ix years ago at the age of twenty-one, Jaed Muncharoen Coffin, a half-Thai American man, left New England's privileged Middlebury College to be ordained as a Buddhist monk in his mother's native village of Panomsarakram--thus fulfilling a familial obligation. While addressing the notions of displacement, ethnic identity, and cultural belonging, A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants chronicles his time at the temple that rain season--receiving alms in the streets in saffron robes; bathing in the canals; learning to meditate in a mountaintop hut; and falling in love with Lek, a beautiful Thai woman who comes to represent the life he can have if he stays. Part armchair travel, part coming-of-age story, this debut work transcends the memoir genre and ushers in a brave new voice in American nonfiction.

A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants – Jaed Coffin
1 star

Such a great title and such a disappointment. This is a memoir by a Thai-American college student who takes a semester off to return to his mother’s village in Thailand to become a Buddhist monk. It seemed that this might be a story of a young person taking a bold step to find peace with his mixed heritage. I found I was not impressed with this quest or with the author’s stilted writing style. I became very annoyed with his self- absorbed ramblings while he accepted alms from superstitious poor people. I kept thinking about how frustrated this kid’s mother must be. Here’s a single mom who left her native country to give her children a good education and a better life and her son throws it all away to go begging. And the conclusion? After 2 months spent begging, wandering and meditating (or not because his thoughts keep wandering) the boy goes back to his privileged American life and finishes school. I cannot fathom how he managed to get this book published. The whole book reminds me of a high school writing assignment. Paragraphs are written as if he had a rubric that required: one sentence telling what you see, one that tells what you hear , one to tell what you feel and the last to tell what you imagine. I really liked the title so I can give it one star.

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A sweet little memoir in which Coffin, half-Caucasian, half-Thai, spends a summer as a Buddhist monk in his mother's home village. Though his explorations of bi-cultural, bi-racial identity are not complex, they will resonate for adolescent and adult readers engaged in (or remembering) this developmental stage. Coffin's writing is descriptive and conveys mood well. ( )