... the most complete and engrossing tale of this megacity of fifteen million souls ever portrayed in a single publication. His debut novel Bangkok Wakes to Rain is as much an ode to the metropolis’s extremes as it is to the wide-ranging and singular characters that animate its streets and sois ... as much a story global in perspective as it is unique to Thailand ... Delightfully haunting and compelling, Bangkok Wakes to Rain depicts the way both locals and foreigners have come to love Bangkok.
[The book is] a complex novel-in-stories, and a very good debut book from a promising new voice in fiction ... Sudbanthad is an elegant writer, but at times, his language gets the better of him — while his writing is mostly well balanced, it occasionally tips into the florid. But when he's restrained, he's capable of writing some unforgettable passages ... The novel's structure is a tricky one, but Sudbanthad pulls it off pretty well — he wisely lets the reader make the connections between the stories, which makes for a rewarding read ... It's not a perfect novel, but debut books almost never are. And Sudbanthad proves to be a generous author with a keen eye for unique characters, who expertly evokes a sense of place — his descriptions of Thailand are gorgeous; the reader feels transported there. Bangkok Wakes to Rain is well worth reading. It's a strong debut from an intelligent, self-assured author.
But Sudbanthad’s skills are more than just meteorological. A native of Thailand now living in New York, he captures the nation’s lush history in all its turbulence and resilience. Even the novel’s complex structure reflects Bangkok’s culture ... The connections between [the book's] stories are sometimes clear, sometimes opaque, a structure that demands an extra degree of tolerance (a few brief chapters are told from the perspective of birds). But allow yourself to sink into that ambiguity, and you’ll find Bangkok Wakes to Rain entrancing. Individual incidents are dramatic and striking ... Sudbanthad’s narrative is not just a tribute to his home, it’s an act of resistance against the city’s mildew and amnesia: Bangkok’s unwillingness to retain what came before. These stories, loosely linked together, become a way of preserving what is otherwise inscribed only on the liquid surface of memory.
Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s monumental and polyphonic debut novel, Bangkok Wakes to Rain, is a sweeping epic with the amphibious city of the title at its scintillating center ... like raindrops, these stories flow together to make a totality, a stream of narrative that floods the reader with the vibrant sense of a global metropolis whose only constant is constant change ... The novel’s texture feels cinematic, but more immersive than a movie, in part because of the evocation of the scents of the setting ... In the vein of Arundhati Roy, Haruki Murakami or David Mitchell, Sudbanthad’s elaborate, time-hopping saga explores class stratifications, intercultural connections and disconnections, and finely textured layers of history, all the while raising fascinating questions about the future. Each individual character is finely drawn, but the brightest portrait he paints is of the city of Bangkok itself...
... elegant and restrained ... The generational amnesia gives the novel its mood of melancholy. The characters are like isolated islands, marooned in their moment of time, incapable of seeing past the horizon behind or in front of them. Mr. Sudbanthad’s serene, almost otherworldy omniscience makes his fictional biography of the city an original and quietly memorable reading experience.
... stunning ... [the book is] so rich and alive I wanted to swim in it ... Much of the book’s power lies in its language and imagery ... The technology Sudbanthad imagines is a marvel, but it’s one that might be modeled on what this novel does so beautifully: bringing a place and its people alive through story.
The first third of this remarkable novel reads like short stories; with its wide cast and still wider timeframes, Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s debut rewards close attention. Bangkok unifies his characters’ lives and, in a climate of concern for the city’s future ... Sudbanthad’s blend of travelogue with social and political history is compelling in his treatment of expatriation ... There’s a wry humor to descriptions ... There are occasions where...ancillary characters take the focus for too long. Nonetheless, the ambitious structure pays off for a redemptive meditation from a much older [protagonist] Nee.
... exuberant, meticulously plotted ... In a swirling, always surprising storytelling structure that at times recalls David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, Sudbanthad skilfully orchestrates the huge cast of characters ... For all its plotting pyrotechnics, the novel is at its best when it settles on delicate moments of human intimacy.
Providing only a few details to indicate time and place in this assured debut, Sudbanthad provides a broad overview of Bangkok’s history while diving deep into individual stories of romance, revolution, and suffering. The result is similar to an Impressionist painting, a picture made up of many vivid stories that combine to create a resonant whole.
Pitchaya Sudbanthad’s first novel ranges wide in time and scope, and the author masterfully captures dozens of different voices and thoughts in his vast cast ... This ambitious novel’s many overlapping stories chart a fast pace, and at times, the connective thread between them gets muddled. Sudbanthad’s narrative flits around and back and forth, much like the colorful parrots that inhabit the old colonial house at the epicenter of the novel...
Each story resonates like part of a choir singing in harmony ... Juggling a dozen plotlines over an extended period of time is quite a feat. It takes a little while for Sudbanthad to get everything up and running, but once he does, reading Bangkok Wakes to Rain feels like watching a spinning top stay perfectly upright. The stories move together to create a potent, elegiac whole, expertly evoking the sorrow that can come with nostalgia and showing how loss in the past echoes on into the future ... This is an assured debut, a testament to Sudbanthad's skill that he succeeds at such a conceptually and formally challenging work. Those who have never seen Thailand can conjure up images of Bangkok past and present, and even peek into its possible future ... a beautiful, wistful piece of place-making.
Shines with exquisite detail ... in Sudbanthad’s skillful hands and lyrical prose, every [character] seems vividly alive ... This breathtakingly lovely novel is an accomplished debut, beautifully crafted and rich with history rendered in the most human terms.
Meditative ... Though this novel’s ambitious architecture—disparate stories in shifting eras—can sometimes work against its considerable strengths, all of Sudbanthad’s characters live and breathe with authenticity, and his prose is deeply moving, making for an evocative debut.
