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The Other City of Angels: a dark romance about Bangkok in the 1990s
In this exotic retelling of the fairy tale of Bluebeard,
a New Age thirty-something from California is swept off her
feet by an enigmatic Thai millionaire and soon finds
herself in Bangkok’s brave new world of shamans, shopping
malls, and high society serial killers.
Originally written as a cliff-hanging series for Bangkok’s
The Nation newspaper, The Other City of Angels is a roller-coaster
roman-à-clef that leapfrogs from genre to genre and culture to
culture, turning the western preconception of Bangkok as
a city “of temples and prostitutes” on its ear. A darkly comic
odyssey populated with wild characters, with intimate
glimpses into the eccentric antics of Asia’s upper classes.
S.P. Somtow
Called “the most well-known expatriate Thai in the world”
by the International Herald Tribune, S.P. Somtow is the
author of some 47 books including Vampire Junction and
Jasmine Nights and the recipient of numerous literary
awards. He is also the composer of the operas Mae Naak and
Madana. He commutes between Los Angeles and Bangkok.
a New Age thirty-something from California is swept off her
feet by an enigmatic Thai millionaire and soon finds
herself in Bangkok’s brave new world of shamans, shopping
malls, and high society serial killers.
Originally written as a cliff-hanging series for Bangkok’s
The Nation newspaper, The Other City of Angels is a roller-coaster
roman-à-clef that leapfrogs from genre to genre and culture to
culture, turning the western preconception of Bangkok as
a city “of temples and prostitutes” on its ear. A darkly comic
odyssey populated with wild characters, with intimate
glimpses into the eccentric antics of Asia’s upper classes.
S.P. Somtow
Called “the most well-known expatriate Thai in the world”
by the International Herald Tribune, S.P. Somtow is the
author of some 47 books including Vampire Junction and
Jasmine Nights and the recipient of numerous literary
awards. He is also the composer of the operas Mae Naak and
Madana. He commutes between Los Angeles and Bangkok.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 20, 2008
About the author
S.P. Somtow
358 books163 followersCalled by the Bangkok Post "the Thai person known by name to most people in the world," S.P. Somtow is an author, composer, filmmaker, and international media personality whose dazzling talents and acerbic wit have entertained and enlightened fans the world over.
He was Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul in Bangkok. His grandfather's sister was a Queen of Siam, his father is a well known international lawyer and vice-president of the International Academy of Human Rights. Somtow was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and his first career was in music. In the 1970s (while he was still in college) his works were being performed on four continents and he was named representative of Thailand to the Asian Composer's League and to the International Music Commission of UNESCO. His avant-garde compositions caused controversy and scandal in his native country, and a severe case of musical burnout in the late 1970s precipitated his entry into a second career - that of author.
He began writing science fiction, but soon started to invade other fields of writing, with some 40 books out now, including the clasic horror novel Vampire Junction, which defined the "rock and roll vampire" concept for the 80s, the Riverrun Trilogy ("the finest new series of the 90's" - Locus) and the semi-autobiographical memoir Jasmine Nights. He has won or been nominated for dozens of major awards including the Bram Stoker Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award, and the World Fantasy Award.
Somtow has also made some incursions into filmmaking, directing the cult classic The Laughing Dead and the award winning art film Ill Met by Moonlight.
He was Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul in Bangkok. His grandfather's sister was a Queen of Siam, his father is a well known international lawyer and vice-president of the International Academy of Human Rights. Somtow was educated at Eton and Cambridge, and his first career was in music. In the 1970s (while he was still in college) his works were being performed on four continents and he was named representative of Thailand to the Asian Composer's League and to the International Music Commission of UNESCO. His avant-garde compositions caused controversy and scandal in his native country, and a severe case of musical burnout in the late 1970s precipitated his entry into a second career - that of author.
He began writing science fiction, but soon started to invade other fields of writing, with some 40 books out now, including the clasic horror novel Vampire Junction, which defined the "rock and roll vampire" concept for the 80s, the Riverrun Trilogy ("the finest new series of the 90's" - Locus) and the semi-autobiographical memoir Jasmine Nights. He has won or been nominated for dozens of major awards including the Bram Stoker Award, the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award, and the World Fantasy Award.
Somtow has also made some incursions into filmmaking, directing the cult classic The Laughing Dead and the award winning art film Ill Met by Moonlight.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 3, 2017
If you admire unfettered, uncensored imagination, you'll probably love this book. It's wild, funny, unpredictable, irreverent, scatological, sometimes childish, occasionally wise. The author indulges himself in a fantasy about gods and shamans, murderers and millionaires, prostitutes and petty royalty, set against the background of a distorted but still recognizable Bangkok.
Judith Abramovitz, Jewish American Princess and LA native, is seeking the truth. Supported by the alimony from her multiple failed marriages, she and her friend Roberta have tried every religion, cult, psychological fashion and spiritual fad available in California. That has taken a while...
Her busy but rather meaningless life suddenly changes when she has a flat tire on the freeway and is rescued--and swept off her feet--by a chubby but charismatic Thai aristocrat who calls himself Cricket. The next thing she knows, she's living in a tower of his rambling mansion in Bangkok--the other city of angels--jousting with her Thai yenta of a mother-in-law, struggling to understand the chaos that is Thai culture, and worrying about the fact that all of Cricket's previous paramours have ended up dead, in painful and picturesque ways.
The plot careens all over the place, propelled by a cast of minor characters, all of whom seem to have a sinister side. When one of Cricket's casual lovers shows up in a pool of blood, more or less right in front of her, Judith begins to understand her own peril. Is her elusive necrophiliac husband responsible? His scheming mother? The nosy American expat doctor, with his suspicious research? Her mysterious Thai friend Emily from Vassar?
I lived in Bangkok for two years in the eighties, and have visited many times since. Somtow's exaggerates the noise, the glitz, the squalor, and the paradoxical way that the Thais have of simultaneously holding contradictory beliefs--but not all that much! He's done a great job highlighting the way the materialism of Thai culture exists side by side with a deeply superstitious view of the spiritual world. He also captures perfectly the amazing Thai ability to adapt to pretty much anything. (The scene in the TV studio where rival shamans are engaged in an epic battle, while the talk show host continues his interview, is a great example!)
This novel was originally published as a serial in a Bangkok newspaper. I'm sure this is responsible for its occasional lack of coherence. The book is not nearly as tight or well-crafted as the author's earlier science fiction work (e.g. The Inquestor Trilogy) or his vampire horror tales.
It's still great fun, though, especially if you've ever experienced Los Angeles, Bangkok or both.
Judith Abramovitz, Jewish American Princess and LA native, is seeking the truth. Supported by the alimony from her multiple failed marriages, she and her friend Roberta have tried every religion, cult, psychological fashion and spiritual fad available in California. That has taken a while...
Her busy but rather meaningless life suddenly changes when she has a flat tire on the freeway and is rescued--and swept off her feet--by a chubby but charismatic Thai aristocrat who calls himself Cricket. The next thing she knows, she's living in a tower of his rambling mansion in Bangkok--the other city of angels--jousting with her Thai yenta of a mother-in-law, struggling to understand the chaos that is Thai culture, and worrying about the fact that all of Cricket's previous paramours have ended up dead, in painful and picturesque ways.
The plot careens all over the place, propelled by a cast of minor characters, all of whom seem to have a sinister side. When one of Cricket's casual lovers shows up in a pool of blood, more or less right in front of her, Judith begins to understand her own peril. Is her elusive necrophiliac husband responsible? His scheming mother? The nosy American expat doctor, with his suspicious research? Her mysterious Thai friend Emily from Vassar?
I lived in Bangkok for two years in the eighties, and have visited many times since. Somtow's exaggerates the noise, the glitz, the squalor, and the paradoxical way that the Thais have of simultaneously holding contradictory beliefs--but not all that much! He's done a great job highlighting the way the materialism of Thai culture exists side by side with a deeply superstitious view of the spiritual world. He also captures perfectly the amazing Thai ability to adapt to pretty much anything. (The scene in the TV studio where rival shamans are engaged in an epic battle, while the talk show host continues his interview, is a great example!)
This novel was originally published as a serial in a Bangkok newspaper. I'm sure this is responsible for its occasional lack of coherence. The book is not nearly as tight or well-crafted as the author's earlier science fiction work (e.g. The Inquestor Trilogy) or his vampire horror tales.
It's still great fun, though, especially if you've ever experienced Los Angeles, Bangkok or both.
August 9, 2022
I really wanted to like this, but it's impossible
I was hoping for something on the lines of Somtows marvelous short stories that are based in Thailand... This was some horrible melange of his worst stories which made no sense, went on too long and had the most unlikeable protagonist
I was hoping for something on the lines of Somtows marvelous short stories that are based in Thailand... This was some horrible melange of his worst stories which made no sense, went on too long and had the most unlikeable protagonist
August 4, 2019
Lacked something , difficult to follow at times
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews