bangkok wakes to rain by pitchaya sudbanthad

I must say that Part IV added a star or two onto my review. However, few of the characters made enough of an impression on me to invest in them emotionally. Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s lyrical and sensuous prose brings the city of Krungthep to startling life at various points of its rather tortured history (and future). This is one of those books to be admired rather than loved, which is a great pity. Krungthep, the city of angels and yet higher angels and even higher ones. This is a highly impressive debut, and I can't wait to read whatever Pitchaya Sudbanthad will write next. Sudbanthad's even, meditative language is the counterpoint in this literary fugue - its beauty has an elevating effect, and it lets the reader breathe the humid air when walking through the streets of Bangkok. Readers are certainly required to pay close attention, as the stories (which, with time, do intersect regarding people and places) are not told chronologically, but the slightly disorienting effect suits this novel well: With nature, architecture and generations of families, time and history converge in the city.

The narrative strands, set in the past, present and future, are like streets on a 3D map of the city, that evoke the spirit at the heart of the place - how can a text that is neither plot nor character driven be so captivating? Among the people we meet is Nee, whose lover is killed during anti-government protests in 1973, there is a missionary who works as a doctor in old Siam, an aging American jazz musician, Nok who emigrates and opens a Thai restaurant in Japan, and there are even birds who share their perspective of the city. Sudbanthad's debut novel is a lyrical love letter to a city and its inhabitants - this book is truly enchanting and full of atmosphere, introducing various characters in order to tell the story of a vivid, loud, magical, sprawling protagonist: Bangkok.

Bangkok wakes to rain by pitchaya sudbanthad