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.

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.

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

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

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 …

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