Books About Farang In Thai Jails

[Andrew Hicks]

There are so many of them now, it's almost a genre... books by farang about their horrible experiences inside Thai jails.

One after the other, they seem to become bestsellers. Can anybody tell me why?

By their nature, they are first books by amateur writers, so there must be something else about them that makes them sell.

I've not read any of them, but are they an embarassment for Thailand? Some years ago, the film, 'Midnight Express' which showed Turkish jails in none too good a light, almost.sparked an international incident.

Are these books critical of Thailand, expressly or by implication? Is reading them a form of voyeurism on the suffering of the writer? Or what?

As a writer based in Thailand, I'd be intrigued to know.

Andrew Hicks

[londonthai]

if they are bestsellers than probably they are not written only by ex-convicts - you have your chance to become a helper, just visit a jail and offer your services.

those books were written over many years, some for 5, some for 15 years - the author had a chance to rewrite them many times over, according from the advice from the publishing company.

[tijnebijn]

I have read a book from a Dutch inmate being released a couple of years ago.

I found it very intriguing and interesting to read . I think it gives us a picture

about how life in such a place is . It is unbelievable harsh and indeed feel

pitty for them . Many inside were scammed , although they were stupid themselves

to take the trap ( about smuggling drugs). So in a way you do feel sorry for them.

[taxexile]

Is reading them a form of voyeurism on the suffering of the writer?

i think that is the reason.

i've read two of them , but i cant remember the titles or the authors names.

one was by a young woman who was caught on the way out of thailand with heroin in her bag , she claims that it had been put there without her knowledge by the person she was travelling with , he was also stopped at the airport but denied all knowledge of knowing her and went free. it wasnt particularly well written , but it was a good read. she was eventually sent back to the uk to finish her sentence there. i felt sorry for her and believed her to be innocent.

the other was by man convicted of drug offences , the cover had a picture of a man (him?) in leg irons. this one was very poorly written and not particularly interesting , it focussed on the hardships of gaol life with details of violence , filth and poor treatment. i didnt feel sorry for this guy at all for some reason. his descriptions and the details of how other other foreigners stuck inside these places existed from day to day were far more interesting than the details of his own experiences.

i felt a morbid fascination with the details of life inside a thai gaol and thats why i bought them but i doubt if i will read anymore books of this genre.

[draggons]

Maybe some are intriguing but some are crap! I tend to pick up anything I can to read and have read quite a few of these. the so called "I got duped brigade" sure knew what they were doing.

Most folk who end up in foreign jails end up there through there own fault, myself included before the bleeding hearts start.

Maybe I should have written a book about how it was in a middle eastern jail 25 years ago? 25 to a cage, no excercise, fish head soup once a day, no A/C, 40 degrees plus.

Worst part was the B******s didn't even deport me afterwards and the company I worked for at the time sent me back offshore to see out my contract!!

[mikethevigoman]

There are so many of them now, it's almost a genre... books by farang about their horrible experiences inside Thai jails.

One after the other, they seem to become bestsellers. Can anybody tell me why?

By their nature, they are first books by amateur writers, so there must be something else about them that makes them sell.

I've not read any of them, but are they an embarassment for Thailand? Some years ago, the film, 'Midnight Express' which showed Turkish jails in none too good a light, almost.sparked an international incident.

Are these books critical of Thailand, expressly or by implication? Is reading them a form of voyeurism on the suffering of the writer? Or what?

As a writer based in Thailand, I'd be intrigued to know.

Andrew Hicks

Ive just finished reading one called the last executioner, it was given to me and i was sick so decided to read it, it is a docu story more or less told by the thai man himself, i warmed to him and in the book he did mention that the farang prisioners were always whinging and writing to their embassy whilst the thais quietly did their sentance,.to be honest it didnt sound to me to be that bad ( unless you were on death row ) .the worst thing about being locked up is loss of freedom, and 99 per cent of prisioners ( in the uk )will say they dont deserve to be locked up,. but back to your original question ,i think its a money spinner, they do sell ,albeit not in the same league as harry potter !,.,but perhaps earns them a few bucks to get started on the straight and narrow, . The book you refer to with the guy in shackles i think is the damage done by warren fellows,. i thought it was full of exageration, and after reading the last executioner my thoughts were compounded, .

[joeuk1]

There is 6 part series of Bkk Hilton jail on youtube , BBC each 10 mins , watching all 6 it realy spoilt all the books i have read , i thought going to Bkk Hilton was being sentanced to hel_l its a bloody holiday camp .

Anyone remember the film midnite express now that was a real jail

JB

[theseveredhead]

not the least bit interested.

[JimsKnight]

There is 6 part series of Bkk Hilton jail on youtube , BBC each 10 mins , watching all 6 it realy spoilt all the books i have read , i thought going to Bkk Hilton was being sentanced to hel_l its a bloody holiday camp .

Anyone remember the film midnite express now that was a real jail

JB

Yup, these farang in jail stories tend to eminate from the 1980s in Thailand, nowadays it overdone how hard it is in a thai jail, sure its a shtty place no doubt but thats what prisons are meant to be.

[Andrew Hicks]

There is 6 part series of Bkk Hilton jail on youtube , BBC each 10 mins , watching all 6 it realy spoilt all the books i have read , i thought going to Bkk Hilton was being sentanced to hel_l its a bloody holiday camp .

Anyone remember the film midnite express now that was a real jail

JB

Yup, these farang in jail stories tend to eminate from the 1980s in Thailand, nowadays it overdone how hard it is in a thai jail, sure its a shtty place no doubt but thats what prisons are meant to be.

Thanks for all the interesting thoughts. Generally the books have not had a very positive write-up.

I guess they give you a nice 'there but for the grace of god go I' feeling. Not that I've done anything to get banged up for!

Keep posting!

Andrew

[mrtoad]

Still more interesting than books about Bar Girls and how Farangs get scammed though.

[garro]

Suffering and redemption have always been great themes for books.

[lazeeboy]

Suffering and redemption have always been great themes for books.

any one who has been to thailand can read one of these books and can relate to certain places referred to in the story ,knowing the place or been there ,gives you a picture to go with the story......

[mrbojangles]

Do you think there would be a big demand for books about people who have stayed in top hotels but got sh1tty room service

Oh wait a minute, Weho already writes those

[qwertz]

It's not just books, it's films too, e.g. Escape from Alcatraz, The Colditz story, Shawshank Redemption, Riot on cell block 11, Stalag 17, The Trojan Horse - just to mention a few.

It's our innate desire to be free of our personal conventional shackles and get a real life that has us identifying with incarcerated people.

[bendix]

There are so many of them now, it's almost a genre... books by farang about their horrible experiences inside Thai jails.

One after the other, they seem to become bestsellers. Can anybody tell me why?

By their nature, they are first books by amateur writers, so there must be something else about them that makes them sell.

I've not read any of them, but are they an embarassment for Thailand? Some years ago, the film, 'Midnight Express' which showed Turkish jails in none too good a light, almost.sparked an international incident.

Are these books critical of Thailand, expressly or by implication? Is reading them a form of voyeurism on the suffering of the writer? Or what?

As a writer based in Thailand, I'd be intrigued to know.

Andrew Hicks

Couldn't one say exactly the same about that other cliched genre, farang guy goes to Thailand and falls in love with Thai Girl?

[Andrew Hicks]

There are so many of them now, it's almost a genre... books by farang about their horrible experiences inside Thai jails.

One after the other, they seem to become bestsellers. Can anybody tell me why?

By their nature, they are first books by amateur writers, so there must be something else about them that makes them sell.

I've not read any of them, but are they an embarassment for Thailand? Some years ago, the film, 'Midnight Express' which showed Turkish jails in none too good a light, almost.sparked an international incident.

Are these books critical of Thailand, expressly or by implication? Is reading them a form of voyeurism on the suffering of the writer? Or what?

As a writer based in Thailand, I'd be intrigued to know.

Andrew Hicks

Couldn't one say exactly the same about that other cliched genre, farang guy goes to Thailand and falls in love with Thai Girl?

Miaow!

If you're referring to the novel, "Thai Girl", yes it follows in the footsteps of the one that Shakespeare wrote, 'Romeo and Juliet', as it's about love and longing and loss.

Most commentators say it breaks the cliched stereotype novel of hard blokes screwing around Thailand and of easy and available women, which are thus of a totally different genre. Stories about sex, stories about 'love'. Are they of the same genre?

I hope not but I don't really know as I'm only an author.

Andrew Hicks

[Neeranam]

There are so many of them now, it's almost a genre... books by farang about their horrible experiences inside Thai jails.

One after the other, they seem to become bestsellers. Can anybody tell me why?

By their nature, they are first books by amateur writers, so there must be something else about them that makes them sell.

I've not read any of them, but are they an embarassment for Thailand? Some years ago, the film, 'Midnight Express' which showed Turkish jails in none too good a light, almost.sparked an international incident.

Are these books critical of Thailand, expressly or by implication? Is reading them a form of voyeurism on the suffering of the writer? Or what?

As a writer based in Thailand, I'd be intrigued to know.

Andrew Hicks

Couldn't one say exactly the same about that other cliched genre, farang guy goes to Thailand and falls in love with Thai Girl?

Miaow!

If you're referring to the novel, "Thai Girl", yes it follows in the footsteps of the one that Shakespeare wrote, 'Romeo and Juliet', as it's about love and longing and loss.

Most commentators say it breaks the cliched stereotype novel of hard blokes screwing around Thailand and of easy and available women, which are thus of a totally different genre. Stories about sex, stories about 'love'. Are they of the same genre?

I hope not but I don't really know as I'm only an author.

Andrew Hicks

You're not a real author

[canadiangirl]

People like sordid tales, the more sordid the better; it's a guilty pleasure.

A few years back, the big fashion 'round here was "I was an abused child" autobiographies -- they sold like crazy, and everyone was reading them.

I haven't read a lot of the Thai jail stories, but I sure enjoyed reading Papillon!

[November Rain]

There are so many of them now, it's almost a genre... books by farang about their horrible experiences inside Thai jails.

One after the other, they seem to become bestsellers. Can anybody tell me why?

By their nature, they are first books by amateur writers, so there must be something else about them that makes them sell.

I've not read any of them, but are they an embarassment for Thailand? Some years ago, the film, 'Midnight Express' which showed Turkish jails in none too good a light, almost.sparked an international incident.

Are these books critical of Thailand, expressly or by implication? Is reading them a form of voyeurism on the suffering of the writer? Or what?

As a writer based in Thailand, I'd be intrigued to know.

Andrew Hicks

Couldn't one say exactly the same about that other cliched genre, farang guy goes to Thailand and falls in love with Thai Girl?

Miaow!

If you're referring to the novel, "Thai Girl", yes it follows in the footsteps of the one that Shakespeare wrote, 'Romeo and Juliet', as it's about love and longing and loss.

Most commentators say it breaks the cliched stereotype novel of hard blokes screwing around Thailand and of easy and available women, which are thus of a totally different genre. Stories about sex, stories about 'love'. Are they of the same genre?

I hope not but I don't really know as I'm only an author.

Andrew Hicks

You're not a real author

[qwertz]

I like happy stories about true love conquers all and how jailers cope with the daily drudgery of beating up on inmates.

Any recommendations for some really juicy reading?

[bendix]

Miaow!

If you're referring to the novel, "Thai Girl", yes it follows in the footsteps of the one that Shakespeare wrote, 'Romeo and Juliet', as it's about love and longing and loss.

Most commentators say it breaks the cliched stereotype novel of hard blokes screwing around Thailand and of easy and available women, which are thus of a totally different genre. Stories about sex, stories about 'love'. Are they of the same genre?

I hope not but I don't really know as I'm only an author.

Andrew Hicks

Is there a novel called Thai Girl? Oh, I never knew *ahem*

Seriously, yes i did read it. Poor old Fon. I was rather charmed by her. A much more rounded character than those cardboard cut-outs that are in other novels.

But Romeo and Juliet? Good grief. That's stretching it a bit. I'm sure the book's author wouldnt claim that, would he.

Who did write it by the way?

[DirkGently]

I read 'Damage Done'. It was about an Australian drug smuggler that got caught.

Pretty nasty stuff, but a good read all the same.