Published: October 30, 2011
BANGKOK — Shielded by hundreds of thousands of sandbags piled shoulder high along the city’s outskirts, most of Bangkok remained dry on Sunday, allaying fears for the time being that the massive metropolis would be swamped by monsoon floodwaters.
BANGKOK — Shielded by hundreds of thousands of sandbags piled shoulder high along the city’s outskirts, most of Bangkok remained dry on Sunday, allaying fears for the time being that the massive metropolis would be swamped by monsoon floodwaters.
I’m one of the few who read all 359 pages of this diatribe against bio-engineering. I read it eve
n though I wouldn’t call it a Science Fiction novel. There’s a nice travelogue on Siam (remember “The King and I”,) including a brief political history. It’s about what research you’d get from clicking on Wikipedia. The plotline is cute, but too thin for a real Sci-Fi book. The insistence on Thai names for people and places is always difficult for American readers. It takes over a hundred pages just to get into the flow of the author’s style and gain familiarity with the characters.
n though I wouldn’t call it a Science Fiction novel. There’s a nice travelogue on Siam (remember “The King and I”,) including a brief political history. It’s about what research you’d get from clicking on Wikipedia. The plotline is cute, but too thin for a real Sci-Fi book. The insistence on Thai names for people and places is always difficult for American readers. It takes over a hundred pages just to get into the flow of the author’s style and gain familiarity with the characters.Now if I just look at the book as a modern, action movie script, then I think the author has done a wonderful job. There’s just enough character development to carry a 120-minute, all-audience film. There are plenty of sympathetic characters to root for: Jaidee (think Obi Wan-Kenobi) and Kanya (Luke); Anderson the American; Hock Seng the loyal but befuddled foreigner; and of course Emiko who will provide plenty of female sisterhood as well as contortionist sex for the 14 year-old male viewer. Evil-doers abound leading off with global mega-corporations versus populist farmers; then politicians (shoot them all, like the lawyers) versus the eco-friendlies.
I’m sure this will be filmed in a 3-D format. There’s plenty of opportunity for computer graphics. All our favorites: war, violence, torture, and sex, all to extremes. It was a hard slog through the repetitious action scenes. I guess this leaves the movie director with multiple options for filming. However, I did finish the book and liked it. Author Bacigalupi is certainly no William Gibson as many of his credits claim, but it’s an enjoyable read that I would and will recommend. I’d certainly point out this book to anyone contemplating travel to Thailand. I can’t wait for the movie.
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