Rated of 5
by SqueakyChu A budding new talent!
I love this collection of stories! My favorites were "Farangs" and "Sightseeing." In "Farangs", the author describes how a young Thai man's attraction to a female American tourist (a farang or foreigner) materializes despite his mother's unhappiness over the situation. It's a look at how different cultures between a man and a woman can both attract and repel. "Sightseeing" is a story in which a young man takes his mother on a vacation trip after learning a startling fact about her health. The "Cockfighter" is the longest story of the collection and the one I liked the least. It's the story of a young Thai girl's watching her dad's success at cockfighting diminish due to a powerful young adversary. I feel that the author does better work when writing in the male voice.
These stories are colorful narratives of young Thai people in their own country but told in a way in which someone from the West can clearly relate. They exude tension, uncertainty, humor, and a genuine feel for dynamics of interpersonal relationships. All of the stories give the feeling of real people in challenging situations. With his fresh, sharp writing, the author gives everyone a most delightful reading experience. Bravo to this new author on his debut book!
Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing(May 16 2013) In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth...
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