Jasmine Nights by S.P.Somtow.

S.P. Somtow is the great-nephew of Queen Indrasaksachi, wife of Rama VI. So he knows a thing or two about wealthy Thai families. He studied at Cambridge and lives in Los Angeles. He is a renowned composer of symphonies and he has published over 40 books in various genres, including horror and a punk version of “Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ The International Herald Tribune has called him "the most well-known Thai expatriate in the world." So he’s well placed to write about Thailand from a Western perspective.

‘Jasmine Nights’ is set in Thailand in 1963. Little Frog - his real name is Sornsunthorn but he prefers Justin - is twelve years old. He has grown up in England but his mysteriously absent parents have left him in the care of wealthy Thai relatives who live on a vast protected estate in Bangkok. Justin understands Thai fairly well but refuses to speak it so he finds himself living between two worlds, one dominated by three eccentric aunts who he calls the three Fates, and his own private world based on memories of England and one that he has created himself from an interest in books, especially the Greek classics.

It’s an ambitious novel. When Justin’s pet chameleon, Homer, is killed by someone’s stiletto heel at a party, Justin embarks on a series of adventures involving Virgil, a fast talking black American boy who lives next door and Piak, the gardener’s son. References to Homer are clearly meant to draw parallels with the Odyssey but Somtow handles this, and the many other classical references, in an unpretentious, lighthearted almost satirical way.

Somtow’s look inside the 12-year-old mind of Justin is extremely credible. There are some wonderful passages where he speculates on his parent’s whereabouts and some very amusing insights into racial stereotypes, class barriers and adult behaviour. There are other serious major events, including the Vietnam War, unfolding beyond Justin’s world but perhaps the book is best read as satire. There is a crafty take on the way Westerners perceive the exotic mysterious East and even the Great Homeric Quest itself isn’t immune to a few satirical digs. There’s sex too. Justin (not to be confused with Dante) and Virgil meet some nubile and very cooperative young ladies who help them with their journey of discovery. There is a glossary of Thai words and phrases that could be helpful, or irritating, depending on how the reader feels about glossaries.

I have no way of knowing to what extent Justin’s life reflects Somtow’s own cultural duality. The connection between the surreal Thai world of ghosts, social status, and all those other curious Thai ways that Westerners find so intriguing, and Greek classics is tenuous at best. In fact it may only exist in Justin’s imagination. But perhaps that is the point. As an expatriate author Somtow is obviously looking for some kind of East/West synthesis and the classical references definitely give the book an intellectual dimension without which it might just be only a ‘coming of age’ story in an exotic setting…a very well crafted and entertaining one. I thoroughly enjoyed it. You can buy a copy at…

http://www.dcothai.com/product_info.php?products_id=81

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