I loved this book for its many references to learning the Thai language - evoked happy memories of my time in Thailand. The writing style felt very F. Scott Fitzgerald - dumb, wealthy people bored with their lives, behaving badly. ( )

Now this was a strange book with a strange plot! Even remembering it now, it seems like it was all a dream. ( )

2000 pen/faulkner award finalist. pretty good but peculiar ( )

I thoroughly enjoyed this book -- the life of the ex-pat's wife in a foreign country is seldom fun. It can be a lonely existence, particularly when the husband is off traveling a good part of the time. I found this story particularly interesting with respect to the Jim Thompson connection. I have floor pillows, placemats, and silk napkins all with the Jim Thompson stamp on them -- Until I read this book, I had no knowledge of his strange disappearance (he has never been found) and his background...I encourage readers of this book to Google him after they have read the book and you will get the connection to the book's subtitle and the events of the final chapters. I highly recommend this book, especially to anyone who has traveled in South Asia and perhaps visited the Thompson home/museum. Fascinating that the author could craft a novel around this real person, whose disappearance remains a mystery.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Thompson_(designer) ( )

Claire meets her husband on a plane and is swept away with him to Thailand, a country she knoes nothing about, not even to pronounce its name properly. She tries to get a handle on the country, but a dinnerparty leads her to a meeting with Jim Thompson, a businessman. When Jim disappears in the Cameron Highlands, Claire becomes obsessed with him. It is 1967 and the U.S. are using Thailand as as a base for their attacks on N. Vietnam.

An interesting look at the life on an ex-pat wife caught up in the effects of U.S. policy in South Asia. ( )