Customer Reviews

Smoking Poppy

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4 star:		(3)
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Dan Innes's little girl, Charlie, is now an adult with a mind of her own. And she's in a Thailand prison. Even though she never turns to her daddy for help anymore, when he hears she could get the death penalty it never occurs to him not to rush to her aid. Leaving behind his intellectual but empty life in London, Dan takes his pub buddy, Mick, and his fanatically Christian son, Phil, and sets out on the long journey to find his daughter. Instead, he finds the girl who stole her passport. Desperate now, he and his buddy and son hire guides to help them follow Charlie's trail in what turns out to be a grueling trek into the wilderness near Myanmar, where they encounter a wild, surreal world of spells and spirits and opium that will either split them apart forever ... or bring them back together.

In SMOKING POPPY, Graham Joyce has done an excellent job of handling both the psychological and spiritual issues mysteriously yet honestly. This book is a striking portrayal of a father's unconditional love for his children (and his children's unfailing desire to protect him). Nothing here is portrayed as right or wrong beyond the demands of loyalty. More than a thriller, more than a family novel, SMOKING POPPY seamlessly weaves the two genres together into a painful, amusing, and unnerving tale of love and violence in the exotically dangerous Asian jungle.

If you have trouble with slightly far-out spirituality, you may have trouble with this story, but if you're interested in a seriously disturbed literary trip, SMOKING POPPY will definitely deliver.

I am a big fan of some of Joyce's dark fantasy novels, in particular THE TOOTH FAIRY and REQUIEM. SMOKING POPPY is being marketed as Joyce's second "suspense" novel (after last year's appalling INDIGO). Joyce makes a welcome comeback here in a suspenseful yet moving tale about family ties, self-discovery and the lengths to which parents will go for their children. Although the fantastical element is not present to the same extent as in the novels mentioned above, it still makes a subtle appearance. Joyce deserves greater recognition.

SMOKING POPPY is a daedal novel, and the Booklist précis is all the plot summary a reader requires to 'take a whiff'. What that review does not share is how Graham Joyce has managed to update a familiar tale (Conrad's HEART of DARKNESS) and, in the process, completely and ravishingly made it his own.

The plot, the graceful (writerly) style, the characters - each a 'person in full', although Dan Innes, the novel's core protagonist, really shines. Moreover, there is the novel's sub-text: Graham Joyce has important insights to share about our relationships with each other -- parent:child(ren), child:parent, friend:friend, lover:lover, etc. And that is not the end of the treasure trove Joyce has gifted us; many rewards await the discerning reader.

SMOKING POPPY has so much to say and says it so well. Recommended.

I've not read anything else by Joyce, and was introduced to him recently by a friend. Smoking Poppy is part travel-book and part fiction as it examines the effects of drug tourism on one family. Vividly written, it made me want to go to Thailand. I've always wanted to try opium, and this book will put even the most feverent holder of that desire off with it's graphic portrails of the drug's effects.

London electrician Dan Innes is stunned when his estranged wife informs him that the British embassy in Bangkok called about their adult daughter. Neither Innes has heard from Charlie in two years, but now they learn she has been arrested as a drug smuggler in Thailand and languishes in Chiang Mai jail, probably awaiting death.

When Dan and Charlie last talked two years ago, they brawled and left their once close relationship strained and probably over. However, Dan realizes he still loves his rebellious Charlie and decides to go to Asia to free his daughter. Shockingly at least to Dan, his evangelical son Phil and a pub quiz teammate join him on the trek. The safe world of London vanishes almost from the moment the trio arrives at Chiang Mai jail. They begin to fight for their lives as well as that of Charlie along the perilous the Thai-Myanmar border where opium is king and vapid stray westerners are cannon fodder.

Though a non-stop adventure thriller that hammers home the atrocities along the Thai-Myanmar border, SMOKING POPPY stands way above the field because of the deep look at relationships. The story line is loaded with gripping action as the frightened but courageous Londoners fight to remain alive to rescue someone that they believe most likely gone over the mental edge. However, the key that makes this more than another thriller is the insightful look at love especially estranged and what is truly friendship (quiz teammates at a pub or someone willing to risk everything?). Even the title provides a double meaning to readers who will rejoice in award winning Graham Joyce's astounding tale.

Harriet Klausner

What do you do when you find out your adult daughter has been arrested on drug charges and is awaiting punishment in a Thai prison? If you are the protaganist, electrician Dan Innes, in Joyce's "Smoking Poppy", you immediately make plans to head to Thailand to rescue her. Along with you are your devoutly Christian parsimonious son, Phil, and your pub quiz partner, Mick, who surprises you by letting you know that you're best buds.

Dan has spent his whole life distancing himself from others. He's separated from his wife, his children don't visit or speak to him, and he doesn't make friends.

This wonderful, glorious tale is a story of discovery, of love, of giving up control, finding out you need other people in your life, of a father's all powerful love but also of a son and daughter's love for their father. There are drugs, drug dealers, violence, magic and mystery.

The first book of Joyce's that I read was The Silent Land, which read like a bad drug dream. I'm very glad that I took recommendations from readers I respect and have been trying some of his other works. This book is one I savored, will remember, and would have hated to miss.

I've read a LOT of books about family relationships, but for some reason, this one tends to stick out. A bit mystical in tone at times, a father comes to recognize the fact that he's got one chance to redeem himself with his two adult children, both of whom have done some pretty weird stuff as a result of their alienation from their father. I can easily recommend this one -- it's tough, it's gritty at times, and yet you may find yourself blubbering like a baby by the end.

Smoking Poppy tells the story of Danny Innes, who one day gets a phone call saying that his daughter Charlie has been arrested in Thailand. It seems that she's now imprisoned and may be facing the death penalty. Even though Charlie and Danny have been somewhat estranged for a while now (since Charlie went off to Oxford, it seems), Danny is off to see what he can do. He is accompanied by a friend, Mick, and his son Phil, who has channeled his alienation from his father into religious zealotry. Their arrival at the prison only brings disappointment...it seems that the woman being held there isn't his daughter after all; she's stolen Charlie's passport. Rumors say that Charlie trekked into the opium fields...and that's really where the story takes off.

I won't say more, because it would spoil the read for anyone who may be interested, but Smoking Poppy was very well done. All of the characters were realistically written, the setting was exotic and real enough that you could picture yourself there. I couldn't put it down once I started.

I wouldn't advise this for people who are happy when writers spell everything out neatly and cleanly; this is a book that requires reader participation and lots of thought.

Overall, a fantastic story and one I won't soon forget.

Danny Innes is trying to put together a life without his wife and kids. Sheila has left him for someone else. His son Phil has moved out and become a fundamentalist Christian. His daughter Charlie went away to university. Then his wife calls to tell him Charlie is in jail in Chiang Mai on drug smuggling charges. Accompanied by his pushy friend Mick and his reluctant son, he makes the trek to Thailand. It is a journey during which he will be dogged by drug dealers, thugs of the worst kind, sorcerers and spirits.

This is a tense mystery filled with peril and exotic locations and though our heroes are in almost constant danger, we are not bombarded with action, just for action's sake. Joyce mixes just the right amount of tension, insight and humor in this book you won't want to put down.

Graham Joyce is a great author...
dear lovers of wonderful fiction,
... whose characters come alive. In this novel, Daniel is a father who cannot understand how he has become so estranged from his son Phil, who's become a fundamentalist Christian, and more particularly, his beloved daughter Charlie, about whom he receives news that she is languishing in a Thai prison for smuggling dope. This leads him on an adventure to the heart of poppy country, and into the world were the spirits reside beside us, and must be dealt with, and not ignored as they so often are in the modern world.
Somehow Joyce makes the world of spirit belief come alive without ever violating the modern scientific point of view. He leaves the reader to decide what is true. He is a real master.
kyela,
the silver elves

It's a very Good Book over all, It starts out a little slow BUT It all come's together in the middle of the book .I would Rate it a 8 out of a Possible 10. There are Many twist in the book and the End of the Story is well worth the slow start. It is written by a English writer and so it took Me a little longer to understand the words but I understood it after 10 or so pages.
You will enjoy the book HAA HAA it has everything That a Good book should have ( Family, trials,Human suffering and a great finish).
ENJOY
Maxx