Arid Dreams
Duanwad Pimwana
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From the publisher
Translated by Mui Poopoksakul
“A confident writer at the top of her game, with a distinctive skill to conjure unique personalities on the page.” —Words Without Borders
In thirteen stories that investigate ordinary and working-class Thailand, characters aspire for more but remain suspended in routine. They bide their time, waiting for an extraordinary event to end their stasis. A politician’s wife imagines her life had her husband’s accident been fatal, a man on death row requests that a friend clear up a misunderstanding with a sex worker, and an elevator attendant feels himself wasting away while trapped, immobile, at his station all day.
With curious wit, this collection offers revelatory insight and subtle critique, exploring class, gender, and disenchantment in a changing country.
“Across these subtle stories of social realism, desire is the infrastructure for everyday life. (…) cleverly exposes the torment of imposed gender roles and their sprawling effect on characters’ psyches.” — The New York Times Book Review
“Each of her stories poses its own moral challenge, pleasurable and unsettling at once. Taken together, they are a phenomenal puzzle to read.” —NPR.org
“One of the most gripping collections I’ve come across in years.” —Books and Bao