Mott's Private Dancer

Posted one slap for each syllable of my lecture. This was the beauty of Mr. Leather's prose; he made me feel like I was part of the action and, irrationally, that I could actually do something about it.
Thankfully, once my blood pressure went down I picked the book up again and continued reading. I thought the best line was after the hero broke into his girlfriend's apartment to find her alone with a young Thai man. When he'd calmed down some time later, she explained, "Pete, he not my boyfriend. He my drug dealer." Wow! Isn't that a position in which every man in love would like finding himself? Does he accept she is screwing around or does he accept she is a junkie? Talk about having to choose the lesser of two evils!
But the novel is predominantly about the Bangkok bar scene and the inherent deceit and deception - from both sides. There are no chapters to break up the flow and I liked the way every pivotal event is related from the viewpoint of each of the participants. Basically, you get to hear both sides of the story and can make up your own mind which one you believe.
There are also some poignant comments about, and criticisms of, foreign men who flirt with the bar scene. Some commentary is supposedly extracted from an essay `Cross-Cultural Complications of Prostitution in Thailand' the relationship [between sex tourists and bargirls] won't last. Guaranteed." First you need to define the term `last'. A high percentage of marriages in the West between non-sex tourists and non-bargirls end in divorce. Some last a week; some last for many years. Does a happy 10-year marriage suddenly gone sour constitute a relationship failure? If so, and the only benchmark of success is `till death us do part', then there are a lot of unsuccessful relationships throughout the world, not just those originating in Thailand.
Being branded a `long term sex tourist' didn't thrill me either, having never thought of myself in those terms. But then I asked myself the definitive question: if they closed down all the bars and sent the girls packing back to their families, would I still want to live here? The answer, unfortunately, was `no'. Mr. Leather was correct once again.
Private Dancer contains hard and valuable lessons for us all and, as the cover says, "Should be compulsory reading for all first-timers to Thailand." I agree, with the rider that, once they've read it the first time without fully understanding it, they should wait a few weeks or months then read it again. All will become clear.
From Pattaya Today

PRIVATE DANCER - A MUST READ FOR ANYONE GOING TO BANGKOK

Imagine, picking up a novel where you were so absolutely riveted, so drawn into the characters that you could actully feel the drippy heat of a Bangkok night and the racing of your heart as a drop dead, brown-skinned Thai women in a go-go bar lets loose a smile that just locks up your heart ..... . Well, that's what happened to me. I couldn't put this thriller down. My 20 hour flight from Bangkok home to NYC seemed like a mere extension of my visit as I was just sucked right back into that vortex of illusion hidden between the pages of Stephen Leather's Private Dancer. If one has any questions to what was going on in the Bangkok bar scene, how middled aged white males go over there and fall completely, head-over-heels in love with these brown skinned asian beauties ... or .... why men get hooked and live their 9 to 5's 11 months a year to fly clear across the world to this Asian Hotspot, this book answers it and more .... But it also destroys the illusions. It reveals the truth. The pathetic side. To impoverished Thai women, men are merely walking ATM cash dispensers. To the men, these are instant girlfriends, phenomenal actresses, whom within minutes, can elicit feelings of love no western woman could complete with, all enveloped in a package of innocence ... of youthfulness, the male fantasy we were promised John Petrocelli - trancecoach.com

Hey, Joe! Me love you long time.

When I was young and single, I fantasized about visiting Bangkok's fleshpot buffet. But, even 11 years in the Navy didn't provide the opportunity as I never made it away from Stateside. Now that I'm older, married, and only marginally wiser, I doubt that my wife would let me go - even if I could imagine conjuring up the energy to carouse once I got there. And there is, of course, the sobering specter of AIDS. But, should any of you young studs embark on the tour, PRIVATE DANCER should be required reading before reaching the airport departure gate.

Pete is a freelance writer hired light district "I love you and have you in my heart only one. Miss you all the time."

Author Stephen Leather takes an interesting approach to the story, telling it alternately from the viewpoints of Pete, Joy, Pete's farang friends and acquaintances (Nigel, Big Ron, Bruce, Jimmy), the private detective Phiraphan, Pete's employer Alistair, and a certain Professor Bruno Mayer, an expert on prostitution in Thailand and cross-cultural relationships between the sex workers and their customers. What results is a fascinating and informative parable on the perils of falling for a Bangkok hooker that's probably just as valid no matter what the city, country, or nationality of the working girl. Indeed, as Stephen describes the milieu of Pete's tragic experience, the reader perhaps understands that it's more of a culture clash than anything else. From Joy's perspective, her life and means of getting money for herself and her family back in their village are nothing unusual or immoral. For her, emotional love for, and the provision of money minded reader can rightly attach no blame to either, but only marvel at Pete's foolishness in the face of good advice from his Anglo and Australian friends that are old Bangkok hands.

PRIVATE DANCER seemed, at times, a bit too long for the message. In an email correspondence with Leather, I asked if the tale was based on the experience of anyone he knew. With utter candor, the author implied that at least some of the story derived from his own youthful follies. Perhaps Stephen was driven to over-emphasize the lesson - "Don't let this happen to you!" In any case, the book is an engaging addition to the backpack as you set out to sample the neon-bathed, x-rated delights of Patpong, Nana Plaza, and Soi Cowboy.