cover image Gecko Tails: A Journey Through Cambodia

Gecko Tails: A Journey Through Cambodia

Carol Livingston. George Weidenfeld & Nicholson, $35 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-297-81530-3

Freelance reporter-photographer Livingston was in Cambodia in 1993 looking for story ideas and, not incidentally, to have some adventures. It was the year of Cambodia's first supposedly democratic election, and hoards of U.N. representatives, journalists and other observers descended on Phnom Penh. To find work, Livingston had to conform to wire-service notions of what constituted a good story--usually a quote from a politician's speech or an interview--and compete with established correspondents and stringers. Her book is entertaining when she writes breezily about her colleagues; the freelancer's capers, both on- and off-duty; when she describes the not-so-salutary impact that the U.N. and its functionaries had on local commerce and culture; and when she tells stories about the local people she encounters. Her emphasis, however, is on the country's history and politics. Though Livingston tries to encapsulate them for general readers, she often assumes their prior knowledge of the many details. Indeed, at one point, she stops herself to wonder, ""Was I trying to write a travelogue or was I writing about politics and the election?"" Neither is entirely successful, but the book is nonetheless notable for Livingston's sassy and smart look at her colleagues, her own off-duty doings and her explorations within and descriptions of Cambodia. (May)