Sightseeing is an impressive debut collection of short stories by Rattawut Lapcharoensap, a 25 year old Thai-American. The depth of emotion and human understanding that is reflected in these seven stories is impressive from someone so young. As far as I know, he is one of few Thai writers who are writing serious fiction today. I originally encountered the first story “Farangs”, a story about cultural divides and identity, in Granta last year and was impressed enough to make a note of the writer. He writes in first person from the point of view of a variety of characters most of them are young people. “Cockfighter” is novella length and allows the author to plumb the depths of a number of emotions in his cast of characters. He is particularly adept at chronicling adolescent angst in these diverse stories. I guess I am partial to the fact that all of these stories take place in Thailand, a place that is dear to me due to frequent visits there. In fact I chose to read this collection as a sort of preparation for my trip to Chiang Mai later this month for a conference. I think the observations about human behavior are well expressed and that many of these stories could have been set anywhere, but the Thai location is exotic and adds to the flavor of the stories. Incidently, I see that "At The Cafe Lovely" a racous story about loss, redemption, and brotherhood is collected inthe Best Non-Required Reading of 2005, which I was browsing throught at a book store recently.
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