When the original Thai version of Letters from Thailand appeared in
Bangkok in 1969, it was promptly awarded the SEATO Prize for Thai
Literature. This new English translation reveals it as one of Thailand's
most entertaining and enduring modern novels, and one of the few
portrayals of the immigrant Chinese experience in urban Thailand.
Letters from Thailand is the story of Tan Suang U, a young man who
leaves China to make his fortune in Thailand at the close of World War
II, and ends up marrying, raising a family, and operating a successful
business. The novel unfolds through his letters to his beloved mother in
China.
In Tan Suang U's lively account of his daily life in Bangkok's bustling
Chinatown, larger and deeper themes emerge: his determination to succeed
at business in this strange new culture; his hopes for his family; his
resentment at how easily his children embrace urban Thai culture at the
expense of the Chinese heritage which he holds dear; his inability to
understand or adopt Thai ways; and his growing alienation from a society
that is changing too fast for him.