ENGLISH

A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants

By Jaed Coffin

Book information

Publisher
Hachette Books
Year
2008
ISBN
9780306817311
Language
english
Format
EPUB
Filesize
487 kB (498611 bytes)
Pages
\0
Time added
2023-01-21 19:28:15
Biography & Autobiography; Nonfiction; BIO000000

Description

Six years ago at the age of twenty-one, Jaed Muncharoen Coffin, a half-Thai American man, left New England's privileged Middlebury College to be ordained as a Buddhist monk in his mother's native village of Panomsarakram—thus fulfilling a familial obligation. While addressing the notions of displacement, ethnic identity, and cultural belonging, A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants chronicles his time at the temple that rain season—receiving alms in the streets in saffron robes; bathing in the canals; learning to meditate in a mountaintop hut; and falling in love with Lek, a beautiful Thai woman who comes to represent the life he can have if he stays. Part armchair travel, part coming-of-age story, this debut work transcends the memoir genre and ushers in a brave new voice in American nonfiction.

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