Evanston: 1975; BANGKOK NIGHTS
Evanston: 1975; BANGKOK NIGHTS
A long time ago the French magazine, VOILES ET VOILIERS, commissioned the above drawing to illustrate one of my articles. It is based on a photograph taken in San Diego in 1975 between attempts at Cape Horn.
It hung in my grandmother’s house until her death in 1982, after which I lost track of it until a few weeks ago when Louise Bleakly, who, despite being younger than I, is my honorary grandmother, found it stored with some of her things, and, as honorary grandmothers will, kindly sent it to me.
Thank you, Louise.
I have a similar hat and will have Carol take a photo for comparison.
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While reading BANGKOK NIGHTS I found myself wondering how many divergent world views there are. This is an accomplishment for a crime novel, but unavoidable when you, the reader, are being directly addressed as farang, which is a Thai word for a Caucasian foreigner. It is said to be neutral, but can be an insult, as in this case I think it is intended to be. If so, there is some self-hate in the book, for from the photo on the dust jacket, the author, an Englishman named John Burdett, is a beefy, raw-boned farang.
In addition to the simplistic contrast between spiritual but poor Asia and the soulless, rich West, BANGKOK NIGHTS offers perverse sex, including two kinds of incest, prostitution, pornography, and a snuff movie; a Buddhist monk intent on murder; and a novel method of gruesome execution. None of the sex is salacious or even erotic. A NEW YORK TIMES article about how ‘legitimate’ businesses profit from pornography is included as an appendix.
Sonchai Jitpleecheep, a Royal Thai Police detective and the book’s main character, is similar to Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkeny Renko. Both are honest cops in corrupt systems; Thailand’s kleptocracy even more so than Renko’s Moscow. And the careers of both suffer in consequence.
Burdett is a competent writer who knows Asia. BANGKOK HAUNTS kept my attention. Diverting, but not as good as Martin Cruz Smith.
Friday, August 10, 2007