New Zealand

Once Were Warriors
Alan Duff

Following on the heels of my leisurely stroll down Thai memory lane with Four Reigns, comes Once Were Warriors, an emotional, unblinking look at the caustic life of Māori living in the an urban ghetto. This is a tough read through a desperate cycle of poverty, alcoholism, abuse, hopelessness, and violence in all its forms for the Heke Family living in the grim coucil estate of Pine Block. 

The author, part Māori himself, doesn't take the easy way out of blaming Pākehā (Europeans) for Māori problems, but instead creates a complex picture of people who can be their own worst enemy, but have also suffered under the long-term effects of colonialism. Alan Duff painful's indictment shines a spotlight on a group at the rock bottom in the hopes of cultural turnaround through a reconnection with old traditions and practices. 

The sobering 1990 book was made into a 1994 film that resounded through New Zealand society and is felt to have had an impact on reshaping attitudes and the relationships between Māori and Pākehā.

Thailand

Four Reigns, Kukrit Pramoj
สี่แผ่นดิน, คึกฤทธิ์ ปราโมช

A sprawling walk down memory lane, as Kukrit Pramoj, scholar, politician, and one-time Prime Minister of Thailand, recounts the lives of a family of minor courtiers over the reigns of four Thai kings (whence the title). 

In its early parts, I found the book particularly captivating as Pramoj describes the ins and outs of life in a Bangkok now long unknown to us. The Thai court and its customs, but also the everyday life of a family from the 1880s to 1946, in the "Venice of the Orient" whose canals give way to motorcars. As the book moves forward into more recent and familiar territory, it becomes a remarkable testament to the enormous changes Thailand has experienced in a very short period. 

I delighted in the minutiae of old Thai customs and royal traditions, without ever feeling that these got in the way of the plot or the character development. I found the translation, however, very uneven. In places, it's really quite masterful, dealing deftly with many Thai-language intricacies such as its complex personal naming conventions and old royal traditions. In other cases, awkward translations or lengthy explanations in brackets bog down an otherwise airy text. 

In all, a great historical record of a country stepping into modernity.