Beautifully, hauntingly written, each and every individual story - that, and they all transport me to a time and place that I've yet to encounter in previous reads.

The Unrepentant by Sharmini Aphrodite is a bold and evocative short story collection that explores identity, defiance and liberation. These stories hold a strong sense of place and emotion, blurring lines between mythic and personal. Thought some stories land more powerfully than others, the collection as a whole is a triumph

4.5⭐️

A new favourite read! I’m looking forward to seeing more of Sharmini Aphrodite’s works.

Why I loved this (notes I made whilst reading):

- poignant and lyrical, real and enlightening.
- Moving
- Told in very removed yet personal ways- names aren’t used but terms of endearment and the perspectives are rooted in the day-to-day life/reality- the average day- the integral parts of what makes us human- religion, politics, familial ties, collective and individual identity, community and social ideals/ beliefs.
- Favourite so far is the one hundred perumals story
- atlantic city- broken english is very clever and gives the storytelling personality and power- relatability.
-editor note at the end provides the background information, clearly well written and researched- fantastic dedication.

Apart from a few minor grammatical mistakes (which evidently will be picked through), the contents is a little muddled (look at Again, Through the Glass), otherwise absolutely stellar!

4.5 stars

This was a really strong and moving collection of short stories, each with its own unique style and voice. The themes of colonization, language, identity, communism, religion, and the ecological landscape of Malaysia were woven so well throughout each story. There is just so much history embedded beautifully into each narrative. What I thought was really interesting was how Aphrodite was able to craft such a rich landscape and characters with very few physical descriptors. It was really well done. In her End Note, Aphrodite includes some background information on the short stories, which I found very helpful and highly interesting. The Unrepentant made me want to learn more about Malaysia's history and social movements, and I will definitely keep an eye out for her next published works!

Thank you NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for the arc.

Overall I enjoyed reading 'The Unrepentant' and the way it was written was beautiful. I found the stories moving and enjoyed that they were from peoples perspectives about what was going on at the time in Malaya which made them feel more personal and connect the reader to the characters. I liked reading the end notes after each story as I found it game me an insight into their background and how the author was inspired by their research. However, I felt some of the stories were a bit too short and found them harder to get into. I would recommend 'The Unrepentant' to anyone and will definitely look out for more of Sharmini Aphrodite's work in the future.

The Unrepentant by Sharmini Aphrodite is unflinchingly Malaysian. Collection of stories rooted in history of Malaya, liberation, cultures, identity, faiths & the revolution. Its haunting, lyrical narrative captured the postwar Malaya in its depth revolutionary. This is a great read and Im looking forward to more works from this author after a promising collection

The Unrepentant magnifies the stories of the historically minimized people who took part in the insurgency surrounding the British imposed Emergency. It whispers the humanity of people whose humanity was violently stripped away. These stories read like a series of intermingled visions, memories, and dreams fused together in an intentional order to demonstrate, not state, quiet conclusions to significant questions. At once disorienting and affecting, The Unrepentant is unforgettable.

Readers with no background in Malay slang and South Asian culture may struggle at times, but with the internet close at hand that should not scare anyone off. Some of the stories are stronger than others with a bit of a lull in the middle stories, but it starts and finishes strong. My personal favorite was Atlantic City as it connected with my emotions in the one way I felt had been missing up to that point. If you have any interest in Malaysian stories, pick up The Unrepentant without hesitation.

a lot of dark and tragic aspects here, but the stories as a whole are enlightening and taut interrogations of what it means to be Malaysian and I think they were an interesting read. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

The stories are tight, hard-hitting. They speak volumes of the era, revealing unspoken biases and grudges that have been passed down through generations, a peek into what the silent minorities in our midst have experienced and continue to experience. These are things young Malaysians should read to understand our histories, where we come from.

Yet, I find myself drifting halfway through the collection. I'm not a big fan of historical fiction, especially around World War 2, and whilst this sort of circumvents my feelings about that specific era, at some point, the stories start to feel seem too similar. Sharmini seems to loop round several times - I can't tell if the stories refer to the same unnamed rebel (insurrectionist?), from different perspectives in different eras - or if it's a different person but with similar histories. I'm a noblebright kind of reader myself; I want a bit more hope in my stories than appear here.

And there are a lot of dark pain points in these tales - The Unrepentant: Short Stories is a visceral exploration of generational loss and sacrifice as well as Malaysia's struggle for independence. History is told by the victors, but in this collection, Sharmini shows us other perspectives and how everyone then, despite their differences in approach and clashing ideologies, were still working towards the same goal: Independence for Malaya.

Stories of note:
The Light of God is a great opening story, capturing me right from the start.
One Hundred Perumals is the voice of a people crying out for justice. There's a mythological feel to this, a creation of a hero of folklore, creating a beacon in the dark.
Atlantic City is an interesting exploration of voice, but with all the hedging going on as the POV character speaks around the main issue, whatever it is, it feels like the core of the story is lost. (It's explained in the Author's Note)
Kamus I like primarily because of its focus on language and intercultural marriages - what it means to marry out of your race, especially when one is a Malay and prescriptively Muslim. This is a uniquely Malaysian problem. How do you choose between your community and the one you love? It's a lose-lose situation, no matter what you decide.

Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from Gaudy Boy via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for the ARC of The Unrepentant.
These short stories explore themes of exile and displacement in compassionate and heartfelt prose which was so engaging I was hooked from the first sentence. I loved the way the stories intertwined and connected to each other. Each story felt well researched and I found Aphrodite’s end notes interesting, especially her mention of reclaiming histories through literature and in particular amplifying Southeast Asian voices. These stories feel just that, an important reclamation of the history and conflict of Malaysia, and the surrounding countries, voiced by the people living it. For me the stand out was the opener ‘The Light of God’ and one line in particular sums up Aphrodite’s skill at shining a light on the heart of conflict and what it means for the people affected by it, ‘All those dreams he had shelved, faced with the reality of living’. I will definitely be looking to read more from Aphrodite in the future.

the unrepentant is a collection of stories that surprised me. more than its unflinching focus on the domestic and personal challenges faced by revolutionaries in a subversive time in malaysia, it is a collection of stories demonstrating a special kind of tenderness that i’m still reeling from.

i was already hooked right from the first story. sharmini aphrodite has a pleasant rhythm to her writing that makes it feel like it knows how to take a proper breath. it is careful and intentional, leaving space for what is left unsaid and everything else in between. her writing in this collection was able to bear the weight of emotions that come alive in a time of insurgency, especially the preemptive grief accompanying the uncertainty of the future and handling the loss of leaving everything behind to join the resistance.

aphrodite was able to handle these emotions with grace and dignity and i was so terribly impressed with the variety of characters that came alive across the pages. while it is grounded in malaysian culture and history (that i am not personally privy to), i could easily imagine the kind of people she was writing about because of how intimately she gleans upon them and their humanity.

there's also admirable about the tactile quality of her writing, which brought out something tender in all her stories. charged with grief and uncertainty, the characters all seem to share an acknowledgement of how to say goodbye. as a result, they (and the writing) hold onto their memories tightly, from the angle of light on the last day they saw their families or kampung community, to the humidity curdling around every reminder of what they gave up for what they want to fight for.

you feel for the characters, particularly their yearning, and all of their emotions are heightened by the sensory imagery aphrodite generously provides. it’s writing that has a lot of heart.

this was just such a moving collection that has left me in a state of wanting to read more from sharmini aphrodite, as soon as possible. i also appreciated the contextual information she provided in the editor’s note and i’m going to make time to peruse more resources to grasp the history present in her stories.

overall, a solid 5-star read. one of my favorites this year and probably for a long while. whatever sharmini aphrodite decides to release next, i will be sat.

much thanks to netgalley and gaudy boy for granting me an arc!!!

Sharmini Aphrodite’s "The Unrepentant" is a collection about leaving and being left, about the small domestic costs of big political choices, and about how memory keeps tugging at the sleeve even as people try to walk forward. From the first story I felt the pull of a voice that breathes at its own pace. The sentences know when to pause and when to let a detail linger. Light on a doorway. Sweat curdling in afternoon humidity. The hush before someone decides to go. It is writing that trusts silence and carries a lot of heart in what it does not say.

What struck me most was the tenderness. These are stories of revolution and counterinsurgency, yet they curl inward to the kitchen table and the bedroom doorframe. The grief here is often preemptive, a grief you carry when you do not yet know what will be taken. Characters hold tight to what they can fix in place, a smell, a word, an angle of light. The opening story, The Light of God, feels like a quiet thesis for the book. There is a line I keep returning to, "All those dreams he had shelved, faced with the reality of living." Aphrodite keeps shining her lamp at that exact seam where private desire meets public demand, asking what survives when you pick the movement and the movement does not pick you back.

I also appreciated how clearly the collection situates itself in Malaysian histories and how the end notes act as a gentle guide. The project of reclaiming and centering Southeast Asian voices is not only stated, it is enacted at the sentence level. One Hundred Perumals has the weight and music of myth, as if a new folklore is taking shape under pressure. Kamus is the book’s quiet breaker, an intimate look at language and law and the impossible calculus of marrying across communal lines. You feel the heat of the question, not just its logic. Atlantic City is a fascinating experiment in voice, full of circling and hedging, and while the core can feel obscured on first pass, the author’s note reframes it with a clarity that rewards close reading.

If I have a reservation, it is that the collection occasionally loops so tightly around its concerns that some middle stories blur at the edges. I found myself wondering if we were meant to track a single unnamed rebel across time or to feel the echo of many near identical lives. Either approach is valid, and the repetition underlines the generational churn of sacrifice and secrecy, but the similarity of tone in a few pieces made me drift before the next spark caught. Readers who want more overt hope in their fiction may wish for a wider register of outcomes.

Still, the cumulative effect is moving. The Unrepentant speaks with intimacy about exile and belonging, about the ordinary bravery of people who are not allowed to be ordinary. Even when I stepped away, I kept thinking about how the stories hold onto memory like a final photograph and how carefully they chart the cost of saying goodbye. I finished with a long exhale and the sense that Aphrodite has done something both specific and expansive, a reclamation that invites more conversation and more reading. I want more of whatever she writes next.

A collection of short stories about loss, exile, and choices centered around the Malayan liberation movement.

The Unrepentant is a beautifully written and deeply moving collection that captures the heart of Malaya’s revolutionary history through stories of love, loss and conviction. Sharmini Aphrodite writes with a lyrical yet precise voice, blending fact and fiction to reveal the human experiences at the centre of political struggle.

Each of the fourteen stories offers something distinct, yet all are bound by a shared sense of resilience and humanity. I loved how the perspectives shift between insurgents, priests, labourers and dreamers, giving voice to those often left out of official histories. The choice to use endearments instead of names makes the stories feel intimate and universal at once, drawing the reader into their world.

My personal favourite was The One Hundred Perumals, though Atlantic City, Broken English stood out for its inventive storytelling and raw authenticity. The editor’s note at the end provides valuable historical context and shows just how deeply researched and dedicated this work is.
Poignant, reflective and full of quiet power, The Unrepentant is a remarkable exploration of faith, identity and the fight for freedom.

Read more at The Secret Book Review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Gaudy Boy for providing me with an eARC.

This was a unique collection of stories set in Malaya (Malaysia and Singapore as well). The stories felt very authentic coming from a person with related/exact lived experiences. I enjoyed the stories in the beginning (The Light of God) and some towards the end (Tashkent). The middle part didn't really catch my attention because they either felt too dragged or too short for me to get into the story or feel anything. The stories live up to the title of the book -- they're unrepentant for any decisions that they made and they're proud of it. I didn't have enough context to the historical events referenced, to fully enjoy the book but it'll definitely be great for someone who does. The author's note/end note was great in the way it explained both the references and the motivation behind each story. I would recommend this to anyone into this historical setting or anyone willing to learn.

Honestly, I didn't expect there will be book like this: highlighting South East Asian authors (hello from Indonesia!). The book is enjoyable and I think this could be a good introduction to reader outside SEA to know SEA's literature.

I spent the first weeks of November absorbed in Sharmini Aphrodite’s The Unrepentant, going at about the rate of a short story or so a day. It’s a fantastic collection that imagines the lives of everyday people during the Cold War era in Southeast Asia.

The stories take place primarily in peninsular Malaysia and Singapore during the colonial era across the extended Malayan ‘Emergency’, an undeclared war fought between the Malayan National Liberation Army, the armed wing of the Malayan Communist Party, and British and allied forces in the wake of the Japanese Occupation. From British colonial Malaya to Independence and the formation of the Federation of Malaysia, to Singapore’s eventual exit and the present day, the collection of stories offer a kaleidoscope of perspectives across racial, ethnic, gender, and class lines, offering a snapshot of the complex reasons and reactions people held with regards to this period in time. Reflecting the diverse reasons for varied peoples’ involvement, and why everything played out as it did, the Emergency itself was more than just a battle of ideologies, as established narratives might have one believe.

As with most collections, some stories worked better for me than others, but I appreciated each one for what it was all the same. It seemed as if there was a deliberate choice on the author’s part to play with perspective, foregoing obvious choices for the unexpected, e.g. an ancestral chorus, second person pov, the limits of a younger person’s grasp on matters at hand. There was a commitment to portraying a particular perspective as authentically as possible, limited to the narrator’s own understanding at a given moment in time, as is only natural. After all, historic events are only recognised as such in hindsight, their realities lived personally through smaller (yet no less significant) moments. That said, I appreciated the author’s insights in her afterword, contextualising the stories she chose to include, and shedding light on the genesis of this collection.

I also really loved the sensory descriptions of the climate and surrounding environment threaded through the stories, almost rhythmic in its repeated efforts to carve a language out of an ecology that spans a broad scope of time, everything coming alive; the smell of rain as it falls to the earth, the thick humidity that permeates the air, the dense jungle all lush and fearsome and familiar, a site for home and warfare.

Thrilled that this collection exists, a courageous effort that would tackle this fraught yet important period with care, a moment remembered in a multitude of ways with lasting ramifications all the way through to the present day. It speaks of how much has been endured, seeds of deep-rooted bonds that would sooner cleave a people together than separate, if allowed. It pays homage to the multiple journeys it took to get here, beliefs and practices and ties that have been forged over many years. It speaks to the sense of kinship felt on the author’s part, a shared love for the land that gathers everyone together, new and old, rooted and exiled, in their riot of language and traditions and belongings, all in the name of this diverse, storied land one calls home. Thank you so much to the publisher Gaudy Boy and Netgalley for this copy, I’m very grateful! 🙏❤️‍🔥

Review on Goodreads: "Bold, history-rich story collection that uncovers marginalized Malaysian pasts through fourteen intimate, atmospheric narratives. Set amid jungles, plantations, migrations, and the Second Malayan Emergency, the stories grapple with death, disappearance, political struggle, and fractured belonging. Aphrodite blends thriller-like tension, oral-lore textures, and local English registers to evoke lives shaped by insurgency, borders, exile, and unfulfilled yearning. Rather than conventional storytelling, the collection foregrounds “un-erasure,” restoring overlooked people and histories while inviting readers to learn cultural nuances organically. Its greatest offering is a deepened curiosity about what “Malay” has meant, and might yet mean."

I liked this collection quite a bit. Stories ranged a decent amount but all felt rooted in the history of Malaysia and Singapore while also exploring the impact of that history in more present times. Some interesting moments of magical realism too.

One of my favourite things was seeing the multiple languages that were included in speech, including one story that is a mix of many languages as a man dictates his story. Even if I only speak a couple of those languages, it felt familiar in a way that bi- or multilingual people understand.

However, I found that a few stories overlapped in focus, especially the ones where the POV is a communist fighter or rebel. It was easier to feel like it was a separate short story if the person was viewed from the perspective of someone in their lives like a family member or lover.

This collection made me very curious about the history of communism in Malaysia.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gaudy Boy for this copy for an honest review.