Touch The Dragon
Turnstone Press
1992
Published in Britain, Germany, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan.
Published in the US as The Dream of a Thousand Lives: A Sojourn in Thailand
Winner of the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year
A national bestseller for two years, the winner of the Governor General’s Award in 1993, and a New York Times Notable Travel Book of the Year in 2000, Touch the Dragon, A Thai Journal is a rare, dazzling exploration of a young writer’s brave new world. In Timothy Findley’s words, this book is “a splendid evocation of a place and people.”
Connelly is seventeen when she leaves Canada to attend her last year of high school in northern Thailand. Through energetic language and beautiful imagery, through humour and careful observation of the families, school friends and Buddhist rituals around her, Karen Connelly recreates life in the small village of Denchai.
As she illuminates another culture, she also shows how this beautiful and difficult new place touched and changed her, allowing her to receive and to offer up a rich, common humanity.
Purchase a signed and dedicated copy from the author for $30 (shipping included).
REVIEWS
“Connelly is a young writer with ancient eyes – the perfect ambassador from a country as new as [Canada] to one as old as Thailand. Like the best journals, this book becomes the journey itself: one in which we not only touch dragons but also discover that the origin of life is, of all things, starlight.”
— Ven Begamudré
“Connelly’s prose deftly captures the texture of Thai village life, but her most successful entries are the peevish ones, the I-want-to-go-home ones, which snap and crackle. To her credit, she isn’t afraid to be afraid, to be querulous in paradise.”
— The New York Times Book Review
“[Touch The Dragon] is filled with a string of powerful, enriching moments, vignettes beautifully and clearly illustrated in Connelly’s poetic language, which seem as fresh in the reader’s mind as they must in her memory. The reader can taste, smell and visualize everything …. The book live up to the name her Thai friends conferred upon [its author], ‘Ploy’ – gem.”
— The Globe and Mail
“… a travel memoir extraordinaire … Reading Touch The Dragon is like sharing someone’s treasured memories, hopes and dreams …. The story of Connelly’s year in Thailand is illuminating, poignant and funny, and her writing is exquisite.”
— Winnipeg Free Press
“Thailand, in all its colorful manifestations, quickly becomes the perfect country for a willing traveler to learn the wisdom of laughter. And Connelly is such a traveler. Connelly’s images are so clear, so perfectly chosen, that getting lost inside this marvelous book is a rare pleasure . . . Touch The Dragon is a splendid evocation of a country and its culture . . .”
— The Daily Yomiuri, Japan
“[Connelly is] a gifted prose stylist . . . Touch The Dragon is a lovingly crafted piece of writing. The immediacy of Connelly’s prose keeps the narrative humming. Rarely do the thoughts of such a young writer reach print in this sophisticated a form.”
— Charles Foran, The Montreal Gazette
“Touch The Dragon is an astonishingly mature piece of writing … [Connelly] captures the feelings of homesickness and bewilderment surely every young traveller far from home experiences, but there are also insights and observations about Buddhism, poverty, the lives of Thai women . . . Even simple anecdotes about riding a bicycle in the rain, or watching village women wash clothes are beautiful …”
— Uptown
“Connelly has the hunger for adventure of the classical travel writer… Hers is an authentic voice, the voice of a born poet intoxicated by language.”
— Atlantic Books Today