WONG KIM HOH says he's fascinated by 'the man in the street' and, judging by the response to A Life Less Ordinary, he's not alone. His book brings together 30 articles from his newspaper column of the same name. First published in Singapore's The Sunday Times in 2003 as a six-part weekly series, the column is still running today.
As the title suggests, the stories are accounts of ordinary Singaporeans leading extraordinary lives, often after conquering or learning to cope with obstacles and heartache. Wong's slice of life approach has proved to be a sure formula for attracting readers in an age of reality TV shows. With creative non-fiction proving lucrative, best-selling titles published in Singapore in recent years have explored such issues as celebrity branding and Asia's sex industry, but Wong prefers to keep his ear to the ground.
A Life Less Ordinary delves into the lives of people with unusual occupations (an embalmer, a forensic scientist and a professional fire-eater), denizens of society's underbelly (a former secret society member, a heroin addict and a prostitute) and the downtrodden (a quadriplegic, a former transsexual, an amnesiac, an Aids victim and a schizophrenic). It even enters the realm of the supernatural, with a paranormal investigator and a middle-class yuppie who claims to have a so-called third eye.
To satisfy demand for a steady stream of interesting characters, 44-year-old Wong keeps his eyes peeled and ears pricked. 'You never know when and where you'll get a lead - dinner parties, contact lunches, drinks with friends. When people find out what I do, they'll sometimes point me in the right direction. I've also approached on the streets people who I think are interesting. So far, I've only interviewed one person whose story I've not written. He was the only person who pitched himself as a subject.'
Coming from a humble background, Wong says he's never uncomfortable among the people he interviews. Born in Kuala Lumpur, he was raised by his grandmother while his father eked out a living as a travelling salesman and his mother worked as a cook and washerwoman.
Wong's own childhood tales unfold with all the drama of a potboiler. He had a gangster as a godfather, who later served 14 years in jail for armed robbery, and he lived next door to a broom-wielding lunatic who wore a sanitary pad over her face. Growing up, pocket money to buy books and movie tickets was hard to come by.
'I started sending articles to newspapers and magazines when I was about 15, hoping to earn $15 here, $20 there,' he says. It was a big achievement for Wong, who learnt to read only at the age of eight. He pursued his studies and eventually enrolled at the National University of Singapore, where he gained an honours degree in English literature. He worked in magazines and edited FHM's Singapore and Malaysia editions, before becoming features editor at The Sunday Times.
