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yodsaker
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Thailand fictional paydirt for Brit novelist
John Burdett's latest novel exotic
Bangkok Tattoo set in sex business
PHIL MARCHAND
BOOKS COLUMNIST
Part of the appeal of the thriller is that you get a ringside seat at some exotic spectacles. It would be hard to beat novelist John Burdett for exotic — his hero is a Thai policeman, the son of an American soldier and a successful Bangkok prostitute, and his fictional turf is Thailand's famous sex industry.
Here's what you see the moment you settle into that ringside seat in Burdett's latest novel, Bangkok Tattoo: the dead body of a "big muscular American... minus a penis and a lot of blood from a huge knife wound." The body is found in the brothel that belongs to the hero's mom. The killer is apparently an employee of the brothel named Chanya. "Chanya, a basically decent and very tidy Thai," Burdett writes, "had placed his penis on the bedside table."
You can learn a lot in a thriller. Readers of Burdett, whose previous novel, Bangkok 8, was the first of his Thai novels, already know that Bangkok bar girls can handle any trouble. "Thai surgeons are the best in the world when it comes to penis re-attachment," Burdett wrote in a recent article. "They get more practice."
Born in London in 1951, Burdett appears younger than his years and by no means a man overly given to macabre imaginings. His personal history is straightforward. He majored in English and American literature at the University of Warwick. "I've always been passionate about books and literature," he comments, "but when I graduated from university in 1973, England was in a dreadful state. It was the time of (former Prime Minister) Heath's three-day week. There was just no opportunity at all — it was grim. So I practised law for a few years and went off to work for the Hong Kong government. I did that for four years and then I went into private practice — I became a partner in the biggest law firm there — and when I realized I had enough money to retire and write a book, I did."
That was in 1994. Choice of genre was determined by the same sober calculation that turned Burdett to the practice of law. "My natural preference is for fairly highbrow literature, to be honest," Burdett says. "But when I was a stressed-out lawyer in Hong Kong, the only stuff I could read in my exhausted state was thrillers, and what's what got me interested in the form. I thought that might be true of other people, as well — the thriller form is something that kind of leaps out at you, it keeps you reading, and I thought, that's probably the way to go. Because that's the way the world is going. People are very stressed."
Not that Burdett was immune from "highbrow" influences. "I've probably read everything Graham Greene wrote about three times," he says. "I've read The Quiet American 10 times." More popular influences were John Le Carré and Len Deighton. ("Up until 10 years ago," Burdett adds, regarding the latter.)
His first novel, A Personal History Of Thirst, was set in London. His second, The Last Six Millions, was set in Hong Kong. With the publication of Bangkok 8, Burdett found fictional pay dirt.
"I was looking for an exotic background for a thriller," he recalls. "I looked at Morocco for a while, but nothing could compare with Bangkok. It had so much going for it. It was an Asian city that looked Asian — you have these monks in saffron robes, you have the bar girls. At the same time, it was very much part of the western frame of reference. I'm always surprised by the number of people from the West who have been there. And then there was Bangkok's criminal underworld and the corruption. It means you can spin a yarn out of almost anything. It's perfect."
Even though he was an outsider, Burdett found it easy to research this milieu. "Thai people are very open," he says. "They don't see any point in covering up or hiding behind a façade... And the bar girls in particular are very happy to tell you their life stories over a bottle of beer, even though they don't know you — which for a novelist is quite a gift. It means you can get a lot of extra detail just by sitting in a bar and having a beer."
In this way, he was able to fashion a gallery of memorable characters, such as his hero, Royal Thai Police detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep — that rare commodity, an honest Thai cop — his mother Nong, proprietor of The Old Man's Club, and Sonchai's boss, the worldly Police Colonel Vikorn.
He was also able to throw in the "extra details" that makes a narrative resonate with authenticity. In Bangkok Tattoo, for example, there's a vastly amusing account of Nong's attempt to turn Viagra to professional advantage, and the unforeseen flaws in her scheme.
In a slightly apologetic "Author's Note" at the end of the novel, Burdett downplays the world-famous Thai sex industry. "Most visitors to the kingdom enjoy wonderful vacations without coming across any evidence of sleaze at all," he writes. "Indeed the vast majority of Thais follow a somewhat strict Buddhist code of conduct."
In person, Burdett explains, "The Bangkok sex industry has a history built up that has made it famous, but in reality, the Philippines, Cambodia, and I'm told nowadays even Vietnam have just the same facilities. A lot of people are using these countries as an alternate destination to Thailand because Thailand is more developed and has lost a little bit of its exotic feel."
Still, it is clear that Burdett is not about to stop mining Bangkok's red-light district. "The girls who work the bars are extraordinary characters," he comments. "They're very tough and very charming and great personalities. They have to be to survive in that kind of environment. And they're almost always supporting people back in their home villages. They practically subsidize agriculture in Thailand — they're paying for buffalo, for seed, for agricultural implements. They're always helping other members of their family, paying for their schooling, their medical bills, and so on. They're Buddhist saints."
In this respect they're like Sonchai himself, who is paying for some bad youthful karma by remaining scrupulously honest in his profession, and by practicing Buddhism. "I've become fascinated by Buddhism," says Burdett. "I'm quite passionate about it these days. I knew nothing about it until I researched the novels, and it kind of clicked with me, which no other religion has. I don't think of it as a religion so much, actually. The Dalai Lama calls it sometimes the science of the mind, and I think he's right. They have had 2,500 years to develop an understanding of the human mind, which is far in advance of anything we have in the West, in my opinion."
Burdett, who is currently divorced, and has a 6-year-old daughter, spent a few weeks in a Buddhist monastery learning to meditate. He doesn't formally meditate these days, but maintains that the experience of the monastery has stayed with him. "If you have done it for a while it becomes part of the way you do things," he says. "There's sort of an inner letting go that once you get the hang of it, it does become part of who you are."
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 4:05 pm on Aug. 7, 2005
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Black Jaques Chirac
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Quote: from yodsaker on 10:17 pm on Aug. 7, 2005
Thailand fictional paydirt for Brit novelist
John Burdett's latest novel exotic
Bangkok Tattoo set in sex business
PHIL MARCHAND
BOOKS COLUMNIST
Part of the appeal of the thriller is that you get a ringside seat at some exotic spectacles. It would be hard to beat novelist John Burdett for exotic — his hero is a Thai policeman, the son of an American soldier and a successful Bangkok prostitute, and his fictional turf is Thailand's famous sex industry.
Here's what you see the moment you settle into that ringside seat in Burdett's latest novel, Bangkok Tattoo: the dead body of a "big muscular American... minus a penis and a lot of blood from a huge knife wound." The body is found in the brothel that belongs to the hero's mom. The killer is apparently an employee of the brothel named Chanya. "Chanya, a basically decent and very tidy Thai," Burdett writes, "had placed his penis on the bedside table."
Born in London in 1951, Burdett appears younger than his years and by no means a man overly given to macabre imaginings. His personal history is straightforward. He majored in English and American literature at the University of Warwick. "I've always been passionate about books and literature," he comments, "but when I graduated from university in 1973, England was in a dreadful state. It was the time of (former Prime Minister) Heath's three-day week. There was just no opportunity at all — it was grim. So I practised law for a few years and went off to work for the Hong Kong government. I did that for four years and then I went into private practice — I became a partner in the biggest law firm there — and when I realized I had enough money to retire and write a book, I did."
This is an often background for a writer.
"English and American literature at the University of Warwick." - The English do not 'major' that is for the Americans. Then Law.
A good background for a writer but why the same themes and plots. Thai sex industry 'from the inside' and the cutting off of dicks like a Japanese film.
But I will not judge I have not read Bangkok 8 or Bangkok Tattoo. Maybe he writes the same genre but better ?
"Because that's the way the world is going. People are very stressed."
That is SO true.
But, the line between a good novel and a cliché can be very narrow ?
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 2:30 am on Aug. 11, 2005
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