The Sun Sets in Singapore: A Novel

Basking in Singapore's nonstop sunshine, Dara, Amaka, and Lillian are living the glamorous expat dream--until a mysterious (not to mention handsome) new arrival infiltrates their tight-knit community and ruins everything: "Wanderlust-inducing" (Lola Akinmade Åkerström, international bestselling author).

 

The Lion City has gone by many names and is famous for many things--its decadent street food, its world-class shopping, its lush gardens that burst with tropical blooms. But paradise is always hiding a snake.

 

For Dara, a workaholic lawyer from the UK, Singapore is opportunity. Every day, brokering deals for her firm's wealthy clientele, she gets closer to her ultimate goal: making partner. For Amaka, a sharp-tongued banker from Nigeria, Singapore is extravagance. Gucci, Prada, Hermès--she loves nothing more than to luxuriate in the major department stores that call her name on Orchard Road. And for Lillian, a former pianist turned "trailing spouse" from the U.S., Singapore is reinvention. In a stunning apartment with 360° views, the island seems to glitter as far as the eye can see.

 

But complications are looming in the form of an enigmatic stranger, whose presence exposes cracks in Singapore's beguiling façade. Dara's ambitions mean she has no life outside the firm, and her insecurities are threatening to derail the promotion she's spent the last six years striving for. Amaka is desperate to escape the chaos she left behind at home and hiding a spiraling shopping addiction that's endangering her very sense of self. And while Lillian's life may be the envy of outsiders, a new obsession is imperiling everything--and everyone--around her.

 

In The Sun Sets in Singapore, Kehinde Fadipe captures the richness of this metropolis through the eyes of three tenacious women, who are about to learn that unfinished history can follow you anywhere, no matter how far you run from home.

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352 pages

Average rating: 6

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Game of Tomes
Jun 04, 2023
6/10 stars
Not a bad novel but not particularly satisfying to read. Which I feel like it should have been considering how it has complicated portrayals and discussions of family, race, ethnicity, immigration, loneliness, marriage, careers, identity, mental health, infidelity, competition, friendships. I’m not sure if most of my thoughts just yet. It felt like anytime something was getting good or juicy or emotional that the chapter would end, and then the next chapter would skip over it. A lot of the conversations veered shallow, the characters making quick judgments or over-generalizing. Yet these all felt authentic to the characters, so more of an FYI than a point against it. I did get annoyed at how reliant the plot would get on miscommunication and not being honest, even when the lying is so much worse than the truth. The novel leans a little bit Crazy Rich Asians, a little bit Real Housewives, a little bit White Lotus. But mostly it’s own thing, which is hard to describe. It’s not lighthearted shenanigans, not melodrama, not romance, not a great friendship story, not a simple shallow beach read, not a thought provoking meditation on life. I don’t know the best way to describe it, other than I was rooting for it to be more entertaining than it actually was. I think the author was real potential, and I will check out the next thing they write. This novel, though, is not one I would really recommend. 6/10. Ebook review copy provided by NetGalley, not sponsored.

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