Customer Reviews

Sightseeing

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Sightseeing is a remarkable collection by an author with a keen sense of irony and a talent for description, modern-day Thailand brought to chaotic life in a series of stories that are charming, insightful, touching and remarkably astute. The language is fierce: "The dilapidated playground. The pond with its perpetual scrim of scum. The mangy strays sleeping haphazardly in the streets. The porridge and plantain vendors." Most told in a personal narrative, the stories are varied scenes of love, betrayal and abandonment, always sympathetic and compassionate. Without losing the unique flavor of Thailand in the modern world, every aspect of the country is revealed, the poverty, the lush terrain, the greedy and careless farangs, the spirited Thai people, Cambodian immigrants, the streets teeming with faces, some curious, some defeated.

"Farangs" begins innocently enough, a young man regularly enamored of female tourists in their bikinis, especially Americans, destined to have his heart broken over and over, with only his pet pig, Clint Eastwood, for consolation. An eleven-year old boy admires his older brother in "At the Café Lovely", their adventures revealing the dangerous habits of huffers in back alleys, where igniting paint thinner can envelop an unwitting face in blue flames. Yet memory is strong, even years later, the street-tough, newly-orphaned brothers speeding through the night on a motorcycle. "Draft Day" portrays an ultimate betrayal by a lie of omission, years of friendship thrown away as two young men appear for the annual draft lottery. In "Sightseeing", the title story, a son and his mother take a last opportunity to share a short vacation, knowing that soon their lives will change irrevocably.

Each new story intensifies the emotional terrain, the characters struggling for dignity in a harsh world. In "Priscilla the Cambodian", two boys make friends with a gold-toothed Cambodian immigrant, as the ramshackle shanties fill in the land, bringing down the property values of local residents. When the enclave is torched, the Cambodians gather their few belongings, ready to move on to the next spot: "Surviving each day seemed a victory and a wonder to them." "Don't Let Me Die in This Place" exposes the fragile bonds of family love and how they are tested, when a wheelchair bound grandfather moves to Thailand to live with his son and "foreign" daughter-in-law, two "mongrel" grandchildren that the curmudgeonly old man comes to love absolutely. Finally, "Cockfighter" is the coup d' grace, a complicated tale of dominance, pride and dishonor, as a man seeks to hold his own at the local cockfights, brought low by a violent thug, but ultimately triumphing with the love of his family: "What kind of world we live in, what men are capable of."

Each intricate drama is sensitive, exploring differences in step with a changing environment, savoring the small moments of the human condition, a grand tour of the modern world, the author an able and astute guide through the pitfalls and pleasures of Thailand, an adventure with heart and spirit. Luan Gaines/ 2006.

I was assigned a "Literature and Society" class, the content was left up to me. One of my goals was to teach my students about other cultures in a way that they could relate to different issues that concern different peoples. Of all the books I ordered this was by far their favorite, it is well written and it is deep without being cryptic or snobbish. The author has an amazing ability to transmit feelings and his awareness of subtleties in human nature is delightful. Hope he keeps writing.

Sightseeing is a supremely mastered collection of six short stories and one novella set in modern Thailand. Mr. Lapcharoensap, who is known as "A", which is a contraction of "cha-ae" (the Thai equivalent of "peek-a-boo"), was born in Chicago, raised in Thailand and the U.S., and graduated from an American writing program. It is refreshing to read stories set in Thailand in which the Thais do not speak in pidgin English. The tales will resonate with you and afterwards you will ponder them and perhaps reread them to look for how his finely crafted sentence structures, alliterations, and pacing made the story move along so well.

Each story in sightseeing is led by a different guide, and they allow the reader to observe different aspects of this "Land of Smiles" that are rarely seen by non-Thais. In "Farang," we meet a young man living in the lush beach districts of the South, where tourists and natives show their uglier sides and prejudice amidst the beautiful landscapes. In "Draft Day," economic privileges and class contexts intrude on friendships; and in "At The Café Lovely" a brother recalls a bonding experience and loss of innocence in a cafe that is not so lovely and fingers smell of heaven and glue. Hate and prejudice; bumper cars, abuse and love; depression, disgrace and decay, and the nasty, nefarious habits of prostitution, sniffing paint thinner, and goons with methamphetamine intrude on the succulent landscapes. In "Sightseeing," a son and mother make a trip to the beautiful coast before he starts college, gains some senses, and she loses one of hers. In "Priscilla the Cambodian", two Thai boys befriend a gold-toothed, young girl from the Cambodian refugee shanty town that abuts their struggling middle class housing development, and learn some lessons that shock them from their swiftly ending childhood. In "Don't Let Me Die in This Place," we are introduced to a non-Thai - an older American widower who is suffering from the effects of a stroke and forced to live in the sweltering heat of BKK with his son, Thai daughter-in-law, and two Thai speaking grandchildren. Worse yet, he must drink his beer through a straw. In the author's able hands, the reader will feel both the sweat and frustrations of `Mister Perry.' The collection ends with a novella, "Cockfighter," about a 15 year old teen and her parents. Her father works as a winning cockfighter, training birds to fight. But when a local hoodlum enters this man's domain, the feathers fly and the family might get pecked apart.

The collection conveys intricate sensibilities. All stories take place in Thailand, and evolve around events involving some form of violence. Violence here is not confined to physical violence -- it appears for e.g. in the form of government corruption (bailing out the sons of the privileged from getting draft -- in Draft Day), the common hatred of Thais against Cambodian refugees in Thailand (in Priscilla the Cambodian), and more subtly in the form of objectification of the Thais by farang (foreigner in Thai language) tourists (in Farangs). With the exception of Don't Let Me Die in This Place, stories are told in the first person voice, as young adults, and suitably so. For it is through their sensitive eyes that the subtleties of those various forms of violence get exposed. The tellers, the protagonists, do not necessarily understand what they are going through. Yet their lives transform. And readers are drawn into their narrations, as if experiencing the unfolding events first hand.

Vivid as they may be within each individual story, the invariable tone loses its freshness by the end. The manner in which the protagonists deliver their speech, the mode they appear to think in, appear excessively uniform across the stories.

Overall a very commendable read. I look forward to reading more Asian stories from Lapcharoensap.

Sightseeing is a brilliant collection of short stories that capture the essence of Thai life. If you want a romanticised view of Thailand as the "Land of Smiles" then forget this book. It mixes gritty realism with an exuberant spirit. It portrays a world where brutality is in as much abundance as kindness.

The stories cover subjects such as a Thai teenage boy's romance with an American tourist and a young boy accompanying his older brother to a karaoke bar. The final story, which is also the longest, tells of a family where the father becomes obsessed with cockfighting and seeking revenge.

This is Rattawut's first book and it shows he has considerable talent. He writes in English and has a Master's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan. I look forward to reading his first full length novel about Thailand.

I am half Thai. Born outside of an airforce base in Thailand during the Vietnam war. A product of the war you could say. However, I grew up in the U.S. along with my 4 siblings and my parents. I never really had an understanding of what life is like in Thailand. Even during visits over there, being half American makes me an somewhat of an outsider.
This book was enchanting to me. It helped me relate. I read a lot of fiction, and I'm always on the lookout for good writing. This author's writing style is so fluid. The images he evokes so clear, the characters painfully real. A good pain.
I've been waiting a long time for someone to write about Thailand and Thai people in this manner. I only hope that Mr. Lapcharonesap continues to provide this captive audience with more. This book is highly recommended.

Mr. Rattawut is clearly a budding new talent with a promising future, although this might be somewhat difficult to assume from his debut when the short stories that comprises the collection are viewed not individually, but as a whole.

Rattawut paints a vivid, succintly clairvoyant portrait of the day-to-day existence of Thais, the ups and downs the characters face, and the grotty ordeals that Thais at the lower end of society are forced to confront.

However, his stories are subtly similiar, and when the whole collection is viewed as one then it becomes clearer to the reader that the stories are repetitive, often to the point of redundancy. The characters in here, the majority of them being adolescent boys living with their often despondent mothers, share lives that are so very similar that the reader would often think that Mr. Rattawut could have done much better by taking the time to write a novel with well-developed characters with depth and astute observations of lower-middle-class life in Thailand.

What I found to be considerably jaring is Mr. Rattawut's simplified, banal prose, which lacks the pleonastic refinery of Updike or the terse and yet beautiful minimalism of Murakami.

I was disappointed with Mr. Rattawut's debut, if only becuase I was expecting something much more perceptive and more sophisticated. Nevertheless, Rattawut Lapcharoensap's first book has been a success with foreign readers, assuring him an encouraging base on which he could doubtlessly hone his skills that would, I'm sure, excel in time.

I have to admit, I have little patience for short story collection. I start many only to put them down half-way through the first story, disappointed. Sightseeing, however, is a different, er, story. From the first story in the collection, Farangs, I was hooked. These are well-written, wonderfully evocative stories that I enjoyed reading very much. Rattawut Lapcharoensap is the kind of short story author I hope very much will gives us more stories and perhaps novels. Enjoy.

Forget the idea of that exotically oriental, tourist attracting society and take in the reality of what it really means to walk through Thailand.

Though not an expert of Rattawut's work, I do manage to constantly find a book at my hands, restlessly flipping the pages at my fingertips, and thus, I must say that I have stumbled across a collection of colorfully written short stories that bring to life the country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia.

Captivating readers, Rattawut implements Thailand's social class, culture, and community within the stories. It starts off with "Farangs," the telling of a young boy's failing attempts of finding love with foreign women. Then there's "Draft Day," informing readers of the corrupted military drafting system through the story of two best friends who are both brought to the "draft lottery," and the only question on their minds: Whose lucky day is it today? Another interesting story is "Priscilla the Cambodian," as Rattawut pulls in the refugee experience of Thailand's surrounding country, Cambodia, and the conflict the Thais have with Cambodians "invading" their space after fleeing from their own country.

The book ends with "Cockfighter," a story about a father's dangerous obsession with cockfighting upon encountering the higher and more powerful class told in the perspective of his young daughter. It is the only story within the book that is told with a female voice, and although it is unfortunate female voices were lacking in the book as a whole, Rattawut definitely made up for it in "Cockfighter," crafting the storyline with vivid imagery, capturing horrific encounters, and leaving the ending open to questioning what will happen next. But that is probably the whole objective of Rattawut's work in this story as well as the other six: understanding that the future is never clear for this social class.

Connecting readers to the characters in one way or another, Sightseeing provides an understanding for the rigorous and chaotic lifestyles of the working and lower classes in modern day Thailand told in seven short stories and from different age and backgrounds. Rattawut gives voice to the silenced lower class as he brings forth the struggles that they face in their daily lifestyles. Some stories end with a sense of sorrow and apathy whereas others leave us with some hope. Whichever one it may be, the book holds a new way of looking at Thailand, clearing up any blind spots about this society one may have had prior to reading.

So go ahead. Grab a copy and indulge in contemporary Thailand and all the beauty it has left to offer.

Rattawut Lapcharoensap's presentation of Thailand from the views of both foreigners and natives in Sightseeing creates a rare setting for clashing ideals to flourish: "Every time they do that, I swear I'll never love another, and I'm thinking about Lizzie and Hunter sitting at the restaurant now, and how this is really the last time I'll let myself love one of her kind". Even with a general lack of knowledge about Thailand and its culture, readers will quickly fall into stride with the pace of this book, and finish with a renewed perspective of life in an environment that is much different from our own.

From lust in "Farangs" to vengeance in "The Cockfighter", Lapcharoensap's Sightseeing covers many themes from multiple points of views. This collection of short stories contains an entirely new and refreshing take of what it means to love and be loved. It is written in a way that makes it easy for the reader to appreciate the beauty of Thailand and its people, while still retaining an understanding of the complexities of life in this country.

As an Asian American studies scholar at UC Berkeley, I found this book both entertaining and mentally rewarding. I am the kind of reader who resents flipping through pages and pages of wordy descriptions, and especially enjoyed the way each story lead the reader quickly into its plot. Each story in this book has its own unique premise and charm that takes the reader through a multitude of emotions. Witty, humorous, tragic, and entertaining, this book makes it appropriate for a wide range of audiences, and I found myself reading this book from start to finish in a day.

Out of all the short stories in Sightseeing, I found "Draft Day" to be the most brilliantly written and moving. This story of betrayal and sacrifice of a strong friendship for the sake of the individual is motivated by a fear of the future. This seems to be a common motif in these short stories: What does the future hold, and how does our anticipation of it reflect in our actions today? What makes "Draft Day" different lies in its final pages. After reading this story I found myself hating a character for doing something that almost everyone in his situation would do. It is how Lapcharoensap tells this story rather than what is being told that leaves the reader wanting to read more, even after the story has ended.

As a whole, Sightseeing responds to a common universal question with a unique response. What drives us to do the things we do, and what are we really looking for in life? Taken from the short story "Sightseeing", this quote is a good representation of what I thought of the book: "Her boss had called it a paradise, and though I remember Ma telling me as a child that Thailand was only a paradise for fools and farangs, for criminals and foreigners, she's willing to give it a chance now. If paradise is really out there, so close to home, might as well go and see for herself." The paradise that we all strive to reach lies in the eyes of the beholder. Given the right situation, the struggle to find the perfect ending can be just outside your backdoor.

As Lapcharoensap's first novel, Sightseeing is a great read. I am looking forward to reading more of his future works.