He and his friends work out at a gym during the day and they're always comparing muscles. It's really funny when they get competitive about their looks, they're as bad as girls sometimes. His stomach is really hard, like a turtle's shell, and his skin is really smooth. He was going out with another dancer when he met me but he chucked her and said he wanted to go out with me instead. At first I said no but he kept after me, pestering me until I said okay. The reason I said no was because he had a bit of a reputation.
Mon warned me about him, she said that Park made a bee-line for any new girl if she was pretty and young, but he told me that I was different, that he really liked me. He didn't try anything on the first time we went out, either.
We went for a meal after work. He didn't have any money so I had to pay, but I didn't mind that. The DJs earn even less than the waitresses, and besides, I'd been short time with an old Swiss guy and he'd been really generous so I had two thousand baht. Park made me laugh a lot, he told me lots of stories about the crazy things that happened in the bars, and he told me about his family.
I didn't sleep with him until the second date, and it was amazing. He was so gentle with me, not rough like the farangs, he'd kiss me all over and whisper stuff to me until I'd go all tingly. Anyway, Park went up to the VIP room with me and we sang duets together and everyone applauded. He saw the piece of cake with Pete's name on it and made a big thing about eating it. I fed it to him and then kissed him in front of everyone.
I showed him the gold bracelet that Pete had given me and he wanted me to give it to him to sell. Every month he had to pay five thousand baht for his motorcycle and he was behind in his payments. I told him that I couldn't sell the gold because Pete would get angry, but I promised that I'd give him the money the following day and he said that was okay.
He'd bought some yar bar tablets with him and I swallowed a couple because I was starting to get tired. They perked me up a treat. After we left the karaoke bar, Park and I went back to his room and passed out. It was a great night, my best birthday party ever. Random comments: "Stephen Leather's novel is fiction, but it certainly feels like a documentary of a doomed Thai girl - Western guy relationship that happens all the time in Thailand.
The story has a lot of the tired stereotypes, but Leather uses a great dose of humor to keep the pages turning. It is ultimately a book about unrealistic expectations of Thai women and Western men as they pursue a better life, and the inevitable collapse.
It would have been more fun if it wasn't so depressing, but a great read for anyone curious about cross-cultural relationships. You'd wonder what's up with that before you realize that they are actually bar girls or prostitutes and the white men are mostly sex tourists. When I searched for books based in Thailand on the internet, Private Dancer came up many times. I was thrilled when I found out that this book was available as free download on the authors site.
A printed version of the book is now available but the author has not taken down the link for this one. Anyway, I started this book when we went on a vacation to Pattaya, Thailand for the new year. As a story, this was just fun reading. I laughed all the time reading about Pete loving Joy and believing her lies, and then reading Joy's point of view.
What really took me by surprise reading this was how much it reminded me of some of the ex-pats I know here in Germany, and the insights I gained into their lives. Which is weird since NONE of these people are involved with prostitution or anything shady. The ex-pats in this book only ever interact with a very narrow subset of society, and base all their generalizations about Thai people and Thailand off of these interactions.
Other than this narrow slice of Thailand, they only ever hang out with other ex-pats who reinforce and validate the conclusions they draw from these experiences. Living abroad in both Japan and Germany I have observed this phenomena so many times, but had never been able to tangibly define it until reading this book.
The author is genius showing this. The only hint that you ever get that there's a wider world is from a private investigator who only shows up about once or twice the entire novel for about 2 pages each time. This book is also surprisingly clean. Yes, there is lots of sex, but it's very rarely described in detail. When it is, it's never described in a way to arouse the reader, but more as a factual description that builds the story in some way.
Highly recommend to all readers! May 02, Dorrit rated it it was ok. I read this when i was a desperate and hungry teenager also horny who devoured every other book on the free sites she found the books weren't published yet. This one in particular, was fascinating. It's set in Bangkok my father had a work trip to there somewhere around when i read it and boy did i have questions and is about a man and his relationship with a prostitute.
You can tell Sabah has had a great reading education. Obviously I can't judge the book but it wasn't bad, really. If i rea I read this when i was a desperate and hungry teenager also horny who devoured every other book on the free sites she found the books weren't published yet.
If i read it now I'd probably have a good list of qualms but I'm not reading it so. The prostitutes name was Joy and I can't tell whether she has long hair like every single male erotic fantasy. The guy is a white guy who falls in love with her and hopelessly tries to take her away from her life but he finds out shes married and has other guys who sends her money because they're in love with her too this is common but still wants to "save" her except he's hella stupid and doesn't get no hint and then everybody in Joy's family gets fed up and kills him the end.
I have to leave for my exam maybe I'll write more after? But what do i know Oct 20, Louis Shulman rated it really liked it Shelves: fiction. I tore through this book in about sessions in my apartment outside of Bangkok. What follows is a series of narratives from Pete, his friends, Joy, and her friends, about the relationship between Pete and Joy. Their relationship is a mess, and that is the author's point.
Situations l I tore through this book in about sessions in my apartment outside of Bangkok. Situations like this play out all the time in Thailand and pretty much always end in total disaster. Everyone thinks their situation is special and that their love is real. The author explains over and over again that in these situations people continuously rationalize any red-flags until its too late.
The story is informative, depressing, extremely vulgar, entertaining, and aggravating. Would definitely recommend, just expect extremely vulgar and sexual content. Insight into Thailand's red light scene, the harsh social realities behind it and the cultural misunderstandings between the girls and their customers.
Interesting to see the very same incident in completely different lights when narrated from different people. The book is a bit of a mix between a novel and a socio-cultural study. Some repetitions, but otherwise a good flow. Unexpected ending, including the epilogue. Apr 18, Loy Machedo rated it it was amazing. He becomes involved with a prostitute named Joy He falls in love Yup…falls in love And then dedicates his whole life to keeping her happy She asks money.
He give her money. She asks more money. He gives her more money. She keeps asking money. He keeps giving her money. She keeps asking him money. He assumes he is giving her money to change her life.
The book then takes the reader deeper and deeper into this obsessive love story — where one absolutely idiotic emotional nut-job seeks to win the heart of an ungrateful, manipulative, sinister and cold-hearted woman. And it is absolutely intriguing to see how each person feels and thinks about the exact same situation as the story unfolds. What is amazing is the manner in which the writer has managed to capture the essence of each character.
He really hits a homerun in trying to decipher the cultural influence and thinking of each character. I loved the manner in which this book, the dialogues and the storyline was written.
The manner in which the story unfolded and the view point of each character, Neither one being in the right or wrong — was in itself a thought-provoking treat. Even though the book is written keeping in mind only those 4 or 5 characters — the book as a whole acts as a manuscript in understanding how different people from different cultures and different environments think and communicate ideas, feelings and thoughts. It kind of makes you understand how different people from different cultures think.
Try this…. But it is not the perverted old white man hangs out with the Asian young girl that you should look at. And this is a reality which — once you expose yourself to — will make you appreciate the sad, bad and ugly realities of life.
Absolutely not. It always takes 2 hands to clap. So if the white man travelled hundreds of thousands of miles just to do everything hidden and in total secrecy — he too has his dirty little secrets and dirty little intentions. These women by no means should be under-estimated or disrespected. They are in their own right powerful creatures of desire — who main purpose — is to survive this evil world. So in as much as I would like to point fingers — I have to say, I myself personally do not have a stellar record to do so.
That is why understanding this tiny component is very essential for anyone. Thailand has a lot more to offer and so much more to learn. But this one small aspect is what drives the industry ablaze. So even if you are a potential or existing sex tourist or you are someone who would never get into this dark world — the experience and the manner in which the author has shared this world — is nothing short of spectacular.
So if I had to summarize my entire book review in one sentence…. I found this book somewhat disturbing. Pete a journalist for a firm that publishes travel books is in Thailand to pick up the pieces from the previous journo who had gone troppo. It seems that Thailand has that affect on some people. Mr Leather does not paint a pretty picture of the comings and goings of the bar-girls and their clients.
It has taken off some of the luster of the fun holiday to be had in Thailand. This book is however about westerners who are working and living in the country so ar I found this book somewhat disturbing. This book is however about westerners who are working and living in the country so are there for more than a few weeks. We get to see how they cope living away from their homelands. Pete meets Joy on his first day on the job in a bar.
He is drawn to her immediately, but as the story progresses and we find out more about these girls, he really does not stand a chance. She sees him as an ATM, he, on the other hand is obsessed. They both tell each other they love each other, but they do not move in and make a commitment. Even after his fears about her lifestyle have been confirmed by a Private Eye he goes back to her time and time again.
At one time he hits her and trashes her tiny room, she seems to forgive him. The audio book is narrated by a Male and a Female and the same incident is voiced through the individuals eyes. It is hard to really know what is in their minds, even though we are given an insight. We also get the same incident reported by other "friends" of them both.
The last chapter ties up the lives of the other characters in the book and is very enlightening. Interesting read! Mar 17, Harlan Wolff rated it it was amazing Shelves: thailand. I have always been skeptical of foreigners that write about Thailand, I am allowed to be after 36 years here. Having avoided most of the books written about Thailand over the years I finally decided to bite the bullet and picked up Private Dancer as it was the one most talked about.
Stephen Leather hit me like a runaway train. I don't know how he achieved his insights but he did and he nailed it. This is a book about a world that I was once very familiar with, well I was young and I drank a lot. Private Dancer is one of those books that sums up a time and a place. It's so good that I am drawn back in time and think I'm twenty-five again and consider slipping my leash and heading up the road for a big night out. But Private Dancer is a vade mecum on the subject of being a single man in a Bangkok go-go bar and reminds me why I chose a different life.
A must read for any expatriate in Thailand, or anywhere for that matter. Apr 23, Catarina K rated it liked it. Pollution, an ever-present problem in Vietnam, is once again in the news thanks to a court c [ This story comes to us from the Darwin awards , which people get for doing something incredibly stupi [ Please publish modules in offcanvas position. Contact Advertising. View Comments. Colin Shea The world is not as stable as we think it is.
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