Year of the Roasted Ear

by Donna Carrere

Carrere uncovers the "real" Thailand as her family encounters incense, excrement, rats, cockroaches, Techno, roasted ears, extraordinary department stores and the synthetic pleasures of the Kon Tiki Hotel. Her ability to see the funny side of (almost) any situation is infectious. Her sometimes ruthless honesty is directed not only at locals and backpackers, but also at herself and her fellow Americans.

Genres: Travel

Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Thomas]

I found the book in a hotel in Thailand. I should have left it there. The author writes from an arrogant Western perspective. For her, Bangkok is full of diseases and dangers. It's meant to be funny, but it's truly ridiculous and boring. No publisher would print this book from the 90s anymore coz it's plain racist. The story meanders back and forth pointlessly for over 200 pages. The characters are shallow. Please don't read it. It's a complete waste of time.

[Catherine]

The author, her French husband Pierre, and 8-year-old daughter have moved from France to Greece and are having a rough winter. What to do? Leave for an extended vacation to Thailand and Malaysia. Without giving anything away, their plans go awry upon arrival and they end up staying a bit longer. Having traveled to some of these areas myself and also having suffered a similar emergency, I thought I'd enjoy reading this book much more than I actually did. I was never able to hear the author's voice in her writing and I never felt the book had a good flow. By the end I was bored and ready to move on.

[John]

Succeeds in doing what, I believe, the author had intended - put together the highlights of a "dream trip" that went wrong from the very beginning; she really does see the funny side of things. From the few references she makes during this book, I'd be interested in reading a book about her life as part of an expat family on a Greek island.

[Biddy]

The author seems to be thoroughly disenchanted with SE Asia. I finished it feeling oppressed by crowds, smells and her merciless observations(downright mean & nasty) of American tourists. Here she has a huge axe to grind which I found quite unfair - not all American tourists are boors.