Holy shit but this is a depressing read... half-way through the book (the entanglement). I don't have issues with the writing or translation. Find both interesting. But damn... the plot, the character... poor poor Fak. I wouldn't wish his misfortune on my worst enemy... well, yeah, I probably would. Maybe I need ordaining.
"We don't know where we come from. From the moment we are born, we have to struggle to survive, and when we die, it's all over. We never know where or when we die, and we don't know either where we go after we die. We go through life like blind men..."
Now on to the second part... the liberation. Even with a title like that I'm doubtful...
I was right to be doubtful. This book is a great example to see how a skillful writer can show a character change as a result of the people and environment that touches him. Fak, the main character and focus of the book, starts with a favorable status in his small village. But due to gossip his status and life plummets quickly to a conclusion that is just too sad to even contemplate. By far one of the saddest books I've ever read. People can sometimes really suck.
An excellent book, but a very depressing one that sheds light on the ugly truth in Thailand that is the caste system. Yes, there is one, its just not poigent in countries such as India, but we have one non the less. As someone who is Thai and was born and bred there I understood that completely.
Though I got through คำพิพากษา (or 'The Judgment' in the English translation for you non Thai-readers out there) realively fast, as its only a small book, I found it almost impossible to finish because each sentance or paragraph was like a stake in to my heart. Poor Fak (or "Fuck" as its pronounced in Thai, but that would be inapporpirate for obvisious reasons) is judged by his entire village because of his social status and responsibilites to his mentally ill step mother. You think his situation can't get any worse but it does. Though, at the same time I feel symphatny for Fak, I also wanted to slap him in the face and say "get off the bottle! it's not doing you any good!"
The contrast between him and Somsong (his looney, but harmless and infact, down right cute at times) is a very intresting move on the authors part, making Fak, worried and ashamed about his situation, while Somsong, carless and free and not caring what anyone thinks of her and him. The novel has a tragic start and has a tragic end for both chracters and I was close to swallowing some sleeping pills I was so depressed.
When I first picked up this book and read the sypnopsis on the back (and also finding out that it won book of year the S.E.A Write Award in 1981, not to mention it has been re-printed several times, my copy was the 45th re-printing) it rang a bell to a movie I had watched a few years back, sure enough, I was right. The film had a differnt name, but was based on this novel. So, it had a familiarity to it right from the start.
In the end, this book has esaily become my favourite Thai novel, that I would dread to read again, just for its content in general and it has also left me wanting to be a better person and be nice to everyone no matter what their social status or situation is. We are all human after all.
An amazing story coming out from a simple personality of a school janitor in a village tucked in Thailand's outback. Fak, is the son of Foo, a carpenter who sought refuge to a temple and live on the monastery's yard in a simple thatched hut. Fak grew up to be a novice but decided to disrobe since he couldn't help to see his father worked his butt out.
To sum the story up, Fak is victimized by the society, a little village near a monastery. Especially after he's taking care of the deranged Somsong (his father's wife) after the death of his father.
Set in thick Thailand culture, this bleak novel will bring you to the daily life of Fak and his mind. Korbjitti's details to Thailand's psyche amazed me. Being a South Asian myself, I can relate quite well to his writing. Although Korbjitti was loyal to Fak, he was able to present in a subtle yet strong characters of Khai (the village Undertaker) and the Headmaster (of a school where Fak worked as a janitor).
This work will bring you to question a lot about Thailand culture e.g. the relation between society and monastery as Thailand's strongest religious institution, the relation between different classes in Thailand's society.
However, I believe Chart Korbjitti didn't only write about Thai's culture and psyche. He's writing about human in general. How we all want to be normal and pure.. How we are defensive to everything different than our reality.
It took me an entire year to read this 380 page book. It was so painful to get through. But so powerful.
The novel talks of how a village destroys a good man and venerates a bad one through its petty minded gossip and judgement. Fak, a poor man, is left alone after his father dies. His father had taken a simple minded, mentally ill woman as his wife. Out of compassion, Fak continues to look after her. She, simple minded and mentally ill, behaves inappropriately, calling him, "her man" and flashing her privates at him and anyone in the village.
The rest of the village believe that Fak is sleeping with his stepmother -- a major sin -- and, scandalised, turn on Fak. Previously liked, Fak finds himself treated as a pariah by all including his former friends. The only one willing to befriend him is the village undertaker who is himself shunned by the villagers because of his job. The unjust hostility of the villagers to him, their baseless viciousness in calling his compassionate willingness to continue to allow his stepmother to stay with him incestuous lust cause Fak to turn to drink. He becomes increasingly abhorred by the self-righteous villagers.
A person in the village, admired and looked up to, takes the opportunity to cheat Fak out of his money, and Fak has no recourse because, in the eyes of the villagers, his word -- the word of an alcoholic incestuous sinner -- is nothing compared to that of the real cheat.
In Don't Sleep, There Are Snakes, Daniel Everett talks of how in the Amazon jungle, the Piraha tribe would cast out someone if he seriously offended against their customs. That person would be left alone to fend for himself -- a death sentence really because a lone man will die without the help of his community in the Amazonian jungle. The same law applies her - but Fak, the innocent compassionate one is exiled and treated as a pariah because of the villagers' small minded petty self-righteous lies and gossip. In this age of the internet where the world has become a village and internet mobs happily turn on people and spread lies, The Judgment is a useful reminder that ordinary people can be no less cruel and vicious than their leaders when it serves their sense of identity to be so.
The title, The Judgment, is both the judgment that the villagers pass on Fak, and the judgment that Chart Korbjitti passes on us, all of us, including himself. Make no mistake, while this takes place in Thailand, this might be a village, a company, a class or any community anywhere in the world. Highly recommended.
This is the saddest book I've ever read, and I don't know how to even rate this friggin' thing. I am completely affected by this book. It makes me really angry and really sad, and I hate having all these intensely unpleasant emotions. I try to remind myself that it's just a book, it's fiction, it's not real. But there are probably tons of real people out there who are like Fak (main character), or like these silly villagers, or the friggin' school headmaster. I've seen alcoholics before. No doubt that someone is living a life similar to Fak's.
Also, funny that I'm reading this in English, when I can read the original Thai. But it's for English class in college. It's also funny that I would've had to read it in Thai during High School, if I had taken the highest level Thai class that many of my Thai Senior peers were taking. This book has been hunting me down. Well, thanks for all the pain!!
This is probably the saddest, most pathetic, and painful story I have ever read, but that’s why it’s so great. The book really pushes you to the edge. When you think things couldn’t get worse than this, it could totally get. It keeps pushing and pushing throughout. This book also contains the most effective use of dramatic irony I’ve ever seen in any narrative and that’s why it’s impossible to not feel bad for the protagonist and further increases tension for the story. If you’re Thai and you haven’t read this masterpiece yet, then it’s your loss. I cannot stress enough how good this book is, not just the story itself, but the characters, the diction, the literary techniques, the premise, etc.