I have decided to add a new category 'reviews' as well as the latest 'food' one(particularly because I'm not doing much writing these days). Lately I have been doing a lot of reading, going to bed earlier in the evenings - enjoying our cozy bedroom (after having bought the lamps and throws etc) and savouring the escapism into new worlds that authors draw me into. Hmmm the first one wasn't actually very far from home: Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. Felix, my father, being an avid lover and of course, writer of good detective stories recommended this book to me ages ago. I finally got around to reading it in Hua Hin.
This is not your typical murder mystery where a detective loses his partner and seeks out revenge on the culprit who is usually some obscure character, well - connected and out of the laws reach. Instead, it is set in the moneyed underbelly of Bangkok which in itself is the essence of secrecy and flavour needed to catapult this story into one of intrigue, paradoxes and cultural insights - a sensory overload in print! It took me out of my comfort zone, challenged all western preconceptions and above all took me on a journey into Buddhism and prostitution. Despite being a work of fiction, it is thoroughly researched, there being many aspects of the book that are true to life. Interestingly, this almost surreal book confirmed many of the things about life in Bangkok which had been suggested to me by my Thai students (how it is normal for university students to have a 'sugar-daddy' to sustain their education) or I had observed from my own experiences here. The main character, Sonchai,the son of a prostitue and an Amerian soldier, is an 'arhat'- a living Buddhist saint and is paired up with an American female FBI agent to work on this case. Sonchai not only narrates and weaves in twists and turns to solve the mystery, takes us with him on his personal quest for identity, but also educates in the way of Buddhism, drugs and corruption in Thailand, gem trafficking, sex changes and the difference between life in the East and the West.
Some interesting quotes:
- The sex industry's annual turnover is nearly double the Thai government's annual budget.
- Thai to non-Thai sex transactions accounts for only 5% of the whole industry, the rest being invisible to the foreign visitor.
- We do not look on death the way you do, farang. No one says 'sorry'. Would you be sorry about a sunset?
- Krung Trep means City of Angels, but we are happy to call it Bangkok if it helps to separate a farang from his money.
This book reverberates life seen from a new perspective.... warts and all :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment