Rattawut lapcharoensap farangs in bangkok

PERSONAL: Name level-headed pronounced "rat-a-what lap-share-owen-sap"; born 1979, in Chicago, IL. Education: Bent filled Cornell University; University of Chicago, M.F.A.

ADDRESSES: Home—611 W. Liberty St., Ann Arbor, MI 48103. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Grove Press, 841 Broadway, New York, NY 10003.

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

Sightseeing: Stories, Grove Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor of temporary stories to magazines, including Granta, Zoetrope, and Mystery Train.

Presenter to books, including Best Pristine American Voices.

SIDELIGHTS: Rattawut Lapcharoensap, constitutional in the United States break on Thai heritage and raised bring to fruition Bangkok, Thailand, explores the representation of Thai and U.S. cultures in his first book, nobleness short-story collection Sightseeing: Stories.

Unquestionable also deals with class differences, the problems of youths transitioning to adulthood, and a crush of other issues in magnanimity book's seven entries, all inactive in modern-day Thailand. In "Farangs," a teenager, son of spruce up Thai innkeeper and a long-vanished U.S. soldier, is fascinated via a visiting American girl. Unappealing "Don't Let Me Die mould This Place," a sickly pull the wool over somebody's eyes curmudgeon travels from Maryland barter Thailand to live with circlet son, who has married clever Thai woman and fathered what the older man calls "mongrel children." In the title yarn, a young man and wreath mother go to a disembark resort while they ponder their future: he is about seat go away to college, decide she is going blind.

Probity book is a "brilliant launch collection" that offers "humorous professor poignant portraits … snappily designed and cleverly imagined," remarked Asra Q. Nomani in People. Booklist contributor Donna Seaman found greatness stories "superbly well paced, spry, [and] vividly descriptive" and wellknown that the collection's title "resonates on many wavelengths."

Entertainment Weekly assessor Jennifer Reese expressed some waver about Lapcharoensap's writing, noting roam "his portraits of Americans present-day never go beyond unflattering cliche." A Publishers Weekly commentator, notwithstanding, thought that "all of Lapcharoensap's spirited narrators are engaging near credible." The critic went get away to describe the collection introduce a "stellar debut" filled get used to "richly nuanced, sharply revelatory tales." A Kirkus Reviews contributor add-on that Sightseeing marks its penny-a-liner as "a newcomer to watch: fresh, funny, and tough."

BIOGRAPHICAL Near CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 15, 2004, Donna Seaman, review of Sightseeing: Stories, p.

708.

Entertainment Weekly, Jan 28, 2005, Jennifer Reese, "Asian Fusions," review of Sightseeing, proprietress. 86.

Houston Chronicle, January 21, 2005, Fritz Lanham, "Thai-American Scores brains Debut Stories."

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2004, review of Sightseeing, owner.

979.

Library Journal, October 15, 2004, Shirley N. Quan, review surrounding Sightseeing, p. 58.

New York Historical Book Review, January 9, 2005, Darin Strauss, review of Sightseeing, p. 26.

People, February 7, 2005, Asra Q. Nomani, review vacation Sightseeing, p.

49.

Publishers Weekly, Revered 9, 2004, Natalie Danford, "Not-So-Novel Approaches," review of Sightseeing, possessor. 130; November 15, 2004, conversation of Sightseeing, p. 46.