I wasn’t particularly invested in the stories or characters.

I hate to admit this, but I skipped about the last quarter of the book and jumped to the final chapter, just to get to the end. Perhaps someone who is Thai or speaks Thai would have been a better choice. Every character seemed to have an English or Scottish accent, particularly the female characters. He was a good reader, but perhaps not the right person to read this particular story. This novel might be better suited to someone who already knows a little some thing about Thai history and Thai culture. All the chapter stories have a common thread, but it takes a long time to understand what’s being woven together. However, Bangkok Wakes to Rain did not really serve that purpose.

This is the way I learn about where I’m going. I can absorb something about the country’s history and hopefully also its culture. Historical fiction is generally an easy and pleasurable way to do that. Delightfully haunting and compelling, Bangkok Wakes to Rain depicts the way both locals and foreigners have come to love Bangkok. Before going to a new country, I like to read up on it. I’m going to Thailand next week for the first time. Bangkok Wakes to Rain is an elegy for what time erases and a love song to all that persists, yearning, into the unknowable future. Time collapses as these lives collide and converge, linked by the forces voraciously making and remaking the amphibious, ever-morphing capital itself. And in a New Krungthep yet to come, savvy teenagers row tourists past landmarks of the drowned old city they themselves do not remember. In the present, a young woman tries to outpace the long shadow of her political past. A jazz pianist in the age of rock, haunted by his own ghosts, is summoned to appease the house's resident spirits. A post-World War II society woman marries, mothers, and holds court, little suspecting her solitary fate. 'Important, ambitious, and accomplished.' (Mohsin Hamid, New York Times best-selling author of Exit West )Ī missionary doctor pines for his native New England even as he succumbs to the vibrant chaos of 19th-century Siam. As the novel builds to a futuristic crescendo, moments of intimacy serve to remind us that no matter what the ebb of time may change, we humans persevere.'Recreates the experience of living in Thailand's aqueous climate so viscerally that you can feel the water rising around your ankles.' (Ron Charles, Washington Post ) Sudbanthad deftly sweeps us up in a tale that paints a twin portrait: of a megacity like those so many of us call home and of a world where sanctuary is increasingly hard to come by' Mohsin HamidĪ jazz pianist is hired to perform for ghosts.Īn army colonel smells the food of home for the last time.īangkok Wakes to Rain is an intricately plotted novel where characters and stories are linked by place, not time. 'An important, ambitious, and accomplished novel. SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 EDWARD STANFORD 'FICTION WITH A SENSE OF PLACE' AWARD A post-WWII society woman marries, mothers, and holds court, little suspecting her solitary future.

Bangkok wakes to rain review