Sightseeing: Stories - Softcover

Lapcharoensap, Rattawut

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0802142346 ISBN 13: 9780802142344

Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005

Synopsis

One of the most widely reviewed debuts of the year, Sightseeing is a masterful story collection by an award-winning young author. Set in contemporary Thailand, these are generous, radiant tales of family bonds, youthful romance, generational conflicts and cultural shiftings beneath the glossy surface of a warm, Edenic setting. Written with exceptional acuity, grace and sophistication, the stories present a nation far removed from its exoticized stereotypes. In the prize-winning opening story "Farangs," the son of a beachside motel owner commits the cardinal sin of falling for a pretty American tourist. In the novella, "Cockfighter," a young girl witnesses her proud father's valiant but foolhardy battle against a local delinquent whose family has a vicious stranglehold on the villagers. Through his vivid assemblage of parents and children, natives and transients, ardent lovers and sworn enemies, Lapcharoensap dares us to look with new eyes at the circumstances that shape our views and the prejudices that form our blind spots. Gorgeous and lush, painful and candid, Sightseeing is an extraordinary reading experience, one that powerfully reveals that when it comes to how we respond to pain, anger, hurt, and love, no place is too far from home.

About this title

Review:

By the end of the first page of Sightseeing you're sighing with relief, safe in Thai-American Lapcharoensap's confident embrace. -- Time Out This debut show more than mere promise: it is a fine achievement in its own right. -- William Sutcliffe, Guardian Lapcharoensap can write with the bait and the hook of genuine talent. -- The New York Times Book Review Unforgettable... Lapcharoensap?s stories of family life?often terribly dark and tragicomic - take you to places both familiar and exotic.**** * New York Post *

About the Author:

Rattawut Lapcharoensap was born in Chicago in 1979 and raised in Bangkok. He was educated at Triamudomsuksa Pattanakarn, Cornell University and the University of Michigan, where he received an MFA in Creative Writing. He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. Sightseeing (2005) is his first book.In 2007 he was named as one of Granta's Best Young American Novelists.

About this edition

• Publisher: Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0802142346
• ISBN 13: 9780802142344
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272