The Dream of a Thousand Lives: A Sojourn in Thailand

by Karen Connelly

Release Date: 10 December, 2001

Edition: Paperback

Price:

More Info

Exceptional!

This is by far the best written book I have ever read. The Dream of a Thousand Lives chronicles the year Connelly spends as an exchange student in Asia. Tired of "the marvels of Calgary," Connelly sets off to Thailand with curiosity and a briefcase full of licorice and loose-leaf. As Connelly explains, the ants devoured the licorice in the first week, but the paper survived.

Connelly never resorts to decorative travel writing, but sticks to a witty and unfailingly honest account of her time in Thailand. The book, (originally titled "Touch the Dragon" in Canada) consists of a chronological collection of the author's journal entries, detailing her time in Denchai (living at a the Thai Liquor Store owned by her first host family) to her travels to Bangkok and Chang Mai.

Connelly possesses a rare ability to convey the strange labyrinth of lives and experiences she encounters in the small farming Village of Denchai into a lyrical fluid narrative. This is a book that you will not be able to put down.

I visited Thailand through this book

Superb book. I couldn't put it down - bought it yesterday & read until I fell asleep then finished this morning. I felt as though I was there, travelling with her. She has a great sense of humor that is splashed throughout the book. I truly had a sense of how she felt on her year long visit there. I'm so glad she shared her memories.