Sad Part Was
SynopsisPlot
In these witty, postmodern stories, Yoon riffs on pop culture, experiments with punctuation, flirts with sci-fi and, in a metafictional twist, mocks his own position as omnipotent author. Highly literary, his narratives explore the bewildering disjunct and oft-hilarious contradictions of a modernity that is at odds with many traditional Thai ideas on relationships, family, school and work.
Story
About this book
Prabda Yoon's short story collection is set in contemporary Bangkok, where rapid modernization sits alongside older Thai customs around family, school, work, and relationships. The stories are playful and experimental, drawing on pop culture references and science fiction elements while bending the usual rules of punctuation and narrative structure. In one notable direction, Yoon turns metafictional, questioning his own authority as the person controlling his characters and their fates.
The tone throughout moves between humor and unease. Yoon's Bangkok is a place where modern life creates contradictions that are both funny and disorienting, where people navigate expectations shaped by tradition and by global consumer culture at the same time. The collection was highlighted by the Guardian and BuzzFeed as a book to watch for, and it represents one of the relatively few works of contemporary Thai fiction available in English translation.
Yoon is a well-known figure in Thai literary and artistic circles, active as both a writer and a filmmaker. This collection gives English-language readers a window into a style of Thai writing that is urban, self-aware, and willing to play with form rather than follow familiar storytelling patterns.
