Rice without Rain (Hardcover)

by Minfong Ho (Author, Illustrator) "Heat the color of fire, sky as heavy as mud and, under, both, the soil-hard, dry, unyielding..." (more)
Key Phrases: jasmine buds, threshing ground, rice stalks, Mau Chom, Nai Tong, Lung Teep (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
Seventeen-year-old Jinda's life is irrevocably changed when Ned and three other students from Bangkok visit her village. Inthorn, Jinda's father and the village headman, listens to Ned and resists paying the usurious land rents. Inthorn is jailed and eventually dies in prison; Jinda journeys to Bangkok to take part in student rallies for the farmers. Love interest is provided by the growing mutual infatuation of Ned and Jinda, sensitively and realistically handled. The main characters are especially well-drawn, although the others are stereotypes or, at worst, mere ciphers--the mother of one of the students is particularly offensive. A tad too predictable and polemically quite heavyhanded, Ho's novel nonetheless gives an interesting and at times absorbing glimpse of class struggle in the Thailand of the 1970s. Village scenes are especially effective evocations of simple beauty and somnolence. Not a masterpiece, but a novel from an author to watch. --John Philbrook, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description
Another dry season -- another silent harvest!The parched yellow fields outside the village where seventeen-year-old Jinda lives are her family's only source of income. How can the rain-starved crop produce enough rice to feed them, much less pay the rent? Perhaps the recently arrived young strangers from the city are right about the need for centuries-old traditions to change. At least when she listens to their talk, she feels the stirrings of hope...

Hesitantly, Jinga grows to trust the outsiders. There is Sri, who brings with her life-saving medicines and knowledge of how to use them. And there is Ned, who talks of taking charge of one's own destiny, and fighting those who would stand in the way. It is almost too late when Jinda realizes that her trust is misplaced -- that to Sri and Ned their cause is more important than the lives it would affect. Against a vividly evoked backdrop of rural and urban Thailand, Jinda heroically faces the challenges of holding on to who she is as the world around her revolves in what seems to be never-ending change.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; 1st edition (May 28, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688063551
• ISBN-13: 978-0688063559
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #418,193 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, December 22, 2000

By	Stephanie (seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews

This book was the most amazing book I've ever read, it studies the trial and tragedies of a young Thai girl. At first she sees the world as flat, they always do something because that's the way they always do it, but when she meets the university students who come to study her village, the world becomes round to her. One of the great parts of the book is when her father is thrown in jail, the authors writing is so spirited that you can feel Jinda's (the main characters) anger and desparation. When she visits her father in prision tears sprang to my eyes, it's just that the author's writing is so amazing it takes you right to Bankok with the characters. The description is marvelous, the writing is timeless, and the story is amazing. Rice Without Rain will remain in my heart and my mind forever.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lovely Read, November 6, 2001

By	"aredcrayonbox" (Western USA) - See all my reviews

I thought Rice Without Rain was an absolutely spectacular book. A story that has love, war - what else could one want? RWR also brings the conflict in Thailand out into the public eye and has informed thousands about these violent periods in Thailand, of which the general population probably is vaguely aware of.

The main character and our heroine, Jinda, is a very simple, good natured young woman, and warms the hearts of all readers with her innocent naivete. The characters are so real in this novel, that they will stay for you months after. They have with me.

I personally would reccomend this piece to anyone. It has been the foundation of my newfound love for Asian literature.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ironic twist to a love story., October 21, 1999

By A Customer

Children of the River by Linda Crew, was a very good novel, but not since Rice With Rain have I had so much interest in reading a novel. I never thought that I would encounter another book as depressing as Children of the River, yet Rice Without Rain certainly was the one. The story was about Jinda Boonreung, a village thai girl, who goes through many struggles to free her father. She also seeks love and happiness from a city boy in Bangkok, Ned. Though they met and fell in love, they couldn't be together. What a ironic twist, huh!? To find out more about this ironic love story and what happened at the end, I'll recommend that you'll need to read this book.