Tiger Lily of Bangkok is the story of how a young Thai girl becomes 'Tiger Lily of Bangkok'.
Tiger Lily of Bangkok
Lily was born near the Mekong River border with Laos in North-eastern Isaan, Thailand, the only daughter of Chinese-Thai parents, who owned and ran a small shop in the village where they were born. Not having a large family, they had to hire people from time to time to help out in the shop.
When she was just eleven years old, her 'uncle', a trusted family friend, began to abuse her - an ordeal that continued for two years, until a chance occurrence in the school playground, something that no-one of her age should ever have witnessed, gave her an idea which would put an end to 'uncle's' little game once and for all.
However, the final solution was so abhorrent to her that it took her a few 'sessions' with 'uncle' to pluck up the courage to carry it out. Even when she did do it though and the abuse stopped, the shame did not. In fact, it never really went away, although none of it had ever been her fault in the slightest.
Her father died young and the rumour was that he had died of the shame of letting his little princess suffer so much for so long. Her mother was never the same again after that and grew apart from Lily, who just assumed that her mother did not love her any more.
This turned out to be untrue, but no-one ever talked about it, so Lily was left thinking the worst, while her mother retreated into he shell with her own sorrows, oblivious to what was going through Lily's mind.
Fellow-villagers learned to avoid Lily too, or at least, she thought they did, so she was happy to take the first opportunity that presented itself to leave home and everyone behind.
Lily used her compensation money to move to Bangkok to study as a medical student, but she had underestimated the costs and fell in with people from the seedier side of society to make up the difference and pay her university fees.
One day, the feelings of neglect and abuse reached boiling point and Lily exploded with terrible consequences. It lasted for just less than two months, but sheer mayhem and terror ruled in Thailand's capital city forcing people to stay indoors for fear of a gruesome death, since no-one knew how or why the victims were being chosen.
Lily would never be the same again and nor would Bangkok.
Professional Reviews
Interesting, well planned out
This review is from:
Tiger Lily of Bangkok
(Kindle Edition)
Tiger Lily of Bangkok is a story of tragedy, loss, and also confusion about how the bad things that happened to Lily - that caused her to be ignored and feared by people her own age in her home village - also benefited her in many ways. If she had not had to deal with her "uncle" then she didn't believe she would have had the chance to live in the city and go to university.
She comes to understand that the monetary compensation she received from her shame would not be enough to live on comfortably while paying for school, and so she takes on boyfriends who give her money and gifts, and this is not an unusual practice. It is a sad life; she doesn't have anyone to really care for, and doesn't let anyone get close to her. She never allows anyone to know the truth about her past or even see where she lives. She lies to the boyfriends, makes up different names and personas for them, and tells them she spends weekends back with her mother helping out in her shop in order to spend weekends alone.
Her unhappiness grows, and it is almost like she separates into two different people. One is violent and lashing out at people in order to take some vengeance, to feel some justice for what she went through as a child. The other is sad, lonely, and struggling to find a way to have a normal life and find someone to have a real boyfriend/girlfriend relationship with. The book makes you wonder if she had managed to kill her uncle when she was a child, or if someone else had, would it have been enough to soothe her burning need for someone to be held accountable for his crime? Would she still have developed into the person she became, or would she have been able to let it go and live a life as other teenagers did?
Lily's story kept me interested and wondering if she was going to get away with the unbelievable things she did or if it would come crashing down around her. I wasn't sure if I wanted her to get caught or not. It also begs the question - do child abusers deserve what they get? Who should be able to dole out the punishment?
I was glad that the book ended with a ray of hope.
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review. I give it 4 stars. The story was interesting, well planned out, and I enjoyed it.
Reviewed by Marie Drake, member of the The Bookie Monster team.
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