Jasmine Nights

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In a daring synthesis of East and West, the Thai-born Somtow, whose previous books include several horror novels (including the popular Vampire Junction and its sequel, Valentine) spins a fiercely inventive, funny and moving story of a precocious Thai growing up in 1963 on an isolated estate with three eccentric, strict aunts. The 12-year-old narrator, a cunning if nave recluse named Justin, learns the art of adaptation, a skill he will sorely need, from his pet chameleon, Homer. His parents, absent for many years, may be CIA agents in Vietnam; his senile great-grandmother enacts scenes from Hitchcock's Psycho; and each of his aunts is secretly bedding the rakish family doctor. Meanwhile, Justin's treehouse playmate, Virgil, a black American from Georgia, oscillates between vernacular ``Black English'' and WASP-like diction, puncturing the racial stereotypes and prejudices of his and Justin's two comrades-one Afrikaner, one white American-and of Justin's aunts. The plot includes blackmail, seduction, shamanism; a raunchy metaphysical satire on sex and death; a send-up of the West's exotic image of the East; and a subversive parody of two genres, the coming-of-age novel and the mythic hero's quest. Even if the satire wears thin as incongruities pile up, Somtow's manic comic energy and gift for human drama power a novel of abundant riches. (Jan.)

Library Journal

Thai by birth, educated in England, and delivered to Thailand by disappearing parents who are probably spies, 12-year-old Justin retreats behind the high stucco walls of the sprawling family estate. A precocious boy, he writes a long poem speculating where he thinks his parents may be, studies the classics, and cultivates a passion for his nanny, Samlee. Enter his heretofore unknown great-grandmother, who encourages Justin to break the boundaries of his sulking solitude. Justin obliges with a series of misadventures involving his new friend Virgil, two nubile teenage girlfriends, the gardener's son, and a cast of eccentric relatives. Justin's flights of fancy, his nave philosophical musings, and his sexual curiosity create a comic, satirical framework for the episodic plot. Complete with a Thai glossary, this exotic novel by the author of Valentine (Tor Bks., 1992) quickly becomes addictive. It is a juicy mango of a book sure to become a classic among coming-of-age novels. Highly recommended.-Keddy Ann Outlaw, Harris Cty. P.L., Houston

Emily Melton

A brilliant mainstream novel from Bangkok-born Somtow, whose previous artistic efforts include genre fiction, avant-garde music, and a punk movie version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Set in Thailand in the turbulent 1960s, the story is told by 12-year-old Justin, known as "Little Frog" by the three Thai aunts who are raising him. Justin, whose parents have mysteriously disappeared, feels alien to Thai culture but not a part of any other world, either. He loves literature, art, music, and poetry, and his rich inner life focuses on the works of Homer and Ovid--or more contemporarily, "Spartacus, I Love Lucy, "and "Leave It to Beaver". But real life, with its puzzling and not-quite-understood allusions to sex, death, love, passion, and hatred, keeps intruding. Like Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Justin must overcome the keen and piercing angst of growing up by sorting out his own feelings and emotions, the incomprehensibility of his body and the world around him, the meaning of love and friendship, and, of course, sex. Richly textured, filled with nostalgia, pathos, and humor--sometimes gentle, sometimes barbed--"Jasmine Nights" is a haunting, unusual, shocking, and wonderful story from an extremely talented writer.