Make PattayaMail.com your Homepage | Bookmark              SERVING THE EASTERN SEABOARD OF THAILAND             Pattaya Blatt | Chiang Mai Mail | Pattaya Mail TV
 
Pattaya Mail Web
 
 


The Cultural Detective

In the course of a year I will read and review more than 50 books. Some never become reviews as they are simply not good enough in the literary sense. It is rare for a book to be outstanding.

However, is it perhaps a judge of excellence that I would pull down one book from the shelves, read it again, and thoroughly enjoy it once more? If so, then The Cultural Detective by Christopher G. Moore (ISBN 978-616-90393-8-9, Heaven Lake Press, 2011) is an excellent book. Not only a good book, but for me, the best book reviewed in 2011.

Forget Moore’s Calvino series, this is a completely new genre and is a collection of essays in four broad parts commencing with Perspectives on Crime Fiction Writing, followed by Clues to Solving Cultural Mysteries, then Observations from the Front Lines and finally Outside the Southeast Asia Comfort Zone.

The subtitle to The Cultural Detective, is “Reflections on the Writing Life in Thailand”. Author Moore manages to look at the reflections without becoming introspective, but has the ability to dissect concepts and customs with a very equal handedness. This is not a farang blindly reporting the ways of the Thais, but has genuine explanations given by someone who does not let his own culture and customs impinge on the details.

An example of this is, “In Thailand the deference culture is largely built around age, rank, family and wealth. The Thai expression is kreng jai, and that term underpins the social, political and economic system and has done so for centuries.”

The essays do cover Moore’s methods in writing fiction. “Writing blends death and sex into myth, folktale, legend and serving up a strong brew turns us into addicts.” He explains the pitfalls. “Writing a book takes long hours of focused attention. You can’t multi-task and write a novel. Because you have to keep the whole story, plots and sub-plots, characters, their connections and motivations inside your head as a unified whole. This is fragile territory. One that is easily distracted.”

Moore looks dispassionately at some of the reasons the youth of the world is resorting to anarchy. “…who have no job and turn to crime as the only available option. This new army of angry young recruits may not be fuelled by the hatred of a jihad. The fuel of despair and hopelessness are the precursors to hatred, and you don’t need a religion to motivate such young men. Wanting status and the material stuff that a material society proclaims is essential for your manhood is the new scripture.”

Christopher G. Moore is an excellent writer, and his style in this collection of essays reminds me of Bill Bryson (A Short History of Nearly Everything) and Dave Barry (I’ll Mature When I’m Dead), though Moore’s subject matter remains more deeply thought provoking than the other two, in my opinion.

I have enjoyed the Calvino escapades, plus his other books, but for me this collection of essays stands out as offering a glimpse of the ‘real’ Christopher G. Moore. The RRP in Bookazine is B. 385 - a literary bargain.


Advertisement

  Property for Rent
  Condos & Apartments
  Bungalows - Houses - Villas

  Property for Sele
  Condos & Apartments
  Bungalows - Houses - Villas
  Articles for Sale/Rent
  Boats
  Business Opportunities
  Computers & Communications
  Pets
  Services Provided
  Staff Wanted
  Vehicles for Sale / Rent: Trucks & Cars
 

 



News
 Local News
  Features
  Business
  Travel & Tourism
  Our Community
  Our Children
  Sports
Blogs
 Auto Mania
  Dining Out
  Book Review
  Daily Horoscope
Archives
PM Mike Franklin
Classic Charity Golf
Tournament
PM Peter Cummins
Classic International
Regetta
Information
Current Movies
in Pattaya's Cinemas

 Sophon TV-Guide
 Clubs in Pattaya
News Access
Subscribe to Newspaper
About Us
Shopping
Skal
Had Yao News
Partners
Pattaya Mail TV
 Pattaya Blatt
 Chiang Mail Mail

E-mail: [email protected]
Pattaya Mail Publishing Co.Ltd.
370/7-8 Pattaya Second Road, Pattaya City, Chonburi 20150 Thailand 
Tel.66-38 411 240-1, 413 240-1, Fax:66-38 427 596
Copyright © 2004 Pattaya Mail. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.