Southside Buddhist: Essays
This collection of essays moves between working-class Chicago, the forests of southern Illinois, and family memory to explore the feel of immigrant life.
Work Information
The book moves between city and forest while searching for a place to belong.
With humor and self-scrutiny, the author unpacks the body, memory, marriage, boyhood mischief, and depression. The result is personal, but it also sketches the wider shape of second-generation immigrant life.
Review Summaries
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The official description presents it as an essay collection with humor, insight, and lyricism.
Book Information
- Publisher
- University of Tampa Press
- Published
- 2014-10-01
- Pages
- 194 pages
- Language
- 英語
- Size
- 15.24 x 1.24 x 22.86 cm
- ISBN-13
- 9781597321242
- ISBN-10
- 1597321249
- Price
- 1903 JPY
- Category
- 洋書/Biographies & Memoirs
Carrying forward the themes and spirit of his previous memoir, Talk Thai: The Adventures of Buddhist Boy, and his book of poems, In Thailand It Is Night, Ira Sukrungruang brings humor, insight, and lyricism to his new collection of personal essays, Southside Buddhist. Here he cruises Chicago streets, treks Southern Illinois forests, wrestles with his ever-expanding body, and contemplates the complexities of the Thai immigrant life. He finds solace with his imaginary friend, Buddha; causes mischief with the boys in his working-class neighborhood; battles depression and suicide; and marries the whitest woman in the world, who teaches him to appreciate a world blessed by the absence of concrete, skyscrapers, and noise. This book searches for the truth of his memories, the truth of himself - a very Buddhist notion - while navigating the tricky terrains of urban and rural life with increasing awareness of what it means to be an immigrant son.
Reviews
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After reading one of Ira’s essays in the Shambhala Sun magazine, I decided to buy the book. At the start I was a little disappointed. I didn’t find the essays to carry a certain weight or depth that I thought they might based on the single essay, Southside Buddhist,--from which the book is named, or vice versa, who knows?-- in the magazine. I cannot say that it was a page turner; however, I can say that while turning the pages I learned something about myself: Though I have an appreciation for the personal stories of others (of course), I prefer them to be weaved into a larger, more meaningful context, perhaps the way Karen Maezen Miller or Anne Lamott does. I know, I know, comparisons aren’t a good thing as they lead to disappointment. Truthfully, I hadn’t thought to compare until after reading and having learned something of myself. The essays frequently read choppy, and again lacked real meat and potatoes. A teller of this truth for me, is that I never once wanted to underline or highlight anything; it lacked poignancy. Overall the book is cool for what it is, I suppose; however, I can’t say that I would recommend it right off to any of my bookworm friends. In the end, glass of wine in tow, I finished it. Many congrats to Ira and his writing success!