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A review by nelsonminar
A House in Bali by Colin McPhee
4.0
A lovely memoir of a Canadian's few years residence in Bali, a perfect read for my own trip to Bali trying to learn a little something about the culture and music. The author's ethnography and music background makes his observations unusually insightful. But the book remains a personal and readable account, not academically dry. So (for instance) there are several lovely expositions on how to properly build a Balinese house, but they're told in terms of his friendships and quarrels with various locals.
The centerpiece of the book is the descriptions of music and musical culture; McPhee's studies in Bali were central to teaching North Americans about Balinese music. Unfortunately these descriptions are by necessity a bit limited, being neither technical nor accompanied with actual music. I'd love to experience a version of this book that came combined with musical samples, that'd be amazing.
The other centerpiece of this book is the young dancing boy Sampih. A lot has written about the presumed pedophilic nature of this relationship. Of course the book never says anything directly about that but it's clear McPhee was quite enraptured with the boy. Sort of a Death in Venice, only without the ironic distance from the narrator. I found the author's writing about Sampih more sweet than creepy but it's definitely eyebrow raising. There's film online of Sampih dancing shot by McPhee; he's an amazing dancer.
The centerpiece of the book is the descriptions of music and musical culture; McPhee's studies in Bali were central to teaching North Americans about Balinese music. Unfortunately these descriptions are by necessity a bit limited, being neither technical nor accompanied with actual music. I'd love to experience a version of this book that came combined with musical samples, that'd be amazing.
The other centerpiece of this book is the young dancing boy Sampih. A lot has written about the presumed pedophilic nature of this relationship. Of course the book never says anything directly about that but it's clear McPhee was quite enraptured with the boy. Sort of a Death in Venice, only without the ironic distance from the narrator. I found the author's writing about Sampih more sweet than creepy but it's definitely eyebrow raising. There's film online of Sampih dancing shot by McPhee; he's an amazing dancer.