On the Road to Mandalay: Tales of Ordinary People

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Summary: The Great Book
Review: It was a really good book. It keeps you going. If anybody was to ask meto recomend a book for them this would be it, for sure.

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Summary: Life stories recorded
Review: Mya Than Tint, a Burmese writer, traveled around Myanmar (Burma) interviewing common people about their lives. Their stories are incredible, even though they seem to represent average Burmese people. He interviews a fortune-teller, a pick-pocket, a photographer, a laundry man, an elephant trainer, a flower seller, several actors, a waitress, and many others (35 altogether). They tell about their parents, childhoods, jobs, hopes for the future, loves lost, struggles to survive. People interested in modern Myanmar can't do better than reading this book. Sometimes it can be exhausting, because the stories are so moving and thought-provoking. If it were more well-written, it would truly be great literature. As it is, it's pretty darn good. Read it, learn, laugh and nearly weep.