Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed this! I thought it was well written and the characters were interesting. I like how it covered a long span of time, going from the past to the future and weaving the story together using an old house. Reminded me of Welcome to the Goon Squad.
I found this novel to be very strong when it lingers with its characters and gives them space and time to be there and take the reader with them. It also leans heavily on the idea of the city as a character in the novel, I thought, but in a nice way. This was what really drew me in. The weaker parts where those (scarce ones) where it aimed to be general, maybe mythical.
These passages about animals or drones or futuristic siblings (?) felt clumsy somehow. I see what they are meant to do, add another dimension, connect the different layers etc, but they are written in a rather awkward style, I thought. These in-betweens kind of held the flow for me, while I easily read through the parts where the focus was on individual characters.
The episodic moves from character to character reminded me of "Disappearing Earth", the character connections and relations of course were of a different nature and here the chapters jump back and forth in time and cover a wider time range. It also went from historical fiction all the way to apocalyptic climate fiction (scifi or specfi) and that worked very well together. All those different parts managed to deliver a multifaceted whole and leave me with a new perspective. So overall I really enjoyed this one!
These passages about animals or drones or futuristic siblings (?) felt clumsy somehow. I see what they are meant to do, add another dimension, connect the different layers etc, but they are written in a rather awkward style, I thought. These in-betweens kind of held the flow for me, while I easily read through the parts where the focus was on individual characters.
The episodic moves from character to character reminded me of "Disappearing Earth", the character connections and relations of course were of a different nature and here the chapters jump back and forth in time and cover a wider time range. It also went from historical fiction all the way to apocalyptic climate fiction (scifi or specfi) and that worked very well together. All those different parts managed to deliver a multifaceted whole and leave me with a new perspective. So overall I really enjoyed this one!
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
'Bangkok Wakes to Rain' is immensely evocative, and I am still dreaming about the city and its inhabitants even after finishing the concluding chapter.
For some context, 2019 was the first time I've travelled to Bangkok, and I had the greatest luck to travel not one, but four times over the course of the year. And because of what I studied as an undergrad, as well my industry, I do have some historical and cultural background on Bangkok, or Krungthep. Perhaps that is why the author's use of 'Krungthep', or on the retelling of the October incidents, or even of the evangelising mission contrasted against the "heathen" and "forsaken" city swept me away in a wave of torrid imaginings and histories.
What really stood out for me, apart from the emotional intensity of the characters, would be the author's excellent use of motifs. My favourites are on the city itself (of course!) and also on water in its many forms – seas, oceans, floods, monsoon rains (in itself, another motif). I would arguably say that these two are, in fact, the two biggest characters in the novel—they permeate throughout.
From these, some concepts that come to mind are: eternal, dense, ghostly, transient, karma, samsara, suffocating, sprawling, beauty, anew. In no particular order, and applicable to either one or both. But I think that's the beauty of literature: the multitudes of meanings, spurring one after another, on top of each other, all around.
To abruptly end off, here are some quotes that I particularly enjoyed:
"She is a child or a few thousand years old. Would it ever matter? The city will stay this way for her."
"What survived even in memory of that glorious former capital, beyond the facts and dates schoolchildren were made to memorize from the history books? Most modern citizens of Krungthep had difficulty recalling events more than months past."
"By all appearances, it seemed to Nee that she was the only one who had had trouble rejoining the garden of fantastical delights that was Krungthep."
"...this city makes new ghosts."
"Old memories of the flooded city had faded. It was simply raining hard, like it had always rained around this time of the year."
"Before reaching her this water had flown and fallen, swirled through veins of enlivened animals, washed away mountains, and drowned the unlucky. Who was she to waste all this good water for an expiring woman’s comforts? A thing inside her chest had stayed her hand from reaching for the stopper, and that thing was instead compelling her to cup a small ocean and raise it to her lips and drink."
For some context, 2019 was the first time I've travelled to Bangkok, and I had the greatest luck to travel not one, but four times over the course of the year. And because of what I studied as an undergrad, as well my industry, I do have some historical and cultural background on Bangkok, or Krungthep. Perhaps that is why the author's use of 'Krungthep', or on the retelling of the October incidents, or even of the evangelising mission contrasted against the "heathen" and "forsaken" city swept me away in a wave of torrid imaginings and histories.
What really stood out for me, apart from the emotional intensity of the characters, would be the author's excellent use of motifs. My favourites are on the city itself (of course!) and also on water in its many forms – seas, oceans, floods, monsoon rains (in itself, another motif). I would arguably say that these two are, in fact, the two biggest characters in the novel—they permeate throughout.
From these, some concepts that come to mind are: eternal, dense, ghostly, transient, karma, samsara, suffocating, sprawling, beauty, anew. In no particular order, and applicable to either one or both. But I think that's the beauty of literature: the multitudes of meanings, spurring one after another, on top of each other, all around.
To abruptly end off, here are some quotes that I particularly enjoyed:
"She is a child or a few thousand years old. Would it ever matter? The city will stay this way for her."
"What survived even in memory of that glorious former capital, beyond the facts and dates schoolchildren were made to memorize from the history books? Most modern citizens of Krungthep had difficulty recalling events more than months past."
"By all appearances, it seemed to Nee that she was the only one who had had trouble rejoining the garden of fantastical delights that was Krungthep."
"...this city makes new ghosts."
"Old memories of the flooded city had faded. It was simply raining hard, like it had always rained around this time of the year."
"Before reaching her this water had flown and fallen, swirled through veins of enlivened animals, washed away mountains, and drowned the unlucky. Who was she to waste all this good water for an expiring woman’s comforts? A thing inside her chest had stayed her hand from reaching for the stopper, and that thing was instead compelling her to cup a small ocean and raise it to her lips and drink."
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Truth lingers, unseen like phantoms but there to rattle and scream wherever people try hardest to forget - p. 272
This book was incredibly interesting.
It was like a family saga, except not everyone is blood-related ( but still in relation to each other in some capacity) and instead of detailed life histories of the characters, we get short glimpses of them at different times in their lives.
It starts with a short chapter called Visitations, and I was busy trying to figure out who the woman walking the streets of Bangkok was. I have forgotten most about this chapter and should probably re-read it.
Then, just when I sort of have a grasp on what is happening, we jump to a different time, a different character altogether. This time, we follow a missionary doctor from the United States, who has just arrived in Siam. And when I adjusted to this new character, with all the people around him, we jump again, to a musician at a much later date.
To be honest, it was incredibly frustrating at first. It was jarring to be dumped into different times with new characters every chapter. It was a bit like starting a new book again and again, and just as it starts to get interesting, we are thrown into the unknown again.
Still, I pushed through, and I’m so glad I did. Eventually, people start to reappear, either through the perspective of another character - the child, parent, sibling, or lover of an earlier character - or they get another chapter all to themselves.
At the end of the second part of the book, I started to care for the characters, all of them. I find myself a little frustrated at not getting to see what became of some of them, like
Spoiler
Sammy and Betty’s child - did they get born, did they have a good life, despite how immature and abandoning their father has proved to be? - we don’t know.I still think this book could benefit from some more dates, or years at least, to get uncultured and ignorant people like me a hum on where we are. Some of the chapters do give the year they take place in plain text, and some are just easy to place into the context, but a lot of chapters I spent confused about if it was chronologically before or after the chapter before.
Still, it is a book that made a mark in me, something indescribable. I loved the characters and felt deeply for them. Even Sammy, who
Spoiler
only acted stupidly and frustrated me so much.A lot went over my head, some metaphors or cultural references and some more historical events that I should probably do some research about. The first chapter is just a fog for me. I really want to read it again after some time has passed and I know more about Thailand and Thai culture, to see how much more I would understand.
reflective
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated