Calvino Is Back

Every city has a dark side. Hardly anyone paints the dark underbelly of Bangkok more vividly than Christopher G. Moore, whose latest Bangkok novel The Corruptionist just hit the shelves. 466 pages of dark Bangkok.

I had a word with Chris about his new book, his work and Bangkok. Most expats here are familiar with his Vincent Calvino series. Some say no foreign author knows Bangkok better. A Hemingway of Bangkok, one critic said.

The book’s cover art is a painting by Chris Coles*, an inner circle mentor of the Bangkok Noir movement who is no stranger to the fascination of the city’s never tiring multiple levels of betrayal and deceit. So I started by asking Chris Moore: Why you chose Chris Coles for the cover?

I recommended his covers to my publisher for several reasons, says author Chris. First they are by far the best images I’ve seen of the noir aspect of Bangkok. Dark, moody, intelligent, mysterious and playful.

The covers that were chosen mirror the two Calvino books so that cover art and text act as a seamless whole.

Second Chris and I are part of the Bangkok Noir movement. And using the covers shows the strength of a mutual vision of the time and place.



Why dedicate a novel to corruption, I go on.

I have loved the experience of living in Bangkok for more than twenty years, says Chris. It is home turf. The place where I choose to live but that doesn’t mean everything that happens is sweetness and light.

Yet every city has a dark side. A place of shadows. A void where activities we’re vaguely aware of happen in private. Bangkok is no exception. My latest Vincent Calvino novel uses corruption in the back story.

… the corrupt mindset as an essence of Bangkok …

See, if you slip money to one official for a benefit – that is corruption. And if you slip money into the pockets of a community development? Somewhere there is a line that is crossed between the two extremes. In The Corruptionist I tackle both the small scale and larger scaled-up version where money changes hands for favors granted.

Corruption is pure noir. Nothing gets darker than turning the lights out in the halls of justice and using a ladder to climb out the window.

I ask if Calvino has some biographical elements.

Authors are often asked if their book is biographical, says Chris. We live in an age where everyone asks if the book, movie, song is about them. In this age of the solipsistic world view everything about everyone else’s experience is denied. Research of a book shouldn’t be confused with the writer’s personal story.

This is like confusing a fireman with a man with a flame thrower. Both are around a fire. Both hold objects pointed at the fire. The outcome, though, is quite different.

The same goes for biographical novels and novels that draw upon the background radiation where the author works and lives.

After all those years, I ask, is his love for Bangkok waning?

Like any relationship, Chris says, the connections deepened over time. My early romance with Bangkok was replaced by something more enduring: a broader understanding of how the good things and flaws are bound up together, often reinforce each other and mirror a more complex, rich and mysterious place than I have ever imagined more than twenty years ago.

Sure things have changed, says Chris. That is the heart of Buddhism. Things are in a constant state of change. It is the very nature of life.

Thanks for this Chris.

Finally some words about The Corruptionist:

Set during the recent turbulent times in Thailand, this 11th novel in the Calvino series centers around the street demonstrations and occupation of Government House n Bangkok.

Hired by an American businessman, private investigator Vincent Calvino finds himself caught in the middle of a family conflict over a Chinese corporate takeover.

This is no ordinary deal. Calvino and his client are up against powerful forces set to seize much more than a family business. As the bodies accumulate while he navigates Thailand’s business-political land mines, Calvino becomes increasingly entangled in a secret deal made by men who will stop at nothing – and no one – standing in their way. But again, how can Calvino refuse to step aside.

Along with the novel Chris Moore publishes the little Vincent Calvino Reader’s Guide. The booklet contains a conversation with the author and introduces you into Calvino’s world – the chapters are a handy how-to guide for every foreigner trying to make sense of Thailand.

You learn about the Laws of Gumshoe Investigation, Laws of Agression & Violence, Laws of Bargirls & Nightlife, Laws of Women & Men, Laws of the World of Expats, Laws of Conmen, Criminals & Demons and Laws of Asian Culture & Language finally.

Calvino’s Laws explore the Thai psyche streched along the East-West divide within the Bangkok Noir setting.

Reading Calvino you may learn a thing or two about the Thai/Asian society you live in.

If you’re in Thailand you can find The Corruptionist at your local book store. Life outside of Thailand? Order the Calvino books directly from publisher Heaven Lake Press.

* Don’t miss Chris Coles’ Navigating the Bangkok Noir art show opening on December 11th at Liam’s Gallery, Buddha Hill, Pattaya/Jomtien.





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December 2, 2009 | Filed Under Books & Movies, Culture & Arts, The Interview, Truly Bangkok 

Comments

9 Responses to “Calvino Is Back”

  1. Tweets that mention Calvino’s Back -- Topsy.com on December 2nd, 2009 12.37 pm

    [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jon Fernquest and BangkokDan, Chris Coles. Chris Coles said: check out the intriguing piece on Christopher G. Moore and the Bangkok Noir movement on AbsolutelyBangkok… http://tiny.cc/McGZt [...]

  2. Richard Handford on December 3rd, 2009 8.30 am

    Christopher Moore is himself something of a mystery. While looking the part of a distinguished expatriate novelist and certainly the best of the almost uniformly dreadful Bangkok based foreign writers, his output and style are excruciatingly mediocre. I had a long conversation with Moore at an Oxbridge dinner some years ago but didn’t have the heart to ask whether he felt embarrassed with the ludicrous Hemingway/Graham Greene comparisons. On the other hand I did once see a flattering review from Timothy Mo (what happened to him by the way) so perhaps I am missing something … but I don’t think so.

  3. BangkokDan on December 3rd, 2009 9.04 am

    While not comparing Moore to literature per se, reading a Calvino novel is a pleasant pastime.

    High literature aims at the core of your heart and mind. Moore’s work remains indeed superficial to drop the word, but highly entertaining.

    And I’m quoting reviewers’ praises for him:

    “Seasoned with a spicy mixture of humor and realism, (his books) stand out as model studies in East -West encounters” … “Like Graham Greene, he alternatex between entertainment and serious novels” … “One of Moore’s greatest strengths is his knowledge of Southeast Asian history” … “The most important recreator of Thailand for a Western audience” … “Moore’s work doesn’t flinch from cultural detail or complex social analysis. He takes chances, lots of them” … “What is outstanding in the works of Moore is his in-depth comprehension of what psychiatrist Carl Jung labeled the collective unconscious, as it applies to Thai motivation, thinking and action. Moore understands the Thais better than many understand themselves” …

    Last quote by the Bangkok Post.

    While surely not expecting a nomination for the Nobel prize in literature his books are carefully crafted. They don’t aim too deep, they avoid the usual clichés in an affectionate way enriched with dry Anglo-Saxon humor at its best. And, as Thomas Plate wrote in The Seattle Times:

    “Underneath Bangkok society is a deeply encrusted demi-world of hope, despair, corruption and courage that Moore paints with maestro-like Dickensian strokes.”

    Got The Corruptionist on my desk. May post a little review myself after reading.

    BangkokDan

  4. David on December 3rd, 2009 10.24 am

    I enjoy the Calvino books immensely and especially love all the little asides and observations.

    I don’t read them for the plots but for the ambiance, the atmosphere, the glimpse into another world …

    The Thai character stopping to wai the spirit lodge next to the massage parlor for some opaque Thai reason that maybe someday I will understand …

    In fact, while they may not be “literature” in the sense that Hemingway is “literature,” to me, they are actually more enjoyable than Hemingway and often contain more insights …

  5. Augustus on December 3rd, 2009 3.57 pm

    David is easily impressed. The rather commonplace insight he enthuses over might be illuminating for a retired sex tourist (Thai culture) but frankly wouldn’t convey much to anyone else. The question is not so much whether Moore writes literature – obviously he doesn’t – but whether he is other than a repetitive one theme hack albeit with pretensions. The reality is he doesn’t really sell many books in what could be quite a promising seam. A latecomer, John Burdett covering much the same area became not only critically well received but a world wide best seller – but then Burdett unlike Moore is genuinely talented writer. Still I would certainly suggest local residents read a couple of Moore’s books.

  6. BangkokDan on December 3rd, 2009 6.22 pm

    For the whole picture, here’s Burdett:

    http://absolutelybangkok.com/john-burdett-mission-soi-cowboy/

    The most successful local foreign writer is with no doubt Stephen Leather -

    http://absolutelybangkok.com/stephen-leather-bangkoks-most-immortal-expat-writer/

    - but Bangkok is not his topic. Except Private Dancer of course.

    BangkokDan

  7. Harry Worsnip on December 4th, 2009 10.45 am

    Stephen Leather is at least good old fashioned pulp fiction without airs and graces and totally undemanding. Without wishing to be unkind however I have to say I reach metaphorically for my revolver when some sorry dupe talks about Private Dancer being “compulsory reading.” It’s really for the blue collar ex-sex tourist crowd (or the ThaiVisa community which more or less amounts to the same thing.

    (BD: Please no more comments from same IP address under different aliases.)

  8. kaewmala on December 4th, 2009 2.27 pm

    The first book I read by Christopher G. Moore was “A Killing Smile” – nearly ten years ago. I thought the book “very human.” Ever since I’ve been reading a number of his books.

    I’m not well educated enough to say whether Moore’s works amount to “literature,” though I’d not bet half my money that any of his books will fetch him a Nobel or a Booker anytime soon. But I can say this, as a Thai, I find his understanding of Thai culture and people penetrating and his style – quite masculine for a female taste – enjoyable, intelligent and often humorous. As a woman, I’d like to see more well-rounded Thai female characters in his books, but then it’s up to the author to create whatever characters he needs for his stories.

    As for the other two authors mentioned, Stephen Leather in my view is a good writer and skilled storyteller, though safe to say nowhere near the realm of a Booker. John Burdett I haven’t read, so I can’t comment on the quality of his books but I’d guess that they must have certain merits otherwise I would not be seeing them everywhere.

    I think tastes in books are like tastes in food. They can be variable. Of course, there are some really bad food that make you sick. Big Macs and fermented crab somtam (which always gives me a loose bowl) rank among the worst for me. I’d allow that what I see as a Big Mac or a fermented crab somtom on Asia Books shelves (numerous especially in the Asian/Thai interests section) may be considered possible Booker and Pulitzer nominees by others.

    If a real writer like Timothy Mo thinks well of Moore’s work, along with heavy weights like Barry Eisler and T. Jefferson Parker, and serious critics, the likes of Publisher’s Weekly, NYT Book Review, and many professional literary critics in the U.S./Europe, call his books “intelligent,” “complex,” “original,” “inventive” etc., maybe not all see mediocrity or superficiality in his writing. (Surely not the judges and jury who awarded him a few international literary prizes.)

    I’m not sure I understand why Moore should feel embarrassed for being compared to Hemingway and Graham Greene. Should he also blush at the comparison to Dashiell Hammet and Raymond Chandler that San Francisco Chronicle and others have thrown his way? I must be missing something here.

  9. Catherine on December 13th, 2009 9.03 am

    Chris first grabbed my attention with “Heart Talk” (logical, as I have a Thai language blog). And while I have read a few others (one came free online) I pretty much stopped there (too busy, for one).

    Recently, I decided to read through Christopher’s Calvino’s entire series for a post on WLT. It is good timing as I’m due to suffer through quite a few long-hauls this month. And what better way to live on planes, than to be packing a series?

    I’ve engaged in focused reading marathons before. For some, I came away quite chuffed. Almost in love even. For others, I hope to never, ever read their works again. Because it is with marathons that both the weaknesses and strengths shout ever louder.

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