during the years leading up to her death, singaporean english literature scholars had begun to recognise more than just a simple generational divide in the reactions to hicks' book, and were describing it as "an important work" in the confessional mode of the genre of post-colonial literature. well before hick's book was deemed "a significant milestone in singapore's literary and cultural history," singaporean young people had already established a localized literary movement, following hicks' lead. local markets soon became inundated with the autobiographies of fame-seeking youth, many not yet in their twenties.