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Private Dancer
Stephen Leather

Writer meets Thai bargirl, falls in love, and lives to regret it. For many years Private Dancer was unpublished, and was only available as an on-line download. It has now been published in Thailand, and is available worldwide, direct from DCO Thailand.

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I read this book several years ago, give it its due, I did read it in one sitting.

But it is probably solely responsible for me not reading any other Thai by Farang books.

Self Edit ... my apologies ... that sounded a little too scathing, wasn't my intent, a simple correlation... if The Exorcist had been the first ever book I read, it would have been the only book I would have read ever.

By all means read it .... but read some gentler stuff first.

Likewise I read the book in one sitting though I'm not so sure this suggests the story was a gripping one so much as pointing to the fact it represents intelectually pre-digested fayre that slips through the system without even touching the sides. No fibre in this bowl.

To give it its due also, it is spell checked and priced at an appropriate level.

Also I might revisit the book some day to note the recipes, the only thought provoking aspect therein (but I already have a nice Thai cook book with pretty pictures in to accompany the ingredients and cooking instructions so perhaps not).

It's not solely responsible for me subsequently avoiding books of the same broad genre. It's responsible solely for confirming a distaste for this kind of fayre having previously read a book I forget the name of (something about a disgraced former SAS member and 'taking out' a drug baron in the Thai-Myanmar borderlands and a tour of Thai culture thrown in to boot including such marvellous linguistic insights as how to instruct a taxi driver to drive slow) as I seem to have flushed it down my mental lavatory. Anyway that's not for this thread but if someone can prod me in the right direction I might feel inclined to go picket outside its doors also.

A justification for such a dim view might be in order rather than just casting judgment and leaving it at that? This would require more mental calisthenics however than the reading of the book itself required. I wouldn't assert that for a novel to be deemed of worth it has to engage the reader in a constant series of deeply intricate intelectual exercises but it should at least oblige the reader to walk to the corner of the room and back occasionaly if only to prevent the reader's mental muscle from atrophying.

I think it depends what you want out of a novel. If you just want to relieve the boredom on a long flight or other journey without performing "mental calisthenics" then this book fits the bill perfectly.

Maybe I'm just easy pleased but I read this on a flight to Thailand and it helped ease the boredom nicely which is more than I can say for the other book I took by Hermann Hesse. I just couldn't get into it with everything else going on around me.

Whatever you may have read elsewhere about this book, there is no financial risk involved and it will cost you nothing to suck it and see.

I enjoyed reading Private Dancer but it was too big to take on the plane as I printed it on A4 and stuck it in a folder.

A cook book and novel in one, can't be bad.
Anyone tried the recipes ?

Mark
I took my A4 printout on the plane with me, (printed both sides of the paper) and then threw it away later.

I have had a few drinks with Stephen over the years (last time was in Bangkok at Christmas when he had the guy whome Tango One was based on with him)

I also remember the girl who is the subject of this book from when she workid in Voodoo Bar in NEP.

This book came out of the original non-fiction article published in Esquire magazine.

I read the book some time ago and have already forgotten much of the specifics.

I thought the plot was a little thin and predictable with a fair amount of superfluous detail that added nothing.

On the plus side it can give you some insight into how the Thai people think, depending of course on which of the anecdotes you subscribe to.

For example there is a passage where the bar girl is relating to her farang boyfriend that her cousin has comitted suicide - he cannot understand how she can do this with a bright smiel and no signs of regret. My own experience is that Thais are as susceptible to sorrow when disaster strikes as anywhere else, maybe more so.

On the other hand I read a couple of passage to my wife and her opinion was that, at least in those cases, the author was someone who really understood Thai people.

Yes, I must say, I thought this was one of the most entertaining and realistic efforts I've read relating to the perils of the 'scene' and contained more insight than the entire collected work of C G Moore, as well as more correctly spelt words

Whether it appears to lack vital substance or otherwise, it's no mean feat to produce a text on such a subject that holds many to finish it in one hit (myself included); I consider that a huge plus. It won't win any prizes, but it doesn't seek to. I do, however, suspect that it's holding power is largely down to our collective sensitivity to the subject matter - people love to read about what they know something about.

I think it's a brave topic to tackle, and one that will never be completely defined. I've recommended the book to several friends, and they took completely different slants from it; i.e. the derogatory image it portrays of both parties, and it's window on bar girl mentality.

All in all, it's better than most, I'd say.

This book is no longer a free download but in print has anyone still got the PDF that they could send me please ????? beg beg from a tight arsed sod

Thanks for all the offers recieved of the PDF I have now read the book and like the other reviews nothing really out of this world BUT and interesting way in which the book is written that tends to keep ones attention. I enjoyed it and it was not just out of boredom that I read it, pure relaxation. And what a lovely end, a sting in the tail maybe.

quote:

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Originally posted by Prakanong
posted 28 June 2004 20:38
Re: Private Dancer - Stephen Leather

I have had a few drinks with Stephen over the years (last time was in Bangkok at Christmas when he had the guy whome Tango One was based on with him)

I also remember the girl who is the subject of this book from when she workid in Voodoo Bar in NEP.

This book came out of the original non-fiction article published in Esquire magazine.

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Great review, thanks, I'll go out and buy it on the basis of that.

i have private dancer on pdf if anyone wants it

paul

Try http://www.stephenleather.com/private-dancer.pdf

quote:

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Originally posted by Peter:
Try http://www.stephenleather.com/private-dancer.pdf

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Hello Peter

That's only a 43 page "taster". The full book is no longer available from Stephen Leather's website. He's hardly likely to give the thing away now he's found someone to publish it.

quote:

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Page 43:

Stephen Leather writes: If you enjoyed that extract and want to know what happens to Pete, Joy and the sad b******s at Fatso's, Private Dancer is now in print, published by the Three Elephants in Thailand. It's on sale at all good book shops there, including Bookazine and Asia Books, priced at 350 baht, which is about £5 or $9 in real money.

If you live outside Thailand and want to know how the story ends, you can buy the book on-line at www.dcothai.com. Danny at DCOTHAI delivers to anywhere in the world.

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Regards

Well worth the read. Written from two completely different view points. Insight.

Danny

Read the book from cover to cover in one hit on a long flight home. I am not sure if " enjoyed " is the right word, but I was definitely moved by it and will probably read it again some day.

A good investment of 730 THB (How much !!)

Well I recently read this this and thought the plot had more holes than Blackburn, Lancashire! I won't read any more of this guys books.

More worrying was that my new wife read it, couldn't put it down in fact!

How afraid should I be?

Caller

Although my opinion may have been coloured by the fact that I read it when it was still a free download, I really enjoyed it and thought it was very perceptive and insightful. What was it in particular that you found so hard to swallow?

Was that a pun!!! I joke!

I thought it was cliched and one-dimensional, the main character (male - I've already forgotten the name) I found somewhat unbelievable - it would have helped if we could have empaphised with him more by learning more about his previous life - but, the big but for me, and mentioned by some of the other characters in the book, is if he loved Joy so much, why did he bar-fine her so much, why send her packing every time, why didn't he ask her to move in with him? The excuse that he was in a respectable paid for hotel just didn't stand up, but if she had moved in, which would have been logical, we wouldn't have had a story, would we? A blessing perhaps?

But the biggie has to be, how much of a battering he took, proven lies time and time again, but he still couldn't walk away. It just got tedious and lost credibility.

I've no doubt, as stated above, that this is based on someones experience and the horror stories abound, but my main gripe was that it was just such a shallow tale.

As I say, the wife loved it - worryingly - and we had many conversations about it. I was relieved to see her drop it in the bin on our last night together - till the next time - now don't get any ideas....!

My view, thats all.

caller,
main character was pete and although set in BKK I know a bar in Pattaya with similar people to all the expats in the book.

Anyway I thought it a good read as did 3 of my mates who have been to LOS
colin244

they should give out free copies at donmuang,to first time male visitors.

quote:

they should give out free copies at donmuang,to first time male visitors.

that would be pretty bad for the economy