Why read Bangkok Wakes to Rain?

Book cover of Bangkok Wakes to Rain

Book description

"Recreates the experience of living in Thailand's aqueous climate so viscerally that you can feel the water rising around your ankles." —Ron Charles, Washington Post

"Important, ambitious, and accomplished." —Mohsin Hamid, New York Times bestselling author of Exit West

A missionary doctor pines for his native New England even as…

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Literary fiction

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Why read it?

1 author picked Bangkok Wakes to Rain as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

John Burgess

Author

I lived in Bangkok for six years. This is the rare novel that captures the sounds, the smells, the spirit, and spirituality of the place. Bangkok in fact is the main character, with supporting roles by humans who make their lives there, from the nineteenth century to the present and into the not-so-distant future, when water lays permanent claim to a city built more or less at sea level. You can expect lyrical writing and engaging characters, whether human or urban.

From John's list on fiction set in Southeast Asia throughout time.