8. Why is Damrong’s family so cursed? Put another way: why doesn’t Isakit produce more Damrongs? After all, her parents’ neighbors seem just as poor, and they didn’t turn out to be demons. [210-17]

I think the point is not poverty so much as the values a family is able to maintain in spite of it. As refugees from Cambodia, who had in some way been damaged by the civil war, Damrong’s family lacked the inner security, or - if you like - culture, to survive grinding poverty without being thoroughly corrupted by it. The weak character of her parents is of course also a factor. But isn’t it part of our universal experience that people from the same background can turn out so differently, even when they are identical twins?

9. How has your study of the Thai language affected your writing?

Thai is an extremely efficient form of communication that tends to go straight to the point without fancy grammar or bloated vocabulary. I leave it to you to decide if my writing has benefited. I fear not.

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