.

Matchbox: it is a story about the son who starts smoking due to his father who is a chain-smoker. He starts smoking when he is six and he quits smoking at the age of twenty-five when he realizes how horrible cigarettes are for his health.

A Glass of Victory: it is a story about the conflict between two friends. The main character attends the high school reunion where he meets his rival during the students' president election. He is ridiculed and disgusted by the resemblance of his friend and his son. Suddenly, he recalls the high school student's president election, where he lost to him by a little, but the difference in votes has never been revealed. After he meets the janitor from high school accidentally, he hears from him that there were some votes thrown out inside the garbage. He realizes how his rival cheated on the election, and he goes up to him and punches his face, but he loses miserably in fight again.

The Walls of Our World: this story explores the internal, almost insuppressible lust within all humankind, regardless of the masks of occupation, status, and position in the social hierarchy.

Hate Crime: it is a story about the Asian identity as seen by Caucasian culture. The story comments on the lack of differentiation, and ignorance towards the different ethnicities within the US-Asian population.

Coup de Grace: this story portrays how a cowardly father ironically forces his son to become a strong and brave person. By creating himself into a completely different person, he doesn’t only deceive himself but he also deceives even his family members. In the end, the coward turns out to be not his son but himself.

Strawberry Fields Forever: this story portrays the fast-paced nature of our life, for instance, how things bypass us so quickly that we sometimes forget to appreciate their value.

In every story that Tablo had written, the theme was identical - overwhelming loneliness, and depression and most issues were sensitive - drug abuse, peer pressure, materialism and many more.

Fans prefers Andante and Break for their favourite short story and Andante was also praised by Tobias Wolff, a well-known author. Lee Byungryul, a well-known poet, praises Tablo's writing saying, “It reminds me of his panic-state of his youth which is difficult to hold up regardless of many effortless trials, and throughout this book, I felt that I became aware of his profound inner mind as well.”


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So, after searching through the Net, I stumbled upon some reviews of Tablo's Pieces of You and all the reviews that I read were praises, saying the writings are beautiful, sad and angelic. I grew curious.


The book is very hard to get in Malaysia, so a friends suggest that I buy it from YesAsia. I would if I could, but would my parents want to buy me Pieces of You? Would my aunt or uncle - if you'd like to include - would be generous enough to buy me the book? Yes, I don't deny that my aunt and uncle had bought me a lot of things, but buying something that would take a very long process wouldn't make a good idea also.


I will try to talk to my parents first about this book, and I wish to get my hands on it as soon as possible so I can review it. Wish me all the best!