I really loved this book, which takes the rather dark setup of a child largely abandoned by both parents, who residents of his apartment complex sort of take turns looking after, and somehow keeps dodging the even darker possibilities that kept raising specters in my mind. Time after time a new character or situation would be introduced, and I would be bracing myself thinking OH NO, THIS IS WHEN IT GETS TRULY TERRIBLE, but then it wouldn't. Which is not to say this book is Pollyannaish or all sunshine and roses, it certainly is not. But it is heartbreaking because of the abandonment, not because his precarious situation is exploited by anyone.

I have heard that this was the first book by a Thai woman translated into English. It was excellent. ( )

3.5 stars

This book is not exactly a novel, but it's not really short stories either. There is no plot, per se. it's more a series of vignettes about Kampol, a 5-year-old who is abandoned by his parents--they just leave him to fend for himself in their old neighborhood. Both come by, but expect the neighbors to work it out.

This book is sad, but it is also very sweet. Very much an "It takes a village..." kind of story. This is a working class neighborhood. No one can take in another child--but everyone shares the burden of feeding Kampol, hosting him overnight, and doing his laundry. Others give him odd jobs and support.

Of course, Kampol is only 5-6 in this book, so he is sad and confused by not angry yet. It's just a snapshot in a year of one young boy's life. ( )

An exceptional rendering of an impoverished community in which human beings find a way to survive and to care for one another.

In the novel's first pages, five-year-old Kampol is abandoned by his parents. The rest of the novel is made up of brilliant episodic gems, as Kampol survives and adapts, and as the people around him learn to care for him.

We're transported to a place where helping others means you won't have enough for yourself...and yet, people help Kampol to the best of their limited means. Their level of concern for the abandoned boy waxes and wanes as their own situations become more or less dire. Sometimes they forget all about him for a few days--these times are heartbreaking.

Pimwana does such a good job bringing to life Kampol's loneliness and near-starvation in the early days of his abandonment. It feels natural in this community, where everyone is living at the bitter edge of poverty and disaster, that characters will be both empathetic to Kampol's situation, and also a bit reluctant to get involved.

This novel floats along in a place of remarkably sweet melancholy that never falls into sentimentality. The skill with which Pimwana succeeds in telling a complex and mature story through the eyes of a child reminded me of Carson McCullers's achievement in [b:The Member of the Wedding|330244|The Member of the Wedding|Carson McCullers|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403187223s/330244.jpg|604941]. ( )