Re: RARA-AVIS: Bangkok Ouch

From: Nathan Cain ( IndieCrime@gmail.com)
Date: 25 Oct 2007


Isn't the act of reading fiction inherently vouyeristic on some level? I'm not sure what that criticism is supposed to mean. As for the grotesque part, I'd have to agree, and you're right, it wasn't a disincentive. I liked Bangkok 8, but I haven't read the others, because I heard they weren't as good. I've also read The Last Six Million Seconds, a thriller Burdett wrote about the handover of Taiwan to the Chinese. I got is for three bucks in the remainder bin, which was about what I thought it was worth.

On 10/25/07, Brian Thornton < tieresias@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
>
> Having spent time in Thailand, I have to say that I whole-heartedly
> agreed with the following:
>
> Michiko Kakutani, writing in The New York Times (about BANGKOK 8), bridled
> at the book's "grotesque, voyeuristic scenes" and found the female
> characters not "remotely credible."
>
> (I fully realize that to many of the members of this list, describing a
> book's scenes as "grotesque,"and "voyeuristic" is NOT a disincentive! ;)
>
> Furthermore, I was unsurprised by the author's revelation that Burdett was
> working-class English with a chip on his shoulder about it. That really came
> out in BANGKOK 8, and I knew he was talking about England and not about
> Thailand in many of his bitter asides about the rigidity of "Thai" society.
>
> And that ending he tacked on (and it was an obvious tack-on) to the first
> book. Beyond laughable. I was finished with Burdett long before I finished
> the book.
>
> Shame, really, because I found the first three chapters to be dynamite.
>
> Your Mileage May Vary-
>
> Brian
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Robert Elkin
> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com <rara-avis-l%40yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 5:57 AM
> Subject: RARA-AVIS: Bangkok Ouch
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/25/books/25burd.html?th&emc=th
>
> Article on Burdett's 4 Thai books in today's NYT
>
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