Bangkok Wakes to Rain, by Pitchaya Sudbanthad (Riverhead Books/Penguin Randomhouse, 2019,
360 pages, $27)
A Nice. Pleasant Book (for the most part)
A unique organization of a
book: 23 chapters (stories), possibly read-alones, about 5 people (and extended
families) over several decades and one traditional Thai teak house that Bangkok
grows around until climate change rears its ugly unsettling head and becomes
part of a 27-story condominium.
From a medical missionary to
a young girl during the Thai upheavals in the seventies to an expatriate in London/HK/Stockholm/LA
(anywhere but Bangkok) all over the world to a Thai restaurant in Japan and how
the characters all come together and weave in and out, mostly chronologically,
over the span of a hundred years and on into the future.
It is fun (challenging?) to
turn the page to the next chapter and figure out as quickly as possible who the
chapter’s central characters are this time as the clues fall into place and you
remember bits and pieces of their previous story.
Much like Thai society –
pleasant, little character development or plot, but you are there: the fragrant
smells, the delectable dishes, the cacophony of the city and the quiet
park-like sois – and the birds, natural and man-made.
For those who are familiar
with Thailand, you will know that Old Krungthep is the Thai word for Bangkok
while others may not remember as they read. That soi is a small narrow street,
perhaps an alley. Those who are familiar with Thailand will even understand
filling up the sink with water when anticipating a feared disruption in
electricity and also ordering soup on the street in a plastic bag ‘to-go.’
Bangkok is
a book you can take with you and read in short spurts, but do take notes on who’s
who!
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Ah, finally I read about the
cholera pandemic in the early 1800s that I had heard about. It really happened.
They say a king designed a symbol that chased the cholera away: I have a
necklace of that symbol and find it quite lovely.
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