This is the story of a 12-year-old Thai boy called Mr Little Frog. The year is 1963 and he lives on the family estate in Bangkok. He refuses to accept that he is Thai, eats English food, speaks only English and answers to the name of Justin.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In a daring synthesis of East and West, the Thai-born Somtow, whose previous books include several horror novels (including the popular Vampire Junction and its sequel, Valentine) spins a fiercely inventive, funny and moving story of a precocious Thai growing up in 1963 on an isolated estate with three eccentric, strict aunts. The 12-year-old narrator, a cunning if naive recluse named Justin, learns the art of adaptation, a skill he will sorely need, from his pet chameleon, Homer. His parents, absent for many years, may be CIA agents in Vietnam; his senile great-grandmother enacts scenes from Hitchcock's Psycho; and each of his aunts is secretly bedding the rakish family doctor. Meanwhile, Justin's treehouse playmate, Virgil, a black American from Georgia, oscillates between vernacular "Black English" and WASP-like diction, puncturing the racial stereotypes and prejudices of his and Justin's two comrades-one Afrikaner, one white American-and of Justin's aunts. The plot includes blackmail, seduction, shamanism; a raunchy metaphysical satire on sex and death; a send-up of the West's exotic image of the East; and a subversive parody of two genres, the coming-of-age novel and the mythic hero's quest. Even if the satire wears thin as incongruities pile up, Somtow's manic comic energy and gift for human drama power a novel of abundant riches.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
Thai by birth, educated in England, and delivered to Thailand by disappearing parents who are probably spies, 12-year-old Justin retreats behind the high stucco walls of the sprawling family estate. A precocious boy, he writes a long poem speculating where he thinks his parents may be, studies the classics, and cultivates a passion for his nanny, Samlee. Enter his heretofore unknown great-grandmother, who encourages Justin to break the boundaries of his sulking solitude. Justin obliges with a series of misadventures involving his new friend Virgil, two nubile teenage girlfriends, the gardener's son, and a cast of eccentric relatives. Justin's flights of fancy, his naive philosophical musings, and his sexual curiosity create a comic, satirical framework for the episodic plot. Complete with a Thai glossary, this exotic novel by the author of Valentine (Tor Bks., 1992) quickly becomes addictive. It is a juicy mango of a book sure to become a classic among coming-of-age novels. Highly recommended.
Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Once referred to by the International Herald Tribune as 'the most well-known expatriate Thai in the world,' Somtow Sucharitkul is no longer an expatriate, since he has returned to Thailand after five decades of wandering the world. He is best known as an award-winning novelist and a composer of operas.
Born in Bangkok, Somtow grew up in Europe and was educated at Eton and Cambridge. His first career was in music and in the 1970s, his first return to Asia, he acquired a reputation as a revolutionary composer, the first to combine Thai and Western instruments in radical new sonorities. Conditions in the arts in the region at the time proved so traumatic for the young composer that he suffered a major burnout, emigrated to the United States, and reinvented himself as a novelist.
His earliest novels were in the science fiction field and he soon won the John W. Campbell for Best New Writer as well as being nominated for and winning numerous other awards in the field. But science fiction was not able to contain him and he began to cross into other genres. In his 1984 novel Vampire Junction, he injected a new literary inventiveness into the horror genre, in the words of Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, 'skillfully combining the styles of Stephen King, William Burroughs, and the author of the Revelation to John.' Vampire Junction was voted one of the forty all-time greatest horror books by the Horror Writers' Association, joining established classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. He has also published children's books, a historical novel, and about a hundred works of short fiction.
In the 1990s Somtow became increasingly identified as a uniquely Asian writer with novels such as the semi-autobiographical Jasmine Nights and a series of stories noted for a peculiarly Asian brand of magic realism, such as Dragon's Fin Soup, which is currently being made into a film directed by Takashi Miike. He recently won the World Fantasy Award, the highest accolade given in the world of fantastic literature, for his novella The Bird Catcher. His forty-seven books have sold about two million copies world-wide.
After becoming a Buddhist monk for a period in 2001, Somtow decided to refocus his attention on the country of his birth, founding Bangkok's first international opera company and returning to music, where he again reinvented himself, this time as a neo-Asian neo-Romantic composer. The Norwegian government commissioned his song cycle Songs Before Dawn for the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, and he composed at the request of the government of Thailand his Requiem: In Memoriam 9/11 which was dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy.
According to London's Opera magazine, 'in just five years, Somtow has made Bangkok into the operatic hub of Southeast Asia.' His operas on Thai themes, Madana and Mae Naak, have been well received by international critics. He is directing Wagner's Ring Cycle for the Bangkok Opera, a four-year project which recently received full page coverage in the New York Times.
His current project is Ayodhya, a modern opera that retells the entire Ramayana in a single evening. He has written both the libretto and the music for this spectacular work which will premiere in November 2006 and which he has dedicated to His Majesty the King
Born in Bangkok, Somtow grew up in Europe and was educated at Eton and Cambridge. His first career was in music and in the 1970s, his first return to Asia, he acquired a reputation as a revolutionary composer, the first to combine Thai and Western instruments in radical new sonorities. Conditions in the arts in the region at the time proved so traumatic for the young composer that he suffered a major burnout, emigrated to the United States, and reinvented himself as a novelist.
His earliest novels were in the science fiction field and he soon won the John W. Campbell for Best New Writer as well as being nominated for and winning numerous other awards in the field. But science fiction was not able to contain him and he began to cross into other genres. In his 1984 novel Vampire Junction, he injected a new literary inventiveness into the horror genre, in the words of Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, 'skillfully combining the styles of Stephen King, William Burroughs, and the author of the Revelation to John.' Vampire Junction was voted one of the forty all-time greatest horror books by the Horror Writers' Association, joining established classics like Frankenstein and Dracula. He has also published children's books, a historical novel, and about a hundred works of short fiction.
In the 1990s Somtow became increasingly identified as a uniquely Asian writer with novels such as the semi-autobiographical Jasmine Nights and a series of stories noted for a peculiarly Asian brand of magic realism, such as Dragon's Fin Soup, which is currently being made into a film directed by Takashi Miike. He recently won the World Fantasy Award, the highest accolade given in the world of fantastic literature, for his novella The Bird Catcher. His forty-seven books have sold about two million copies world-wide.
After becoming a Buddhist monk for a period in 2001, Somtow decided to refocus his attention on the country of his birth, founding Bangkok's first international opera company and returning to music, where he again reinvented himself, this time as a neo-Asian neo-Romantic composer. The Norwegian government commissioned his song cycle Songs Before Dawn for the 100th Anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize, and he composed at the request of the government of Thailand his Requiem: In Memoriam 9/11 which was dedicated to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy.
According to London's Opera magazine, 'in just five years, Somtow has made Bangkok into the operatic hub of Southeast Asia.' His operas on Thai themes, Madana and Mae Naak, have been well received by international critics. He is directing Wagner's Ring Cycle for the Bangkok Opera, a four-year project which recently received full page coverage in the New York Times.
His current project is Ayodhya, a modern opera that retells the entire Ramayana in a single evening. He has written both the libretto and the music for this spectacular work which will premiere in November 2006 and which he has dedicated to His Majesty the King
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A touching story about the childhood of a Thai boy,
By atif_101@hotmail.com (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jasmine Nights (Hardcover)
"Jasmine Nights" is riduculously funny beyond belief. Somtow's memory of chilhood seems unembellished by adult pretension, and at the same time he does not gloss anything over - confusion and idealsim are equally and honestly portrayed. Justin, a.k.a. Lttle Frog, the adolescent hero of the novel, lives a life of secluded luxury and lonileness in his mansion in Thailand. The book follows his journey while he makes friends, discovers the complexities of death and sex, and eventually reconciles himself to his Thai identity. The book is hilarious because Little Frog possesses the rare gift of honesty and a will to discover the truth at whatever cost, which leads him into several interesting situations.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jasmine Nights - A coming of age fable that bubbles with lif,
By "dina@pc.jaring.my" (Kuala Lumpur Malaysia) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jasmine Nights (Hardcover)
I have read and read this book many times, and subsequently lent it to a friend who lost it (!!!) but this is one of the few books that has stuck in my heart.Little Frog, alienated from his Thai surroundings and yet determined to find his own culture, observes the world and his mad aunts with detached honesty and affection. And yet, when he feels, how he feels! This is a book that rejoices in youth, childhood and growing up, and its magical realism supports Little Frog's reality that is rather odd. He's living in a world of adults who can't seem to get it together. This is a book to buy for yourself, friends and children who'll be facing the world as they step out to explore.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best novels of the 20th century!,
By Mother of Twins (Vermont USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Jasmine Nights (Hardcover)
This novel addresses coming of age issues, race dynamics and class conflicts with an unparalelled wit and perception. I give it my highest recommendation.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product).
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Listmania!
|
|
