Swimming to Cambodia

Very funny, completely engaging book, though I'm sure it would seem much sadder to read it now knowing that the author ended up committing suicide. Don't miss this or any of his filmed performances. Even the one about his eye operation is great.

I loved this author's experience in Thailand and empathized with his culture shock induced depression when he returned to New York. I wonder what kind of marriage he had and how his wife first learned of the infidelity described in the book. (Paul Theroux did the same thing in one of his railroad travel books. When he reprised the route several decades later he tells us that he was divorced shortly after returning from the first trip.) In Gray's case the aftermath was not divorce but suicide.

entertaining as always, this book based on Gray's monologue/movie of the same name is an interesting insight into the making of the movie the Killing Fields, life in Thailand and Cambodia, and US involvement in that region.

i prefer his monologue "live" where his tone of voice, body language, and timing inform the tale, making it storytelling rather than a story told. although i enjoyed this romp through his poetical recollections, his stories are meant to be performance art and not really for reading.

First read, this book made a big impression on me. I especially carried around the idea of the Jewish concentration camp survivors meeting up each year, sure that this reunion will always mean the same thing...only to find, as time went on, that it didn't. It lost its urgent impact.

Second read, sure reunion would mean the same thing as first time, but what can I say? What Spalding says. It didn't. It had lost its something.

As is so often the case for me, reunion with a book is a disappointment. It makes me scared ever to do it.

First read, this book made a big impression on me. I especially carried around the idea of the Jewish concentration camp survivors meeting up each year, sure that this reunion will always mean the same thing...only to find, as time went on, that it didn't. It lost its urgent impact.

Second read, sure reunion would mean the same thing as first time, but what can I say? What Spalding says. It didn't. It had lost its something.

As is so often the case for me, reunion with a book is a disappointment. It makes me scared ever to do it.

First read, this book made a big impression on me. I especially carried around the idea of the Jewish concentration camp survivors meeting up each year, sure that this reunion will always mean the same thing...only to find, as time went on, that it didn't. It lost its urgent impact.

Second read, sure reunion would mean the same thing as first time, but what can I say? What Spalding says. It didn't. It had lost its something.

As is so often the case for me, reunion with a book is a disappointment. It makes me scared ever to do it.

* NO Spoilers were used in the writing of this review! *

This hilarious, fast-paced narrative takes the reader on a stream of consciousness trip as Gray recounts his travels with a film crew in Thailand and eventual return to the States.

I put off reading this book due the heavy Cambodian Genocide connection, but was delightfully surprised by its light conversational tone.

My only complaint: I wish it was longer!