BOOK Review
Local honey traps
- By: BERNARD TRINK
- Published: 26/12/2008 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Realtime
A Farang Strikes Back by Louis Anschel180 pp, 2008 Bamboo Sinfonia paperback Available at Asia Books and leading book stores, 395 baht
Every month or so I receive a book for review from a farang on the theme: I fell head over heels for a Thai bargirl/masseuse and she done me wrong. The writers don't realise it, but their stories are carbon copies of one another's.
Most end with them depressed and broke, trying to scrape together the fare to return to their homelands. A few, following Stephen Leather's lead in "Private Dancer," find means of retribution. Rather uncertain and somewhat dangerous as this is the hunting grounds of the predators.
German teacher Louis Anschel, who translated Leather's book and settled in Pattaya, has now penned his own addition to the genre. Though not a play, the 180 pages of "A Farang Strikes Back" are divided into three acts. Chapters, unnumbered, are separated by spaces.
As a rule (there are exceptions), old Thailand hands know that local demimondaines are no more to be trusted than their sisters under the skin in every other country. They sweet talk their victims convincingly, but they lie. Money is all they care about.
Because many are lovely and offer tender loving care, the visitors drop their guard and head for the bait. It is a simple matter of being reeled in. Hookers are so good at it, they keep any number of farangs bobbing at the same time.
Dave, a middle-aged Brit (no last name), is the protagonist and narrator in "A Farang Strikes Back." His son John, striking out on his own, Dave is in a boring marriage which is being carried along by inertia. A holiday in the Land of Smiles changes his life around.
How can he resist the charms of beautiful masseuse Som, whose earnings barely meet the needs of her young daughter, her mother upcountry, and her brother's school expenses? And when he does help, Dave's heart is warmed when she voices her tearful appreciation: "I love you too much".
Acts I & 11 follow the all too familiar course of leaving his wife, cashing in his life insurance policy, moving to Thailand, meeting Som's family in Chaiyaphum, spending money for a house she wants, her own massage parlour, a motorcycle for her, cows for mum, et cetera.
When Dave goes for his visa-run to Cambodia, Som rips him off. And as in "Private Dancer," he refuses to take it lying down. Act III is devoted to how he gets back at her. He destroys her belongings and blackens her name. The reader can't deny that she's given her just deserts.
There's a twist at the finish, the very last line in fact, but it's not a surprise. We see it coming and allow that it's the most fitting ending. This book has a few types. As not a single character is a respectable Thai woman, the overseas reader unfamiliar with the Kingdom may reach the erroneous conclusion that local prostitutes are representatives.
The clear message is that bargirls/masseuses are for dallying with, but don't get caught in their honey traps.
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