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Book Review: by Lang Reid
Siranee
 An
interesting book this week, which emanates from Chiang Mai in all respects.
“Siranee” (ISBN 978-974-7313-86-4, Citylife publications) was written by JC
Shaw and released this year. Citylife is well known (and read) in Chiang
Mai, and the author a long-stay resident in the North. The book is also set
predominantly in Chiang Mai.
It is a work of ‘faction’ with the fiction definitely based on factual
experiences, in which an English Don meets the former Miss Chiang Mai, who
progresses to become Miss Thailand and then a finalist in the Miss Universe
competition. Unfortunately this is considered the zenith for most Thai
women’s ambition.
The male lead (David) falls in love with this Thai goddess and comes to
Thailand, taking up both a teaching role at CMU and Honorary British Consul
in the North.
He does meet up with his Miss Thailand and much of the book revolves around
the love affair he has with her, and the ‘convenience’ affair she has with
him. As the liaison develops, in true Thai fashion, the family is then
brought in, with the younger sister also moving into the domestic scene. The
Thai familial interplay makes up much of the book and this is well crafted
by author Shaw.
The workings of Thai society at the Hi-So level are laid bare, and the
reader does not need to exercise much imagination to put a name to some of
the godfathers, generals and others mentioned, and how they all interact and
how the patronage system is alive and well. And that especially relates to
how a girl with beauty can leverage herself up within the high society which
is portrayed as having all of the ceremony and trappings of the western
model, but none of the substance!
On the other side of the Thai coin there is the sister Siranee. She left
home at 16, being unable to meet the psychological problems of being the
younger sibling of someone deemed as ‘famous’. She becomes a singer in a
seedy bar in Chiang Mai and the seedy society is also well dissected.
Although the singers will go “off” with customers, they consider themselves
far from being prostitutes, who also work out of the same premises, sitting
on show behind the glass wall. And are really no different from the Hi-So
beauties!
Spliced into the narrative are vignettes of David’s experiences as the
Honorary Consul, and a few of these are added in to the end of the book as
stand-alone items. These are interesting in a somewhat voyeuristic mode, but
unfortunately some have already been incorporated in previous chapters of
the book proper, giving them all somewhat of a ‘make-weight’ characteristic.
One very annoying aspect to the book is the failure of the proof-readers to
understand the role of the hyphen. Now this may be considered as nit-picking
by me, but the hyphen can denote both association of words and
disassociation. To use “make-weight” as an example, it is quite different
from “make – weight”. Perhaps a correction in the next print-run (as opposed
to print – run)?
A good read at B.300 from bookshops (B. 250 from Citylife office).
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