Shades of Eastern Madness
By Devanshoom
Published by Camelzback, 2005
Reviewed by Paul Dorsey

Hitting the high road with Paul and Zed

The Nation
Published in mid 2005
The comically mysterious Devanshoom told us his hand-made, 300-page narrative about two young Brits on hols in Southeast Asia had yet to get a good review anywhere in Thailand – and at the time he “feared the worst” for its chances at the Hua Hin Observer, where it was under consideration by “a 62-year-old doctor of education”.
As it turned out, the good doctor (actually he sounds for all the world like Bernard Trink, late of the Bangkok Post) gave it one of those reviews that relates the contents without turning a firm thumb either up or down, so it’s left to us to snap Devanshoom’s losing streak and heartily recommend the book.
The reason the novel has been scorned by the rest, the author believes, is it’s got “lots of obscure humour, references to drugs and heavy anti-establishment undertones”. Well, these are the sort of things that appeal to this reviewer, at least, and there’s much more about “Shades of Eastern Madness” to qualify it for your pocket, if not your bookshelf.
A welcome return to the days when expatriates wrote funny books about Thailand (including my Nation colleagues Roger Beaumont and James Eckhardt), “Shades” succeeds where so many other recent expat titles about Asia fail, precisely because it doesn’t take things (including itself) seriously.
And while I hardly think it’s necessary to spark up a joint every time you head out the door, there’s enough genuine wit evident through the haze of Devanshoom’s observations that he’s to be forgiven being gaga for ganja.
So too, it’s easy to overlook his aversion to using the spellcheck button (despite evidently being a dab hand with the computer) and the inane repetitiveness of his protagonists, Coventry blokes Paul and Zed, always having their “heads done in” by something or other.
Because the book is amusingly plotted and well-written, with clever character sketches and even the odd poignant moment, it’s engaging entertainment.
The comedy level, it has to be said, is uneven – taking a long pause, for example, after hashed-up Paul and Zed spurn the taxi throng at Bangkok airport and clamber over a sooty highway wall in search of a bus stop.
But once past the Khao San Road cliches and an odd summation of the Ministry of Sound, they’re swept off to Cambodia by strange circumstance and lively adventure ensues. There’s a few dire pages on Tuol Sleng and a brothel-girl rescue, yes, but there’s also the chapter-worthy American septuagenarian lunatic Walt to broaden the smile.
The author next swans through environmentalist pish and English-teaching posh before bumping into Hitler, Chairman Mao and Evel Knievel in the freakily Photoshop’d back pages.
Devanshoom, using his real name John Ryan, recently explained to Farang Affairs readers how he got 500 copies of the book published in Chiang Mai for Bt106 per print (and negotiated a distribution deal with Bookazine), but failed to shed any light on what’s happened to his website.
Touted at the back of “Shades” as a source of publishing assistance as well as clothing hand-made from hemp that’s bought from the Hmong, the website has since been “suspended” by Siaminterhost. Possibly this has to do with the hemp trade rather than the publishing trade, but until we get a phone call, the would-be book factory called Camelzback is silenced outside the pages of its sole edition.
That’s a pity. I’m hoping Devanshoom can muster some of the astonishing luck Paul and Zed enjoy and get back on track, because these two characters warrant some more following around.