The English translation of this bestselling graphic novel tells the story of Nok, an old blind man who sells lottery tickets in Bangkok, as he decides to leave the city and return to his native village. Through reflections on contemporary Bangkok and flashbacks to his past, Nok reconstructs a journey through the slums of migrant workers, the rice fields of Isaan, the tourist villages of Ko Pha Ngan, and the Red Shirt protests of 2010. Based on a decade of anthropological research, The King of Bangkok is a story of migration to the city, distant families in the countryside, economic development eroding the land, and violent political protest. Ultimately, it is a story about contemporary Thailand and how the waves of history lift, engulf, and crash against ordinary people.
Claudio Sopranzetti is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the Central European University. He is the author of Owners of the Map, winner of the 2019 Margaret Mead Award. Sara Fabbri is an illustrator and editorial designer, currently working as Art Director for Linus, an Italian comics magazine. Chiara Natalucci is an interpreter and translator of Russian and English, currently teaching English at a secondary school in Italy.
Title: The King of Bangkok (ethnoGRAPHIC)
Author: Claudio Sopranzetti
ISBN: 9781487508869
Binding:
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Publication Date: 2021-11-15
Number of Pages: 296
Weight: 0.7486 kg
The artwork is at least as important as text. Sara Fabbri's colored line drawings give the tale an urgency that words themselves cannot convey. -- Peter Gordon * Asian Review of Books *
Shades of hope and humor glimmer amid the forces of inequity and impunity depicted in this memorable book that homes in on the rich lives of ordinary people, those who the country's rulers are meant to serve. -- David Hopkins * Nikkei Asia *
This book is a triumph. -- Chris Baker * Bangkok Post *