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Bangkok 8 by John Burdett


chuckwoww

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I just finished reading Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. No I did not pay US$24. Burdett is a competent writer, he's done his homework and the book has a great cover (pic of Patpong). He even apologizes to Thailand for writing about sex and corruption. Maybe I'm jaded, but I found it boring....burp.... (excuse me). People who've never lived in Bangkok will probably find it fascinating. Not much of a review I know but the best I can do without a backhander...Chuck. ::

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  • 8 years later...

I just finished reading Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. No I did not pay US$24. Burdett is a competent writer, he's done his homework and the book has a great cover (pic of Patpong). He even apologizes to Thailand for writing about sex and corruption. Maybe I'm jaded, but I found it boring....burp.... (excuse me). People who've never lived in Bangkok will probably find it fascinating. Not much of a review I know but the best I can do without a backhander...Chuck. ::

 

I just read "Jasmine Fever - confessions of a jaded expat," by Frank Visakay. Compilation of short stories of Farangs getting played in Patong and learning lessons on life love lust and what not. That type of stuff usually isn't my cup of tea but - I had it with me during evening shifts at work doing support at the hospital and it gets fairly dull around 2 to 6am. Knocked it out in a few days. Kinda enjoyed it. It was almost a rehash of various threads here.

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Fly urged me a number of times to write about Thailand. He said almost every novel is about the nightlife, since that is all the writers know. He figured I could write about the "real Thailand" upcountry. He's probably right, but I'm not a fiction writer. Fiction gives you far too much freedom and is very hard work. And when you get done it is all make believe anyway. I prefer to stick to nonfiction, recreating events or whatever. But lately I've been too lazy even to do that.

 

I seldom even read fiction of any sort. I'm not about to pay as much for a novel as I would for an evening's ogling on Cowboy or for a good meal in a fairly decent restaurant. Then again, I've always been different. A Thai student complained to me decades ago, "Why aren't you like the other volunteers?" (Meaning why didn't I smoke pot, play mickey mouse hootenany songs on my guitar and generally act like a character in a surfer movie?) Maybe it was because I was already older and better educated. (I was a uni vol from the beginning; most vols taught in secondary schools and had only a BA.) Nowadays the reason is I'm just old and grumpy. :(

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Could be a supply and demand thing, people want to read about the bars so that's what writers give them.

Burdett did try a different angle and I quite enjoy his books.

He does use the nightlife scene as a background but moves the plot around to other parts of Thailand.

I have all his books in eBook format if anyone wants to "borrow" one.

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The price for books is ridiculous. Haven't people heard of marketing? Collin Piprell wrote a fine book on diving in the Andaman Sea. Then the publisher priced it at 1,000 baht or more. I've seen tourists and backpacker types pick up the book and look through it in fascination. Then they see the price and put it back down.

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I just finished reading Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. No I did not pay US$24. Burdett is a competent writer, he's done his homework and the book has a great cover (pic of Patpong). He even apologizes to Thailand for writing about sex and corruption. Maybe I'm jaded, but I found it boring....burp.... (excuse me). People who've never lived in Bangkok will probably find it fascinating. Not much of a review I know but the best I can do without a backhander...Chuck. ::

Agree. I took that book out the library a few years ago and couldn't get past the first few chapters. As well as boring, it just seemed too unbelievable. Maybe it was just me though. Apologies to the author since I don't have any writing skills myself. v95xx.gif

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