When I lived in Bangkok I would spend many a happy hour in the Kinokuniya bookshop. I would usually go home with a couple of selections, put them on the bookshelf, and then realise that I was too busy (playing computer games, chasing women, occasionally working) to make time for reading. But never mind, once I retired I would have more time.
Nowadays, I do have more time (no work and I am not allowed to chase women), and I am slowly working through the backlog. I occasionally add to my collection, but the bookstores in Pattaya are limited, and purchasing books from Amazon in the UK costs me more in postage than the price of the book.
Then along came the iPad and I imagined a massive on-line bookstore where I could purchase my favourite titles for download. Not so. The Apple bookstore was initially very limited, with the main attraction being the opportunity to join “Oprah’s Bookclub”; and had I found myself tempted to enrol in that, then I might as well drink some battery acid. The Amazon Kindle application offered more choice, although it was based on the American store. But I did find Ian McEwan’s Solar, so at least I could download one title and prove to myself that reading on an iPad was an acceptable experience.
Then someone recommended Gypsy Boy by Mikey Walsh as an essential read. Off to Apple’s bookstore where I was offered a fascinating tome on Obama’s healthcare reforms, but no Gypsy Boy. Ditto Kindle, ditto Barns & Noble. Bastards.
Off to the local bookshop in Pattaya, “Do you have Gypsy Boy?” Checks computer. “No.”
On a trip to Bangkok I go to Kinokuniya. “Do you have Gypsy Boy?” Checks computer. “No.”
Then I try Asiabooks. “Do you have Gypsy Boy?” Bored expression, picks nose. “No.”
Of course the book was available in the Amazon UK on-line bookstore, highly recommended and requiring just a single click before I could theoretically own it; albeit for a massive packaging charge and the chance that the Thai post office would “lose” it.
I was bereft. Then last week Amazon announced that the UK store was coming to the Kindle. Whizz! So off went and ordered Gypsy Boy. Back came the message: “You have been buying books from Amazon UK for many years from a variety of Asian countries without the slightest problem; but now you want to buy an ebook and we have decided that we don’t want to sell it to you; punk.” Or, as they put it: “Not available in your region.”
Bastards.
With little hope of success I changed my address to the UK, with a certainty that they would pick up my Thai credit card and declare a mismatch. But no, and in a few minutes Gypsy Boy was sitting in the Kindle application awaiting my reading pleasure.
So was it worth it?
Mikey Walsh is a Romany Gypsy, born into a family where the men were champion bare-knuckle fighters. Mikey’s father decided that his son would also be a champion boxer, and started training Mikey when he was still a toddler. Mikey’s failure to meet his father’s aspirations was the trigger for years of the most horrendous violence, and further miseries were inflicted by his Uncle who sexually abused him on a regular basis. When it seems like things cannot become any more difficult for him, Mikey begins to realise he is gay, something that would never be accepted by ultra-macho gypsy society.
It is hard to imagine a more challenging childhood and it would be easy to embellish the story with layers of self-pity; but there is none of that. Mikey records the abuse in stark prose, but what shines through the horror is the warmth of some of the other people in his life, and his affection for the Gypsy culture; even if some aspects of it are indirectly responsible for his suffering.
Mikey finally escaped and started a new life. He caught up on his limited schooling and is now a teacher. But no amount of education could be responsible his natural flair for storytelling; skills that enable him to recount the story of his early life in a way that is frequently sad, often funny, and ultimately uplifting. Many people report being moved to tears by the book. But of course I am made of sterner stuff, although there were a couple of occasions when some dust got into both eyes and it might have looked like I was having a little weep.
Gypsy Boy, apparently not available in Thailand, but worth the effort to track down.