katy_bee 's review for:

Bangkok Wakes to Rain by Pitchaya Sudbanthad

5.0

emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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I just loved this. It took me a little while to get into it as the interlinked-short-story format only becomes apparent as you read. The nature of it means most of the stories don't really achieve closure, there isn't really a plot. Rather it's a series of vignettes that take place around a building in Bangkok and its inhabitants- stretching back into the colonial past and an imagined future. Recurring themes of promises made and broken,  memory and ghosts tie the stories together loosely and the same characters return so you get snippets of their lives years apart. I found the writing really compelling, the concept of how the future might play out was interesting and despite seeing very little of the characters in some ways, I was drawn into their lives