DCO Thailand

Losing The Plot
A Saga of Sex, Lies and Politics in a South East Asian Setting
C.Woww

"Chuckwoww, who, incidentally, I have never met, is a competent writer, but one has to wonder why he squanders his talent on what is essentially little more than pseudo-intellectual pornography redeemed by occasional lapses into brilliance. there are some amusing passages but one finds oneself yearning for a little honest to goodness Angst ..."
James Wong, Director of Asian Studies, Uluru Community College, Alice Springs, Australia

"Mr. Woww, if that's his real name, brings new meaning to the pithy aside. His lazy, sardonic style and cavalier approach to literature bear the hallmarks of a truly flawed genius ..."
Arthur Worthington, The Last Gasp Book Shop, Sakorn Nakon, Thailand

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A very entertaining read, and there is so much going on, with cleverly interweaving plotlines, that I think it would be a good read no matter what your own experience of Thailand is. Having said that, undoubtedly my own enjoyment was enhanced by recognising many of the places and characters that he writes about, eg the old waiters in Thermae.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr Woww once and he came across as a very nice bloke, Britiish, living in Canada IIRC. He has an entertaining blog too which I'll post the URL for once I remember it!

GTG is this the same writer on thailand stories

Yes, that's the man. Do you like his style? There's some lovely wistful stuff in amongst those short pieces, I think.

Gordie T Geordie,
I enjoy his stories especially the fishing/rice fields one!and the snayy/fridge one!

I keep checking the site to see if theres more! and will buy the book!
colin 244

You will probably enjoy his blog, too, but make sure you have some spare time on your hands before you visit!

Dick Headley

I haven't read the book, but I don't think I need to. I can guess pretty much guess what it will be like by his rude pen name (in Thai). Children!

Thanks for that, Dan! If you have any further comments about films you haven't seen or food you haven't tasted then we will be delighted to read them. Adults!

I don't think it is totally irrelevant that his pen name is the Thai colloquialism for masturbate. Sort of gives you a clue what the book is about I would have thought. In this case I think you can tell a book from its cover.

I don't recall too many passages about masturbation, actually, Dan. It might just as easily be about kite flying, which I think is the more accurate translation. Personally, I think it just suggests that the author doesn't take himself too seriously, it is a name he has used on various forums for some time.

Anyway, if you actually got as far as looking at the cover you would see that it is actually printed as c.woww in this case. You would also see a photograph of Soi Cowboy which WOULD give you some idea of what part of the book is about, though far from all of it.

Why not make comments about some of the books you have read, whether you enjoyed them or not, rather than snide comments about people who have enjoyed something you cannot be bothered to read because of the (mis)assumptions you have made?

GTG

colin 244

quote:

rather than snide comments about people

I apologise if you took it that way Gordie, it was not intended. The comment was directed at the author, not yourself or Colin. I do feel that the cover art (I did not recognise Soi Cowboy as I have never been there [and that is not meant to be righteous comment in any way]), book title, and in this case pen name are relevant and worth comment. It certainly affects whether I would pick the book off the bookshelf and colours my impression: it is just so unnecessary. I don't tend to buy DVDs that have Ben Affleck in them for the same reason.

Well, you know what they say about judging a book by its cover, Dan?

It's quite interesting, really, because he has presumably abbreviated his 'first name' to avoid your sort of reaction, even though 'Chuck' is a fairly common name in itself. However, the picture of Soi Cowboy is presumably to attract the sort of reader who might normally pick up a Jake Needham, Christopher Moore or David Young even though a lot of the book has nothing to do with it.

The title, while describing a condition found amongst farangs in Thailand fairly frequently, is also tied closely to the rather intricate, interconnecting storylines.

Whatever, I still thought it was a good read.

the look on my wife's face when i said "chuck woww" in my best thai accent, priceless as master card says

quote:

However, the picture of Soi Cowboy is presumably to attract the sort of reader who might normally pick up a Jake Needham, Christopher Moore or David Young

what sort of reader is that then

also if anyone has a copy of david young's sukhumvit road would they like to do a book swap with me?

quote:

Originally posted by A&A:

quote:

However, the picture of Soi Cowboy is presumably to attract the sort of reader who might normally pick up a Jake Needham, Christopher Moore or David Young

what sort of reader is that then

Well, I would say, someone with at least a passing acquaintance with the nightlife industry, who enjoys a good yarn which touches on familiar territory and hopefully provides some insight into that particular side of Thai life. I would hazard a guess that a fair amount of the sales for those authors are from the outlets in the departure building of Don Muang.

I don't think they have much of a market at all outside of those people who have some experience, it just doesn't seem to make sense otherwise. I find it hard to understand why, when there is such a huge market for SF where people really have to open their imaginations up a little bit and for writers like James Elroy, whose writing must be just as alien to the vast majority of his readers, but he can somehow put them into these extraordinary situations and absorb them into the dark side. Something like Black Dahlia, for example, which is about to become a very successful movie in the UK, is crammed full of the darkest, most perverse events and characters imaginable, but people just seem to accept them. Try to convince people that the work of those 'Thai' authors is also rooted in fact and they don't seem so capable of accepting it, it's just 'too weird'.

I don't have 'Sukhumvit Road', but I really enjoyed 'The Scribe' and 'Fast Eddie ...'

Can I just say..... I'm going to anyway.

I found the authors choice of name quite amusing, it is meaningless and quite innocuous to most people (Dick Headley on the other hand..... whatever)

I personally would not read this book for two reasons, I didn't watch "Titanic the Movie" because I knew it sank at the end, and I did read that pile of tripe by Steven Latherer (intentional typo) ..... put me off the entire, sex lies more sex and more lies genre.


Can you both agree to disagree and shake hands now please?

quote:

and I did read that pile of tripe by Steven Latherer (intentional typo) .....

agreed that private dancer isn't the best book out there but christopher g moore isn't bad and appears to have a good insight into thai culture although most books wirtten by 'thai' authors are light reading.

saying that bangkok 8 stands out for me

and harold stephens is a brillant writer but he doesn't do bangkok bar scene centred fiction

Pretty long thread for a book review however if I read Chuck's stories "up to me" and if you don't "up to you"!

Personally I like them and find very amusing! Thats all folks
colin 244

This has turned into a whole different thread and all the more interesting for that.

I have never been to soi cowboy or even knew where it was apart from the fact I stayed at a hotel in asoke in May (Bangkok Boutique - crap - avoid it like the plague), so walked past the entrance a few times.

I think there is a mistaken view by publishers in LOS and the comment, don't judge a book by its cover was mentioned above - but you do, don't you? Especially when you have the irritating plastic wrappers that stop you exploring further.

I think there are good books about LOS but their covers suggest one thing whilst the tale is somewhat different.

Look at how Bangkok 8 was presented in the UK, not as a sordid tale at all - well not really - words like, "tells you all about the reality of Bkk" were used, and on the whole, the critics were kind (well, they've all been there and know the reality) yet, it was (also) in reality, just a bit tawdry, but a good read all the same and I'll read the "Tattoo" follow up in due course.

I think more attention needs to be paid to the covers of books by publishers, rather than pander to the obvious, or at least allow us to sample the content before buying.

I know you can ask for the wrapping to be removed, but such looks!

quote:

Originally posted by Thaddeus:
Can you both agree to disagree and shake hands now please?

Thad! How very dare you!?

I'm not sure who you are talking to here, I haven't seen any disagreement for a while here, just some discussion.

quote:

Originally posted by caller:
I think more attention needs to be paid to the covers of books by publishers, rather than pander to the obvious, or at least allow us to sample the content before buying.

I know you can ask for the wrapping to be removed, but such looks!

That's one of the things I like about buying books on Amazon now, the fact that you can actually have a flick through and read extracts from some of the books online. 'Losing The Plot' isn't one of them though! Or 'Bangkok Tattoo' come to that, though 'Bangkok 8' is there, on the US site.

Depending what you're looking for, Google Print is fantastic for this as it allows you to search through the full text of a lot of books, better for non-fiction/research etc.

quote:

Originally posted by A&A:

quote:

and I did read that pile of tripe by Steven Latherer (intentional typo) .....

agreed that private dancer isn't the best book out there but christopher g moore isn't bad and appears to have a good insight into thai culture although most books wirtten by 'thai' authors are light reading.

Moore drives me nuts with his arrogance/penny-pinching and refusal to emply an editor/proof-reader. His books are riddled with typos and unfinished sentences. The short stories collection, 'Chairs', which I liked otherwise, scarcely had an error-free page and his reputation means that his books are selling at premium prices. David Young put 'The Scribe' out for about a third of the price and it was really well-produced.

It was Moore I was thinking about with regard to how well these books 'travel'. I became friends with an amazing old boy who worked for the Smithsonian, his wife was European editor for Time-Life, very well connected in the literary world and he was quite a fan of Moore. I arranged a little lunch get together for them and he offered to help Moore get a US publishing deal. He hawked some manuscripts around the more liberal publishers he knew and he couldn't get a sniff, 'nobody will understand this, it is too far-fetched' kind of responses.

Do you know anyone who has never been to Thailand who has read one of these Thai-centred books, apart from 'The Beach'?