Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal [Paperback]

Karen Connelly (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

At 17, Karen Connelly left Canada to live for a year in Denchai, a small farming and merchant community in northern Thailand. This is a diary of her year there. This book was the winner of the Canadian Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karen Connelly, a native of Calgary, has lived in Thailand, Spain, France and Greece. Her travels are an integral part of her writing. Touch the Dragon, a travel book deriving from her experience in Thailand, won the 1993 Governor General's Award for Non-fiction.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 206 pages
• Publisher: Turnstone Press (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0888011628
• ISBN-13: 978-0888011626
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,551,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetic, surreal style and amazingly ACCURATE - I was there!, March 26, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal (Paperback)

If Georgia O'Keefe was to return as a writer, she would be Karen Connolly. I read the award-winning book, TOUCH THE DRAGON, while lying on the cool sheet of my sofa cushion bed, surrounded by a family of barking baby lizards, in the sweltering heat of a steamy Thai "summer." I had just arrived in rural Thailand for a volunteer teaching position, and I began to read this book to ease my home sickness. I became more depressed and scared with each line of the opening chapters! I was going through EXACTLY the same feelings: "WHAT am I doing here in this strange land?" Later, as I overcame the culture shock and began to enjoy Thailand, I thrilled that Karen was writing what I was seeing, thinking and feeling. Karen has done a remakable job documenting with brilliant, poetic, and often hysterical descriptions, the everyday life of rural Thailand. For example, she describes the "flowers out of science fiction" novels: I love that. I would often read excerpts to my room mates. We would be amazed at how dead-on target Karen is, and we would crack up into fits of knowing laughter about many of her experiences. Karen's book truly enhanced my life in Thailand. Further, while I was there, my parents were reading the book in frosty Newfoundland. It helped them to understand more and worry less. The way Karen traces her growing love for the people of Thailand makes for a heart wrenching ending, as were my last days in Thailand. Thai people are like Newfoundlanders: friendly, open, sensitive, and a tad crazy. I will never meet such beautiful people again in all my life. Karen has done the Thai people and their country a great service by simply presenting the facts in the Georgia O'Keefe style of EXTREME CLOSE-UP. How beautiful reality can be! This book was fantastic and I highly recommend it to everyone. READ IT!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book shines, September 28, 2004

By 

ioana1 "ioana1" (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal (Paperback)

Touch The Dragon is Karen Connelly's journal during her one year exchange program in Thailand. I've devoured this book. Karen Connelly was 17 when she wrote the first draft of this book, yet the book is devoid any cynnism, written with humility and candour as she patiently learns how to get along in a different culture. I truly believe she has an ancient, wise soul. Her eyes are open and register with clarity every single detail, all the colours and fragrances of Thailand.

Also, her writing style, metaphors she creates, the descriptions, are truly masterfully crafted - not one false note throughout the book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT!, August 26, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Touch the Dragon: A Thai Journal (Paperback)

After returning from studying abroad in SE Asia for five months, I found myself almost at a loss in trying to tell others about my experience. I read this book at the end of my three month home-stay in Thailand, and it really "hit home." I could really identify with her experiences, thoughts and feelings. I have encouraged my friends and family to read this book because it is so accurate, and provides an excellent glimpe on life in Thailand -- a land like no other, but one that I will always love.