Duanwad Pimwana

I really loved this book, which takes the rather dark setup of a child largely abandoned by both parents, who residents of his apartment complex sort of take turns looking after, and somehow keeps dodging the even darker possibilities that kept raising specters in my mind. Time after time a new character or situation would be introduced, and I would be bracing myself thinking OH NO, THIS IS WHEN IT GETS TRULY TERRIBLE, but then it wouldn't. Which is not to say this book is Pollyannaish or all sunshine and roses, it certainly is not. But it is heartbreaking because of the abandonment, not because his precarious situation is exploited by anyone.

I have heard that this was the first book by a Thai woman translated into English. It was excellent.… (mere)

3.5 stars

This book is not exactly a novel, but it's not really short stories either. There is no plot, per se. it's more a series of vignettes about Kampol, a 5-year-old who is abandoned by his parents--they just leave him to fend for himself in their old neighborhood. Both come by, but expect the neighbors to work it out.

This book is sad, but it is also very sweet. Very much an "It takes a village..." kind of story. This is a working class neighborhood. No one can take in another child--but everyone shares the burden of feeding Kampol, hosting him overnight, and doing his laundry. Others give him odd jobs and support.

Of course, Kampol is only 5-6 in this book, so he is sad and confused by not angry yet. It's just a snapshot in a year of one young boy's life.… (mere)

Thai Social Realism Shorts
Review of the Tilted Axis Press paperback edition (2020) translated from selections of the Thai language originals ฝันแห้งและเรื่องอื่นๆ (Arid Dreams and Other Stories) (2014) and other works.

TW = animal/bird cruelty in The Attendant; domestic abuse in Men’s Rights.

Although Arid Dreams is sometimes listed as an edition of the 2014 Thai language original Arid Dreams and Other Stories, only the title work is from that collection. The English language copyright page lists that most of the original stories were published in earlier works in 1995, 2000 and 2006.

In Thailand Pimwana is not thought of as a feminist writer. Rather, she is called a “genderless” writer because to many her work reads as if it could have been written by a man, a far cry from the romances Thai readers traditionally expect from female authors. - translator Mui Poopoksakul*

In the Arid Dreams English language translation collection it appears that the translator Poopoksakul has accentuated this statement by selecting a majority of short stories that are written from a male point of view. These stories however are still examining male – female relationships or dynamics in which the female role is still dominant, be it as the object of desire or power or of a quest.

As it happened, my favourites here were the opener Arid Dreams and the closer The Second Book. In the former, a Thai man tourist is on a short island vacation when he is attracted to a masseuse/therapist who he discovers doubles as a sex worker. He is disappointed to discover that her services are only available to foreigners so as to not have to be selective about locals and, in her own way, to retain their respect. He leaves the encounter with a new understanding. In the closing The Second Book, a failed politician returns to a bookstore from his youth to track down the 2nd volume of a collection for which he could only afford the 1st volume when he was a poor younger boy. It is a symbolic quest towards an achievement that is still within his new limited reality. The bookstore owner and her sister have the power to fulfill this or not. This one especially had an ambiguous ending which left its interpretation up to the reader.

I read Arid Dreams as part of the Borderless Book Club which has been organized by Peirene Press and 7 other UK independent publishers for a 16 week period (May 14 to August 20, 2020) during this current world pandemic situation. It is the successor to the earlier Translated Fiction Online Book Club which was organized for 6 weeks.

Trivia and Links
* I found the article What Does It Mean to be a Thai Feminist, from which the above quote was selected, thanks to Jenny (Reading Envy)’s review.… (mere)