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There are two main stories being told here - that of Billy Graves' two decade-long friendships with his first squad, the Wild Geese, and the mystery that surrounds his second wife, Carmen. Both plots are driven by the concept of Ahab's white whale, the one that got away but still plagues the mind into an epic disastrous quest. Prior reading of Moby Dick not necessary, but it is useful in order to really understand the passionate, almost hysterical, need behind the comparison.
Each of Billy's former squadmates has their own White, criminals who have literally gotten away with murder. These Whites are suddenly dropping like flies and Billy is naturally suspicious of their good fortune. His investigation into these happenings, in between the constant calls of stabbings, shootings and fights for his current Night Watch team, reveals things he likely would have rather not known. Regardless, his conviction about the need for punishment wavers back and forth. A friendship such as the one the Wild Geese have built was not a nice or happy thing, but still strong, unyielding and filled with unspoken secrets.
As for Carmen's plot? Every other chapter, the point-of-view changes to that of the man whose brother was murdered decades ago - Carmen was involved and now he's finally found her. Milton Ramos is desperate to know why Carmen had given his brother's apartment number to a couple of hitters looking for a drug dealer in their building and her answer is pathetically underwhelming.suicide-by-cop was incredible. Carmen's confession only added fuel to the fire, leaving Ramos an unsatisfying ending to a lifelong quest and the driving need to bring it to a final conclusion. He was less a fatalist than Ahab, but in the end, their fates remained the same.
Each of Billy's former squadmates has their own White, criminals who have literally gotten away with murder. These Whites are suddenly dropping like flies and Billy is naturally suspicious of their good fortune. His investigation into these happenings, in between the constant calls of stabbings, shootings and fights for his current Night Watch team, reveals things he likely would have rather not known. Regardless, his conviction about the need for punishment wavers back and forth. A friendship such as the one the Wild Geese have built was not a nice or happy thing, but still strong, unyielding and filled with unspoken secrets.
He had nearly lost his mind trying to bring them to justice, turning on his longtime friends in order to do what was right, what he thought was right, and as a result his own eyes on this day were dry as sand. Still, they had all been so tight over the last two decades, had gone through so much together, and for one mad minute, Billy's anger at them for excluding him from their murderous plans trumped his outrage at what they had done. But instead of passing, the anger lingered, Billy wondering if this pop-up fury he was experiencing over having been shut out from this most desperate of compacts between friends hadn't been a part of his anger at them since the beginning.That, my fine fellow, is what we call "a breakthrough".
As for Carmen's plot? Every other chapter, the point-of-view changes to that of the man whose brother was murdered decades ago - Carmen was involved and now he's finally found her. Milton Ramos is desperate to know why Carmen had given his brother's apartment number to a couple of hitters looking for a drug dealer in their building and her answer is pathetically underwhelming.
"You know something?" Ramos said to Carmen, his voice filled with wonder. "I believe you. Fifteen years old ... I don't know what I was expecting to hear all these years."The way this confrontation was written, built by a rise and fall of information, tension, short silences and then Ramos' final, unseen
My first Mary Calmes novel, but not the last! I fell in love with Miro very, very quickly. He reminded me of a more foul-mouthed version of Tony DiNozzo with his designer clothes, hair products and constant chasing down anyone and everyone.
There was less communication about boundaries than I am usually comfortable with, since Miro is apparently a mind-reader once he gets with the whole "Ian-is-Not-Actually-Straight™" program.
There was less communication about boundaries than I am usually comfortable with, since Miro is apparently a mind-reader once he gets with the whole "Ian-is-Not-Actually-Straight™" program.
Do not be fooled by whimsical nature of this art - Beautiful Darkness is a grim, nasty fairy tale. Turns out, if you die (perhaps only in the forest, or only as a young girl) scads of tiny humanoid creatures come crawling out of your orifices, confused and unaware of the new world. This is the story of how they survive. Or don't, as the case may be.
I was lowkey hoping for Aurora and the statuesque Jane to run off into the sunset together. It was pretty clear, however, after the title page
3.75 stars, rounded up because I can. Don't tell me what to do.
I chose Sightseeing to represent Thailand in my read around the world challenge. Looking up reviews of this book, I found an academic article that posits Sightseeing may have been written as a response to expatriate writers:
I am actually really terrible at seeing overarching themes in works unless it is bludgeoned into my head using very simple words, repeatedly. For all that I read, I was an awful English major. Often, I am too taken by the small details of a story (or collection of stories, as in this case) to really pull meaning from in between the lines. My notes are just a amalgamation of half-finished thoughts on each chapter, so take from this what you will.
Farangs
Foreigners, tourists: our main character, half-thai, half-white, falls in love with all of the pretty girls from America or England or somewhere vaguely European, every time. His mother despairs, as she knows the heartache of loving a farang and then being left by them - that's how she got her son, after all. This boy and his friend throw mangoes at this farang's boyfriend, in the end. Clint Eastwood, the pig, is the star of the story.
untranslated Thai word: luk (internet searches tell me it is a word for people of half-thai origin, usually thai & white which seems weird to use as an endearment for your own kid)
At the Cafe Lovely
Oh man, throwing up all over McDonald's after his first ever bite of a hamburger - I can't say I totally blame him. I will never be objective about someone's disgust for cheese, though. I'm emotionally compromised by my love of it. Plus, the cheese on a McDonald's burger (and if it is even the same in Thailand as it is here) barely qualifies anyway.
favorite quote: "It seemed Pa's death had made our mother a curious spectator of her own life, though when I think of her now I wonder if she was simply waiting for us to notice her grief. But we were just children, Anek and I, and when children learn to acknowledge the gravity of their loved ones' sorrows they're no longer children."
untranslated Thai word: sophaeni (a brothel)
Draft Day
I actually know a little about Thailand's current military lottery when it comes to enlistment. I can thank Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul (and his low-slung nipples) for that. He was not chosen, as it happens, and I do wonder if there was any money changing hands for him as there was for the character in this story. At the time he was called, Nichkhun was at the starting point in his career. It would have been a waste, monetarily, for him to be out of commission for two years just as 2PM was really starting to gain traction.
untranslated Thai word: kratoey (this seems to be a catch-all term for drag queens, homosexual and MtF transsexual people. The usage in this particular story is vague, but seems to be a a drag queen based on pronouns and genderized clothing.)
Sightseeing
The eponymous tale. Descriptions were very useful in creating a better concept of Thai geography (alongside a google map), at least in the southern end of the country.
"I can't quite believe this because I never believe anything I won't be around to see."
Every time I read a story about haggling at markets, I am awed and amazed at the prowess the characters show. The idea of doing such a thing, to combine psychological manipulation, flattery and outright lying in a string of words on the fly is baffling to me. My cold capitalist upbringing is aghast.
Priscilla the Cambodian
Ah, racism and colorism and a child's misunderstanding of what Khmer Rouge is. Horrifying in its naiveté. Seeing Priscilla beat the narrator's friend for throwing rocks at her shanty when she warned them against it was my favorite part. Her ferocity is exceptional.
It looks like the "go back to where you came from" mentality is the same the whole world 'round - the quiet resignation of the Cambodian refugees when the townspeople burn their makeshift village to the ground is impactful, especially in light of my country's own questionable treatment of similar peoples.
Don't Let Me Die In This Place
You know, it's hard to sympathize with a man who calls his own grandchildren mongrels just because they're biracial. Even as we watch him work through his emotions regarding his son and his foreign daughter-in-law and the helplessness of his broken body after a debilitating stroke, it's a struggle to feel sorry because first impressions, of people or characters, are very formative.
The Cockfighter
Because I am actually a twelve year old boy, mentally speaking, the opening line makes me giggle: "Papa kept losing with his cocks."
Emotionally, the story goes downhill from there. Ladda's mother reveals an open family secret about her father's luckless sister, which is then compounded by the constant struggle against Big Jui, their town's criminal boss and Little Jui, his ridiculous, fuckface of a son. Little Jui reminded me of Helmeppo without the redemption arc, swaggering around and using his bodyguards like blunt instruments.
"... what does Little Jui want from you anyway?"
"I don't know," I said. "But I swear I'm gonna move his asshole to where his face is."
Ah, if only.
I chose Sightseeing to represent Thailand in my read around the world challenge. Looking up reviews of this book, I found an academic article that posits Sightseeing may have been written as a response to expatriate writers:
"The typical gaze of these writers and their narrators--who are thrown into a strange world of drugs, corruption, sex, and Thai characters that "speak in aphorisms, like a Zen master" (7)--can be characterized as that of the independent tourist."It's a compelling argument - the glitz of touristy Bangkok is entirely absent, shades of the drugs, corruption and sex are in the background, but not the focus. And honestly, what country doesn't have its own version of those three anyway?
I am actually really terrible at seeing overarching themes in works unless it is bludgeoned into my head using very simple words, repeatedly. For all that I read, I was an awful English major. Often, I am too taken by the small details of a story (or collection of stories, as in this case) to really pull meaning from in between the lines. My notes are just a amalgamation of half-finished thoughts on each chapter, so take from this what you will.
Farangs
Foreigners, tourists: our main character, half-thai, half-white, falls in love with all of the pretty girls from America or England or somewhere vaguely European, every time. His mother despairs, as she knows the heartache of loving a farang and then being left by them - that's how she got her son, after all. This boy and his friend throw mangoes at this farang's boyfriend, in the end. Clint Eastwood, the pig, is the star of the story.
untranslated Thai word: luk (internet searches tell me it is a word for people of half-thai origin, usually thai & white which seems weird to use as an endearment for your own kid)
At the Cafe Lovely
Oh man, throwing up all over McDonald's after his first ever bite of a hamburger - I can't say I totally blame him. I will never be objective about someone's disgust for cheese, though. I'm emotionally compromised by my love of it. Plus, the cheese on a McDonald's burger (and if it is even the same in Thailand as it is here) barely qualifies anyway.
favorite quote: "It seemed Pa's death had made our mother a curious spectator of her own life, though when I think of her now I wonder if she was simply waiting for us to notice her grief. But we were just children, Anek and I, and when children learn to acknowledge the gravity of their loved ones' sorrows they're no longer children."
untranslated Thai word: sophaeni (a brothel)
Draft Day
I actually know a little about Thailand's current military lottery when it comes to enlistment. I can thank Nichkhun Buck Horvejkul (and his low-slung nipples) for that. He was not chosen, as it happens, and I do wonder if there was any money changing hands for him as there was for the character in this story. At the time he was called, Nichkhun was at the starting point in his career. It would have been a waste, monetarily, for him to be out of commission for two years just as 2PM was really starting to gain traction.
untranslated Thai word: kratoey (this seems to be a catch-all term for drag queens, homosexual and MtF transsexual people. The usage in this particular story is vague, but seems to be a a drag queen based on pronouns and genderized clothing.)
Sightseeing
The eponymous tale. Descriptions were very useful in creating a better concept of Thai geography (alongside a google map), at least in the southern end of the country.
"I can't quite believe this because I never believe anything I won't be around to see."
Every time I read a story about haggling at markets, I am awed and amazed at the prowess the characters show. The idea of doing such a thing, to combine psychological manipulation, flattery and outright lying in a string of words on the fly is baffling to me. My cold capitalist upbringing is aghast.
Priscilla the Cambodian
Ah, racism and colorism and a child's misunderstanding of what Khmer Rouge is. Horrifying in its naiveté. Seeing Priscilla beat the narrator's friend for throwing rocks at her shanty when she warned them against it was my favorite part. Her ferocity is exceptional.
It looks like the "go back to where you came from" mentality is the same the whole world 'round - the quiet resignation of the Cambodian refugees when the townspeople burn their makeshift village to the ground is impactful, especially in light of my country's own questionable treatment of similar peoples.
Don't Let Me Die In This Place
You know, it's hard to sympathize with a man who calls his own grandchildren mongrels just because they're biracial. Even as we watch him work through his emotions regarding his son and his foreign daughter-in-law and the helplessness of his broken body after a debilitating stroke, it's a struggle to feel sorry because first impressions, of people or characters, are very formative.
The Cockfighter
Because I am actually a twelve year old boy, mentally speaking, the opening line makes me giggle: "Papa kept losing with his cocks."
Emotionally, the story goes downhill from there. Ladda's mother reveals an open family secret about her father's luckless sister, which is then compounded by the constant struggle against Big Jui, their town's criminal boss and Little Jui, his ridiculous, fuckface of a son. Little Jui reminded me of Helmeppo without the redemption arc, swaggering around and using his bodyguards like blunt instruments.
"... what does Little Jui want from you anyway?"
"I don't know," I said. "But I swear I'm gonna move his asshole to where his face is."
Ah, if only.
After about 150 pages, Steingarten tipped over the edge into insufferable, after starting out as cautiously entertaining. I couldn't take more hyperbolic descriptions of food interspersed with casually offensive remarks about women or the name-dropping, though I should have expected the latter from a Vogue writer, I suppose.
