Publisher's Synopsis
"Mixed Massages (II)" is the second volume in a collection of short stories, essays and articles about Pattaya, Thailand and expat life. The author Jonathan Finch sets out to depict a Pattaya very different from the one advertised or vilified. His Pattaya is inspirational and sends out messages night and day but those messages are very mixed. Pattaya is alluring and may massage you into a false sense of security but in Pattaya's underbelly are the seeds of bedlam. The fun in Fun City comes at a cost, and fuelled by enormous amounts of drunkenness and desire, the enticing party going on in Thailand's extreme city, the lusts, the ladies, the gays, the cross-dressers, the nightlife and its glittering lures, are sucking away at the revellers, many of whom are unable to make rational choices. Self-awareness, moderation and thought are essential if balance is to be maintained. This second volume of Pattaya voices and vices includes an unlikely philosopher in Pattaya, comic ways of increasing Thai debt in the Isaan, observations on Pattaya's road-accidents, a dad dying of an overdose of Viagra, Einstein correlated with a tube, a discourse on leaving the toilet seat up, and more. Consistently given four and five stars by reviewers, Finch's style has been compared to Dickens', and recently David Wright wrote: "In a hundred years, scholars won't be studying bestselling thrillers to measure the pulse of our generation. But they might be studying Finch." Join in Finch's literary fun and appreciate just how dangerously inspirational his Pattaya can be!
