The Outer Country

Malasarn debuts with an affecting novel of an immigrant family’s internal conflicts. Manda, a teacher, leaves her native Thailand to visit her younger sister, Siripon, in Los Angeles, and decides to stay, becoming like a second mother to her baby nephew, Ben. Lacking her sister’s professional degree and command of English, Manda does menial work in a department store, while her brother-in-law, Kamron, a metal worker, suffers frequent injuries on the job and drinks heavily. When Ben is six, Manda sees the boy wrap a blanket around his waist like a skirt and imitate a female dancer. Alarmed at the boy’s effeminacy, she and Kamron hire a Buddhist priest to exorcise the restless girl ghost they believe resides within Ben. The frightening and traumatic ritual, which ends with Manda taking Ben to the bathroom and instructing him to vomit, results in years of nervous vomiting. Malasarn delicately explores the theme of leading a double life, as Manda adjusts to living in a foreign land and Ben, as a fifth grader, keeps quiet about the reason for his vomiting to avoid attracting even further attention as “puke boy,” and later explores his sexuality as a young gay man. It’s an accomplished family drama. Agent: Ian Bonaparte, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (May)