Rattawut Lapcharoensap

Rattawut Lapcharoensap is a Thai-American writer who grew up in Bangkok, and the seven short stories in this collection are all set in contemporary Thailand. As usual when it comes to such collections, I liked some of the stories more than others, but all in all it is a great collection!

One of the best stories, in my opinion, is At The Café Lovely, which is about two young brothers who try to find their way after the death of their father. The relationship of the brothers is portrayed in a show more humane, realistic way that is emotional and heartbreaking without reverting to clichés.
Another remarkable story is Draft Day which deals with the drafting of young men to the military and the effect it has on their friendships and prospects. It highlights the consequences of corruption and financial inequality in Thailand, and I reflected on it for a long time. This story was like a gut punch.

One I did not enjoy that much was Don't Let Me Die In This Place about an elderly British man who moves to Bangkok so that his son and Thai daughter-in-law can care for him. I found it hard to feel empathy for the narrator who is determined to see everything in a negative light, although there is some development towards the end.

The short stories show different aspects of life in Thailand behind the façades and images that tourists are allowed to - and like to - see: Fraud and deceit, hostility toward Cambodian refugees, the effects of tourism, the lack of perspectives for many people. Most stories also deal with family relationships, especially between parents and their children.
Reading this collection was very worthwhile and I would certainly like to read more by this author, but it looks like he hasn't really written anything else since publishing this. show less

'A country that is dynamic and corrupt, full of pride and passion'
By sally tarbox on 2 October 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
Probably *3.5 for this selection of short stories set in the author's native Thailand but written in English.
I was particularly struck by 'Draft Day' where two young friends attend the draft lottery, where those who make it through the selection process must wait to see whether they get a red ball or black (exemption.) As they root for each other, the wealthy narrator show more observes "What Wichu didn't know then was that he needed my prayers more than I needed his" - his parents have bought him a guaranteed black with a bribe. An end to childhood innocence.
Also 'Priscilla the Cambodian', where a playmate suffers Thai anti-immigrant prejudice.
In the title story, a young man is accompanying his mother on a first and last holiday as she waits to go blind...
Others feature an elderly disabled American ex-pat living in a difficult relationship with his son and Thai wife; a young Thai man falling for a tourist; and a teen girl whose father is caught up in the murky world of cockfighting...
Some packed quite a punch- I couldn't put it down. show less

A collection of stories exploring life in modern Thailand via a series of key topics that might be expected to interest foreign readers — tourism, elephants, mopeds, relations between Thais and foreigners, Cambodian migrants, poverty, petty corruption, home-working, cockfighting, sex-workers. Quite nicely done and very worthy, but there wasn’t anything that really grabbed me. All the stories are essentially about parent-child relationships, mostly from the point of view of a teenage son show more (one story reverses this by taking the point of view of an elderly father, and one has a teenage girl POV character who is basically the same as the boys, except that she obsesses about breasts from the opposite end). show less

Be on the lookout for writer Rattawut Lapcharoensap. His recent collection of stories, titled Sightseeing, is a piercing work that finds a very comfortable balance between the foreignness of Thailand (to an american farang like myself) and the all-too-familiar human condition.

Though primarily a collection of coming-of-age stories, Lapcharoensap very cleverly approaches his writing with effortless characterization from various social backgrounds and viewpoints. Whether female, male, young, show more aged or foreign (American, Thai, Cambodian) all of his characters equally face the unattractive prospect of receiving life’s kicks to the teeth well before they’re good and ready.

Perhaps Lapcharoensap may be characterised as the Thai-American equivalent of Larry David, as his characters are often placed in dangerously uncomfortable situations with only their wit to provide comfort. Situations involving elephants and pet pigs named Clint Eastwood, finding “luck” in avoiding the Thai military draft, an american’s involuntary assisted living in Thailand, and the extremes taken to quit the local cockfighting circuit, these stories are both sadly moving yet familiar; thus, they’re nostalgically comforting, as we can relate with our own colorful and cultural equivalents. Sightseeing is aptly named, as it truly is an eye-opening account of the both the foreign and familiar. show less