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Rating: 
Summary: Good read
Review: All right, this might not be the most sophisticated study into Thailand's sex industry. But who cares? First of, there are that many books that deal with that subject in the first place, and this is one of the most enjoyable. It also provides a lot of info on the way Thais understand life. OK, a big chunk of the country is not involved in prostitution, but almost all seek "sabai jai" - peace of mind - a term that I had not learnt about before reading this book and that turns out to be invaluable when dealing with Thai people. And there are plenty like it throughout the book.I also found quite true the theory that prostitution is actually liberating and helps to break the old ways in which women are treated and looked upon in Thailand. I would never phatom paying for sex (maybe because I don't need to ), but after spending time in Thailand, I can tell you that the attitude of the prostitutes over there is a lot more sane (and a lot more understandable for a Western mind) than the attitude of the general female population, specially those ladies from the upper class who apparently live inside a fiction bubble. There is obviously a dark side to prostitution, but please check out the night scene at the Hard Rock Cafe in Bangkok and then tell me what's wrong with girls who just want to have fun (except for the pathetic crowd of old Western guys hanging out with girls that look like their daughters). Talk to their customers and see who is using who. If anything, this book will also help the would-be sexual tourist avoid getting in trouble (and you can bet the police is always going to be on the girl's side). Whoever disagrees with this theory are either fooling themselves, or more likely, have NO clue of Asian culture. As another reviewer pointed out, it is the Thai/Asian prostution the one that has the more scary edge to it. As the book explains, the underage slave brothels are all in the Bangkok Chinatown. This is not racism, this is simply true.
Rating: 
Summary: Didn't Know It Was So Easy to Get a PhD
Review: First things first: no one could or would read this book without a prior facination with Thailand. Which is to say it's awful. But what impressed me most was that such a sloppy, amateurish, ego-ridden, childish and effortless piece of work can get you a PhD, at least in the soft sciences. Fascinating. Maybe "Doctor" Odzer ain't so dumb after all...
Rating: 
Summary: PATPONG SISTERS
Review: I recommend this book to anyone. This book is the result of 3 years of research for a dissertation by a then-Anthropology student earning her Doctorate. A lot can be learned by reading this book. There are ample amounts of sociological and basic factual information concerning Patpong business norms and the mechanics of this industry. Through interviews and questionarres It also covers the thoughts, feelings, motivations and lives of the women and Men (Farangs) who spend time in Patpong. What follows is my response to those who criticized the author because she described her relationship with Jek in the book. That friendship was useful in gaining information and allowed the author to further immerse herself in the sub-culture she was researching. Dr. Odzer also added what was needed in a subject concerning this industry in Thailand. The human element. Her own humanity adds the needed flavor to "academic research and analysis." Other readers have missed this I believe. This industry is about people. A person who has experienced this subject, or is about to experience it, can gain a lot from this book. I could relate to many things Dr. Odzer discussed, from visiting the family in the north, to the protocol on how "things work" in the industry, and to long distance "Bagwan" sweet talking via phone calls an email. This is great book.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent
Review: I recommend this book to anyone. This book is the result of 3 years of research for a dissertation by a then-Anthropology student earning her Doctorate. A lot can be learned by reading this book. There are ample amounts of sociological and basic factual information concerning Patpong business norms and the mechanics of this industry. Through interviews and questionarres It also covers the thoughts, feelings, motivations and lives of the women and Men (Farangs) who spend time in Patpong. What follows is my response to those who criticized the author because she described her relationship with Jek in the book. That friendship was useful in gaining information and allowed the author to further immerse herself in the sub-culture she was researching. Dr. Odzer also added what was needed in a subject concerning this industry in Thailand. The human element. Her own humanity adds the needed flavor to "academic research and analysis." Other readers have missed this I believe. This industry is about people. A person who has experienced this subject, or is about to experience it, can gain a lot from this book. I could relate to many things Dr. Odzer discussed, from visiting the family in the north, to the protocol on how "things work" in the industry, and to long distance "Bagwan" sweet talking via phone calls an email. This is great book.
Rating:
Summary: Missing the Truth
Review: I was hoping for a reasoned treatment of the subject, but found instead a book that says more about the author's own lack of perspective than about her alleged subjects. She should have spent more time learning about Thai culture and society before undertaking her study. As it stands, she was a limited observer on a world where she often failed to make basic connections and conclusions that would be readilly apparent to any one who has lived for an extensive period in Thailand. She is more tourest than reasoned observer. If you can get a doctorate for this sort of work, then it can not be much of a degree.
Rating:
Summary: Who's the prostitute here?
Review: if you want a book dealing specifically with prostitution in thailand, how it is done, and what the prostitutes do, and how they live, this book is not informative enough. this book is a description of the time the author spent in bangkok. more often than not, she does not interviewing prostitutes, and she does not bring you into the lives of these slums. she sees the whole prostitution business in a way that is rather naive. rather, as said before, she spends a lot of time talking about her thai boyfriend and other non-relevant things. she does give some important insight on thai prostitution and the white men involved, but it is very little. read this book like you would a novel. i wouldn't recommend you purchase it for research.
Rating:
Summary: Bambi goes to Bangkok
Review: Ms. Odzer seems to stumble through Thailand for 3 years, utilizing neither method nor common sense in gathering information on Patpong prostitution. The premise of the book is good, but it seems to be more like travelogue of a person with US$70K in debt, trying to figure out how to finish her degree. Her efforts at researching Patpong seem to have neither a clear method or any system, and she seems to be continually victimised. The statistics she provides are all from other sources, and it seems she wrote her dissertation from sources in the University library. In addition, she constantly refers to Thai men as "Thai boys" and Caucasian men as "Male Farangs", which leads me to believe she acted the same way they did - using the huge economic disparity to buy companionship and at the same time bury her own foibles. By the end of the book I felt absolutely no empathy for Ms. Odzer, and that she had no clue about the true state of prostitution in Thailand - let alone the profession in general.
Rating: 
Summary: Why are the Patpong Women Sisters? Odzer Never Says
Review: The sex industry has transformed Thailand from a poor nation with little to recommend it but its native culture to a nation that is still poor but now generates some much needed hard cash from its exploitation of women as prostitutes. Beginning with the mid 50's, Thailand has developed a reputation as the place where foreign men (often western and Japanese) called derisively 'farangs' go to have cheap sex with impoverished but attractive Thai women. In PATPONG SISTERS, Cleo Odzer tries to put into perspective how this sex business began, why it is still going strong, and what changes Thailand has undergone as a result. This book is not meant as a serious analysis of a unique sociological phenomenon, even though Odzer declares that it served as her doctoral thesis at Harvard. Nor is it meant as a prurient peek up the miniskirt of the dozens of Thai women whom she interviewed. Rather, what emerges is a light-hearted attempt to focus on the erosion of a culture that proved incapable of withstanding the chaos of a testosterone driven invasion on a peaceful country that at one time prized the virtue of its women. Part of the problem that I had with accepting Odzer's purported attempt at academic objectivity is that she comes off as not much different from the ... men who descend on Patpong determined to leave a wave of broken hearts and bruised bodies in their wake. To begin with, she enters the country under false pretenses. She justifies her lack of honesty by rationalizing that had she been upfront with her wish to write a tell all expose, she would not then have been granted a visa. Yet, she must have known that this initial deceit would forever taint the results of her study, however valid they might otherwise have been. Further, she strikes up a sexual relation with a Thai man, supposedly to gain insight into the Thai culture. Imagine if Odzer had been a man trying to write a similar such book and he began sleeping with the very women he was interviewing. PATPONG SISTERS still has importance for the western reader who wishes to understand the reasons for the degradation of a culture that once was steeped in honorable tradition but now seems indistinguishable from the fleshpot streets of the seediest ports of any redlight district that depends on ... men to infuse dollars into an economy that is forced to accept those dollars with one hand while raising the miniskirts of its desperate women with the other. The AIDS epidemic that is now ravaging Thailand stands as a cold shower wakeup call that perhaps it is time to lower those skirts even if in so doing the influx of Yankee dollars is also lowered.
Rating:
Summary: Like she says a view not a study...
Review: This book basically fufills what the title says. This is not the thesis she wrote on the subject. It seems quite a few people keep making that mistake. With that in mind I saw it more as a romp through thailand giving some interesting insight into the cultural elements that she ran into. Not a summary of even Patpong really. Most of the Thai's she meets are hustlers and are portrayed as such. They constantly lie, steal, and fabricate ruses to lay down on the dumb horny farangs. The Thai's behaviour was understandable, the farangs on the other hand male and female are portrayed contemptfully. As well they should. The author does not come off very favourably. I can't tell if she is doing this on purpose or is just not aware of what a cretin she is making herself look like. If your going to thailand, hopefully as a normal tourist, you might enjoy reading this book among many others on unrelated subjects to get a glimpse of this complex culture.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read
Review: This book, however controversial, will interest you whether you admire the author or end up disliking her. Odzer makes bad choices, and seems lovesick over her "Thai cutie", but there is an interesting comparison between her relationship with the Thai man and the male "farangs" with their Thai girlfriends. Also she neither glamorizes prostitution nor condemns it, and gives a very straightforward account of one of the oldest professions in a very notorious country.
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