chuckwoww Posted June 25, 2003 Report Share Posted June 25, 2003 I know some people find Le Carre a bit tedious....he does come across as arch and upper class at times. I'd be happy to read his grocery lists. Amazing that he keeps turning full length novels out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chuckwoww Posted June 26, 2003 Report Share Posted June 26, 2003 Chiang Mai, Pnom Penh and Vientiane all get a visit in the Honourable Schoolboy.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markle Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 That'd be it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUZIBANDIT Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 Pico Iyer wrote a good piece in the June 16 issue of Time Asia about the general themes of Thai based novels. Quite interesting and he did mention Bangkok 8 in it. I can't be bothered to find this article online, but the title is "The Art of Titillation; Cheap Sex. Cheap Drugs. Sordid foreigners. Books about Thailand rarely escape the tawdry cliches" Pretty much sums up the vast majority of modern fiction based upon Thailand, with of course a few exceptions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 >>>I can't be bothered to find this article online, but the title is "The Art of Titillation; Cheap Sex. Cheap Drugs. Sordid foreigners. Books about Thailand rarely escape the tawdry cliches"<<< problem though is that these topics are obvious realities in thailand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUZIBANDIT Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 I agree. But I think too many of the pop books on Thailand read like the same script with different names plugged in. I think the books are fun, but I definately think there is room to expand the Thai genre beyond the typical cliches, or to at least present them in a more original way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 27, 2003 Report Share Posted June 27, 2003 yeah, unfortunately most of those books are a waste of paper - cheapo thrillers, nice to go through during a traintrip, but not really intelligent reading (me snob... ) i wish for more books either going a bit deeper into the psychology of that scene (borrow's junkie, maybe bukowski etc), maybe connect it to the larger context of thailands villages and badlands (steinbeck). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted June 28, 2003 Report Share Posted June 28, 2003 Pico Iyer's Time Asia Article: Produced in large numbers by men of a certain age, most depictions of Thailand are as far from its soil and its real lives as the Skytrain that whisks the affluent above the streets of Bangkok. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldAsiaHand Posted June 28, 2003 Report Share Posted June 28, 2003 I think you're all a long way off base here. Pico, in particular, is representative of a certain kind of high-minded git who seems to feel a more or less constant need to patronize as not quite measuring up anyone who may see the world differently than he does. And don't waste your time telling me what a fine fellow he is. I've know him a long time and I think the Time review was largely his effort to promote his own pretentious tripe and take a free piss on his competitiors (some of whom, in my view, are actually better novelists). What is it about Thailand that compels so many people to insist that only their point of view is 'the truth'? 'Bangkok 8' may be dim-witted and badly written, but its reality is one valid point of view on Thailand. Books about, say, Los Angeles potray numerous sides of the city and we all accept that without question. Few people are ever moved to insist that one or another has a point of view that is 'removed from reality.' "As far from its soil and its real lives as the Skytrain that whisks the affluent above the streets of Bangkok" is lame enough, but "the phychology of the scene...maybe connect it to...the larger reality of Thai villages and the badlands.? Oh, good Lord. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Straycat Posted June 28, 2003 Report Share Posted June 28, 2003 Ok. I haven't read Bangkok 8 so I can't really comment. But isn't it funny that so many of the Bangkok based books goes something like this: Farang in BKK, preferably lawyer. F. make good money, live nice. Mysterious things happends. Contact with police colonel Somchai. He's a nice guy. Hunt begins. Various red light districts. Big money. Someone dies. The end. Will there ever be an account of the City and its people written in such a way that it'll be comprehensible for a Thai and Farang alike? IMHO, there's a bit too much of the perceived Westerners dream of living large in BKK and becoming the hero in one way or another. Although it can be a nice read, it's been done to death already...and I'm not sure it's even "one side of the city"! If one considers the utterly strange "real life stories" that are produced in the city everyday (just watch the news) it's quite strange noone has managed to put it in writing yet. (just my opinion, not very well researched I'd be willing to admit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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