Remarkably candid; a deeply fascinating account of Thailand and Buddhism.
An intimate look into the unique experience of entering the Buddhist monkhood in Thailand.
Phansa is a common tradition in Thailand: Young Buddhist men are ordained for a monthslong retreat in a monastery during the country’s rainy season, only to disrobe at the end and return to their lives as laymen. A successful, married writer with two young children and a steady job in Bangkok at the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority, Limpichart undertook this task in 1974, later in life than some, spurred by his own intense sense of duty and pragmatic spirit. Titled Khon Nai Phaa Leuang in the original Thai, Limpichart’s memoir documents his early preparation and ordination, along with his time spent at the temple of Wat Prathat Doi Kong Mu, located not far from the country now widely called Myanmar. His account here is not strictly of the lessons gleaned from Dhamma or the teachings of the Buddha but rather his experiences while studying it, as he learned to adapt to a more contemplative existence, free from distractions. Landau’s translation is approachable, never sacrificing the author’s subdued wit or thoughtful knack for descriptions. English readers unfamiliar with Thailand will find the fogs over Mae Hong Son, along with many other settings, vividly described. And while many of Limpichart’s own ruminations focus on the physical—stiff toes from meditating, the wet air of the monsoon season, chafed thighs and cut feet from taking alms—there are also explorations of surprisingly familiar emotional struggles not unique to the monkhood, such as loneliness and the importance of humility, whether concerning faith or just completing day-to-day tasks. The lone flaw in the book’s presentation is a lack of context; those unfamiliar with Thai or Buddhist culture will no doubt find some attitudes and social mores jarring, even alien, and a more comprehensive primer about customs in this part of the world could have easily remedied this, much in the same way the remarkable photos of Limpichart’s ordination help illustrate a ceremony few have experienced firsthand.
Remarkably candid; a deeply fascinating account of Thailand and Buddhism.Pub Date: April 17, 2013
ISBN: 978-1481863094
Page Count: 312
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
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