Kingdom of Monkeys

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria.

This collection of seven exotic short stories traces a colonial history
from the mid-1800s to present day. In the stories, Schroeder explores
the predominantly destructive influence that Western
“isms”—particularly colonialism and capitalism—have had on the
East. “Seven Years with Wallace” depicts two coexisting
relationships: one is between the foreign British employer and his loyal
native Singaporean employee, and the other is that same relationship but
between a young boy and his surrogate one-man family. In “Pak Arafim
the Pharmacist,” the abandoned, aging, and terminally ill Pak is
haunted by a decision in his youth to embrace, incorporate, and support
what turned out to be deadly Western business practices. In
“Distance,” Timothy Carson is an obnoxious, self-righteous, and
boring American actor determined to transform into something exotic by
converting to Judaism.

The only work that seems devoid of integrity is the title story, in
which Schroeder attempts to depict a woman’s experience and to write
from her perspective. Her cultural insensitivity is insurmountable. In a
male-dominated Muslim culture, she talks about masturbation, wants sex
far too often, swears far too much, and continually inspires the Muslim
men to vent their ire on her. While the story is well written, the
character seems disingenuous and, unlike those in all the other stories,
aloof and beyond reach.

Generally, though, Schroeder is a connoisseur of his craft, capable of
capturing the festering impact of strangers on foreign soil. His works
inspire thoughtful insights about the implications of subverting local
culture to a supposedly elevated one.