Trip

by Mindy Hung

Fiction. South East Asian Studies. Charles P. Salt, pedophile, would like to settle down with a sweet girl. But North American laws are unsympathetic to a man of his tastes. So he's off to South East Asia, where he falls for a young prostitute. But his bliss is dampened by the constant fear of discovery. TRIP is a mordant comedy about sex tourism in South East Asia. A Lolita for the global economy.

238 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2012

Reviews

[Gabriel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trip starts with a strong premise — a journey that feels less about distance and more about emotional unraveling. Mindy Hung is at her best when she captures the small, quiet moments between people; the paudes, the unspoken tensions, the tiny fractures that say more than words. The early chapters have atmosphere and an authentic emotional pulse. Unfortunately, that promise fades as the story goes on. What begins as a potentially powerful inner journey becomes scattered and detached. The emotional weight of the characters never quite settles; it feels like watching something meaningful happen behind glass. Some sections read more like essays than scenes, breaking the rhythm of the narrative.
Hung's prose is elegant, but at times too restrained — she circles around emotion rather than diving into it. The result is a novel that's beautifully written but emotionally distant, leaving the reader admiring the craft more than feeling the story.In the end, Trip is a journey that starts with depth but never fully arrives. It's worth reading for its tone and subtlety, but it leaves you wanting a little more — more connection , more risk, more heart.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

ooh, this book is dark and unsettling. The reason why is right there in the plot summary - our protagonist is a pedophile who's decided to go to Southeast Asia to...yeah, I'm feeling too gross to finish this sentence without a silly euphemism! He's telling us about his travels and this girl he falls in love with, and on top of his evil deeds he's condescending and self-absorbed, he's awkward to the point of being cruel to his friends, he depends on the girlfriend back home who he barely acknowledges as human...

So what makes it a good book despite such icky subject matter? For me, it's because we've all met this guy - if not in real life, then definitely in fiction. And we've all been told, either by his friends or by whatever author/director/etc is portraying him, that he's a good guy, he's doing it for ~love~, and maybe the girl was into it, he's doing her a favor by saving her from someone ~really~ nasty, he can't help being awkward, he's a loser but you should root for him to win, etc etc etc. (Maybe not so much the sympathetic portrayal of a pedophile, though I understand plenty of people interpret Lolita that way, but we've all been told the guy who cheats on his partner, or the guy who sees a pretty girl and relentlessly pursues her, or the guy who looks down on everyone around him, is the hero of his story.) And this book never does that. Even though he's narrating!

Instead, the whole read just felt like me and the author are in on a shared joke, shaking our heads and rolling our eyes at each other over the main character's head, while he has no idea we're laughing. Dude may be the narrator, but he's definitely not the one in control of the story.