Jonathan Finch has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators. The most-rated is Mixed Massages (I).
Pattaya Pains
Summary
Thailand, the land of smiles and golden dreams, is languishing, and Pattaya, its biggest fun city, is succumbing to a thousand ills. Pattaya Pains is about living in Pattaya over the long term. Even though the collection of essays, stories, and observations herein would relish the golden dream of painting Pattaya as a romantic hotspot where Thais and foreigners bond, it can’t do so - not only because East is East and West is West, but also because Thais just don’t see foreigners in a good light. Sure, we bring in the bucks to the Land of Smiles, but we are aliens who do not understand Thai ways, Thai culture, and Thai traditions. There is another problem, as well. Thailand is deeply conservative, and its education system is worlds apart from a Western one. Thailand sides with uniformity of thought and behavior, going out of its way to dismiss other modes of thinking. The country has profound pockets of poverty, and despite examples of countries with social mobility, Thailand operates a tacit, accepted caste-system, reinforced by conformity, uniformity, and its undemocratic leaders who regularly threaten “outspoken” people with punishment while claiming to be lenient. “I will hit you with this law but remember I have not hit you with that law because of my great clemency.” Your average Thai looks at foreigners with contempt and resentment, is patriotic, self-serving, irresponsible, and thoughtless. Pattaya Pains finds these matters and many others, like the death rate on the roads, painful...to say the least. As the nameless crone at the beginning of the book cackles, “Go on, luvvie, give yourself a treat. Learn why Thailand isn’t the Land of Smiles. Learn why Pattaya is Pain City not Fun City!”
©2020 Jonathan Finch (P)2020 Jonathan Finch
Poems People Liked (1)
Summary
The people who liked these poems were editors. All the poems were published in books or small magazines. Some of the poems won prizes. Nature, love, loss, creativity, crime, and revelation are some of the subjects. Poetry has always been near and dear to the author's heart. He recently published an autobiographical novel or travel memoir entitled Great Tits I've Known (And Other Species) where similar subjects are explored, and where the prose of the novel aspires to but never quite achieves poetry.
©2016 Jonathan Finch (P)2018 Jonathan Finch
Tied Lives
Summary
Reginald Washington, a lonely, politically correct, rich, and highly esteemed English civil servant, nearing retirement age, meets by chance a strangely attractive Asian lady in an English pub. She is young enough to be his daughter and comes from the poorest region of Thailand, the Isaan. They begin a passionate love affair and despite many differences and family conflict, they fall deeply in love. She has a well buried past which she does not want him to know anything about. A holiday in Thailand which takes them to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and a small village near Buriram begins happily enough but a series of events leads to a completely unforeseen conclusion. Even before they can struggle to come to terms with their changing relationship and attempt to gain insight and resilience, bad luck - or karma - takes control and seems intent on ruining their love. Separated and traumatized, Reginald finds himself journeying alone to Pattaya, Thailand's notorious, red-light city, where he tries to piece together his true love's past. She knows he is there and rushes to join him. Jonathan Finch’s ironic and tragic novel depicts England full of itself, a world leader, with confident, affluent, successful and conceited people everywhere, and Thailand a country with social ills and problems galore. East is east and west is west. Can the two ever meet? Can Reginald L. Washington and his future Thai bride ever bridge the gap? In a world where divisions and differences abound, unity seems an unobtainable goal. Consistently given four and five stars by reviewers, Finch’s latest novel is stylistically innovative and literary. Its irony is directed against vanity, over-reaching societies and politically correct conformism as well as being critical of one of Thailand's most characteristic ways of coping with poverty.
©2019 Jonathan Finch (P)2019 Jonathan Finch
Mixed Massages (I)
Summary
Essays, observations and stories about Pattaya and Thailand - humorous, satiric, observational.
©2018 Jonathan Finch (P)2021 Jonathan Finch