Snowing In Bali by Kathryn Bonella
Review by blindboy.
As the title indicates this book is concerned with the cocaine trade in Bali. What it makes less obvious is that the events it describes occurred over a decade ago, which substantially reduces its potential interest. I should also admit, right at the start, I am not a fan of the true crime genre and that I have personal reasons to despise those who populated the milieu Kathryn Bonella describes. I suspect that many others who travelled through Bali at that time would have similar feelings after witnessing the corrosive influence this clique of criminals had on so many vulnerable people. Given that absolute objectivity would not appear to be necessary for a valid assessment of the work in question, I will continue.
The first point that should be made is that while many of the book's subjects may have from time to time gone surfing, there is little here about that activity. The lifestyle of those involved in the cocaine trade precluded serious surfing and the author is clearly not equipped to document it with any skill or insight.
Beyond that consideration, criminals are a difficult subject for even the most ethical and skilled of writers. Consider that Truman Capote suffered substantial psychological torment to produce the classic In Cold Blood. The ethical aspect then arises not so much as a moral issue but as a matter of maintaining authorial integrity. By their nature these subjects tend to contaminate and if the author cannot remain above the sleaze, the violence, the cruelty and the abuse, the credibility of the work is lost.
Above all then, the subject demands a level of detachment. A grasp of the circumstances that led to the criminality and an understanding, and some sympathy, for the victims are also useful. But detachment remains the first hurdle and the one that causes most to fail. So when the author cannot even get through her Foreword without producing a paragraph like the one below expectations, already low, fall further.
"Of course I don't condone what they do, but I found the drug dealers fascinating, and mostly highly intelligent, educated, multi- lingual and cultured - with a penchant for the best: top restaurants, French champagne, high-class hookers, luxury villas and hotels, first class travel and designer clothes. Many were surfers, who had come to Bali chasing the perfect waves, and found an ostensibly easy way to fund their lifestyles in paradise."
Of course I don't condone what they do either, but I can't help think that, given the opportunity, I might have paid closer attention to their narcissism and psychopathic tendencies than to their taste in alcohol and accommodation. But, then again, I probably wouldn't have devoted the entire first chapter to an all too literal blow by blow account of an orgy at which presumably, since she does not use the first person, the author was not present. At this point, fearing for anyone so naive and credulous as to take such accounts at face value, one has to be glad that the majority of Ms Bonella's subjects are locked up.
The psychopath label is not being used lightly. The first response from these highly intelligent, educated people to any difficulty is violence. Additionally while I can't really recommend the Brett Easton Ellis novel American Psycho one of the numerous things he got right in his portrayal of a psychopath was the obsession with status objects: expensive clothes, watches, shoes and so on. Here the evidence of similar obsessions is trotted out with mind numbing frequency. The lists of brands such as Rolex, Prada and Armani becomes a kind of mantra repeated through out the book, as though they were indicators of good taste instead of merely excessive wealth.
These faults would be forgivable if the writing was compelling. Gregory David Roberts' Shantaram, for example, had many faults but remained highly readable over its considerable length. Sadly Ms Bonella's writing is uniformly pedestrian and as flat as the vast number of verbatim quotes from the criminals she is chronicling. Not only that but, having exposed herself to the shallow and callous argot of the milieu she is reporting on, she herself lapses into it. At one stage she refers to a 50-year-old woman used as a mule as "the old mare". As a direct quote it could have added something to the character development of one of her subjects. Coming as it does;
"One day Rafael and one of his Peruvian partners decided to give the old mare a run."
it seems evidence, not only of a degree of authorial callousness but also of a tin ear. The editor does no better, allowing a quote from one of the criminals when the service in an Amsterdam shop was less servile than he expected.
"Maybe because of the tattoos they think I'm a criminal or something."
In many ways this absolute absence of self-awareness is at the heart of this book's problems. The human capacity for self-delusion is well documented. Repeat the lie often enough and it becomes, subjectively at least, the truth. That cocaine addled psychopathic criminals should suffer more frequently and intensely from this problem than others is to be expected. That an author should then not only fail, but fail to even attempt, to pierce their illusions is catastrophic to the achievement of any realistic portrayal of the worlds they inhabit.
Even more seriously, a close reading of the main text and Foreword raises doubts about the accuracy of many of the events recounted. While the basic facts concerning those who have been arrested and jailed are often corroborated by quotes from a variety of media, much of the more detailed material comes from a single source called Rafael. By the end of the book he has avoided jail, given up drug dealing and is working as a surf coach. Beyond that, apart from his own account of his exploits, we learn nothing about him.
Intriguingly, in the Foreword Ms Bonella states;
"I should mention that for some of those I spoke to, I paid them a financial contribution for their time, which was undoubtedly an incentive."
No doubt, but an incentive to do what? To tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Hardly, more likely to tell her whatever they thought she wanted to hear and to spin out their pathetic attempts at self-aggrandisement and self-justification for as long as she would listen.
This is a sad book that dwells long on the sordid sexual behaviour of its subjects while hardly sparing a paragraph to consider the victims of the criminality it describes. It is easy to assert that drug users are responsible for their own behaviour and, while that may be true, it in no way absolves the dealers from their role. There is nothing in this book that suggests Ms Bonella has seriously considered this. She is far too keen to glorify their glamorous lifestyle and almost totally neglectful of its cost in human misery. Since Ms Bonella's background appears to be in the shallow end of tabloid journalism, none of this should come as a surprise. A market that demands crap will always find willing providers. In a recent interview she said "Write what you are passionate about and what excites you." Perhaps, very sadly, she did. //blindboy
Snowing In Bali is published by Pan Macmillan Australia, RRP $35.
Comments
Geez Blindboy that axe must be ground back to the handle! I read the book in question pretty much after it came out and while it's no masterpiece it's a good read in the same way a greasy burger and chips is a good feed after a big night out. A review like that should at least be brave enough to have a name to it.
Also read it just after it came out, don't read much but needed something to kill time on the flight to Indo and a 5 hour stop over in Bali on the way to Sumatra, then read the rest of it while staying in a Indo village, so was good to read in that environment to give it added spice.
Its was okay but kind of book once you have read a few chapters its kind of all the same, you could read the first few chapters skip half the book and read the last few and you wouldn't feel like you have missed much.
If you have read her other books around sharpelle and Kebarokan prison bali and liked them you will like it but if you tried to read one of those books and didn't get into it, you wont get into this either.
I agree with Shane. Blindboy, if your going to critique an authors work in the fashion you have above, you should at least show some balls and pen your name to it.
I don't see why I should identify myself given that she does not ID her main source who is still a free man and, given his history, quite possibly still violent. The issue is fair criticism not identity and I stand by every word I wrote as legitimate criticism. If you disagree by all means state your arguments.
Personally I don't care if you put your name to it or not blindboy either way it makes no difference to me.
Yes thats what blew me away about the book that the main character actually got away with it all in the end, especially after apparently being so openly know around the traps.
Nick names, acronims, he has his name to it. What's your real beef here? That he wrote consisively and expressed a point of view. Who gives a fuck who he is, its a bloody well written review and for my $$ I won't read it. Thx for saving my time and money BB.
MM, why don't you read it and judge for yourself?
Why Zen? The whole point of a great critique is to help you chose what you will spend your energy time and money on. That's why we ask the question, how was it out tthere re the surf.
Na I reckon that's a great job at critiqieing a book, so me I will spend my time else where, like chatting to you here, and leave BB his aonymity.
Maybe the guy demanding BB give himself up is a Mal rider looking for revenge ???
Cheers Zen.
That's totally cool MM and I'm quite happy for Blindboy to retain his anonymity. But critique is just another word for opinion (albeit with a negative connotation) and we all have our own.
I haven't read the book and I'm not really inclined to but it was recommended to me by a snowboarding mate who really enjoyed it. He had formed his own opinion.
I'm more of John Grisham fan myself anyway:)
Cheers to you too, hope you're getting a few waves.
Na Zen its flat at my local. I keep looking at Vic and daydreaming of days down there in a long distant past and knowing those guys on that coast line are just getting a dose of stoke.
As the guy above said a critique is some ones opinion.
Most Aussie males don't read a lot but once they do they enjoy it - hence why Robert Barrett was so popular. He was probably panned by most critics but was very successful.
There is many a surfing connection throughout the book - I'd suggest if you liked it then watch the video Sea of Darkness.
kbarr I won't comment on Robert Barrett's work except to point out that it is fiction and so cannot be accused of glorifying the behaviour of real, convicted criminals, as I believe Snowing In Bali does. The fact that a particular milieu were prepared to break the law to fund their lifestyle and that, as Sea Of Darkness makes clear, some of these were well known surfers, is a highly regrettable part of our history. This is not some form of wowserism, it is simply a distaste for parasites of all descriptions and what else can you call someone who preys upon the weaknesses of others for their own personal benefit?
Those of us who have had to witness the damage done by drugs sold by this milieu have every right to despise, not only them, but those who would excuse or glorify their behaviour. People died. Others lost what should have been great futures. As for the surfing references there are many about people going surfing, none go further than that except perhaps the references to boat trips with high class prostitutes.
Snowing In Bali could have portrayed the reality of that scene. It chose not to, sensation being more marketable than substance. But sensations evaporate, substance lasts. An opportunity missed I would think.
@ BB ... People died... Sure did and worse, they spent 20 plus years in and out of mental institutions before jumping off their local headland.
If your out there in the surfing world glorifying your drug taking, or even thinking its just a bit of harmless fun, thinking it won't be you who gets burnt..... Well maybe you wont, but there is a long list of known and unknown surfers who match the above descriptions of a lost life.
Unfortunately that list is full of my friends and associates.
So I don't mean to be preaching, but I sure am saying experience tells me drugs are dangerous ground to play on.
So if a book even looks like glorifying the drug culture .... Well I'm out.
I read it for the insight (not the glorification) just as I watched the video. I am not condoning anything that transpired and I to grew up in a town and area that was devastated by drugs from the early 70's and witnessed my piers implode.
One of whom was mentioned in the book.
The connections with the methods of trafficking fall into place with stories that I have been told about the northern beaches. So overall I found it a good read.
Fair enough kbarr though I think a 10 minute walk along Jl Legian or down Poppies Lane around midnight would tell you all you really need to know. Everything else can be pretty easily deduced from what you can easily observe.
K, unfortunately, in our current social culture alcohol and drugs are glorified. And a publisher probably wouldn't have taken the book on to publish if it wasn't.
Like sex, drugs and alcohol sell. Is the problem in the sellers or the buyers?
Maybe in neither cause we are all just experimenting with this thing called life. And maybe it just comes down to priority... Maybe this entire drug and alcohol question comes down to this ... What's more important to you, to be up and on it for that dawn session, or to make something else a bigger priority.
In the social context, we can't watch a sport these days without the drug/alcohol culture being sold to us. The last time I watched surfing on tv, there was Matt Hoy and Luke Steadman holding a corona .... Am I the only one scratching my head here?
Good review.
I have read the book and I enjoyed it.
I gave it to a friend and he thought it was crap.
I did find the glorifying of the main subjects a bit much, especially at the start and in the parts you have highlighted.
I found it a little weird that the 2 current books I am reading on my Kindle are 'Shantaram' & 'In Cold Blood'!
Cheers, From Bali.
I must say, this is a very well written article blindboy. Not everyone can can write, but anyone can be a cynic. I'm looking forward to the day you write a piece on something that makes you smile... Hell, we could be waiting a while.
I havent read it but blindboy's critique of the author reminded me of an ex-girlfriend. She wasn't a surfer but when she first heard about the Bra Boys she wanted to know all about them. It wasn't innocent curiosity either, she 'admired' them and how they handled themselves. FWIW I reckon they're fuckwits. While I was seeing her there was lots of trouble with Lebanese teenagers in Sydney, could've been about the time of the Skaf brothers doing their filthy business, and a gang called the Telopea Street Boys was often mentioned. Naturally enough she became uncomfortably interested in them too.
Makes me wonder about the concept of 'bad boys'. Most people I know who fit that bill are dicks but some girls like that behaviour. Sounds like Kathryn Bonella is one of them.
haha bort I think you're right we'll be waiting a while for something positive from a whinging POM. As for the review I hear where you're coming from blindboy, sounds like the author (or her subject) may have taken some artistic license when recounting the stories that are clearly part of her fantasy!
I also don't see this author having much credibility following her Shapelle Corby book that was blown out of the water by a follow up 'Sins of the father'
Anyway - those people can keep that life, just a pity it affects many others'.
been to bali twice now - never saw any snow ...
Nice work BB, limiting writing research to hearsay is nothing better than telling a story second-hand. That you can get in any pub in the country.
Odd article
!
Enjoyed it for what it is, a good read!!
What you enjoy is up to you ramjet but to call it a good read implies most people would enjoy it which I think unlikely.
Gidday blindboy, this is a shallow scam. I actually know ramjet, and this is just a ludicrous ploy to make everyone think that he can actually read.
Hi uplift thanks again for the training advice. I just did 40 minutes in the gym using what you told me and it went really well. The tecninques are demanding so I am concentrating on stability and control. I expect progress to be slow but I am committed to getting as fit as the body will stand! Also I figured out that it's not just the grip of my right hand that is weak, the whole arm has lost strength. I should have realised this a long time ago. Hopefully it will come back into balance with a bit of work. I am sticking with the military presses as I find them challenging in terms of maintaining good stability so there is something going on. Sydney is going for the all time record in tiny pathetic surf so I will probably just paddle tomorrow. I surfed a few waist high peaks on Satuhrday and that is as big as it has been for a month. The first decent day will be absolutely feral!
if its strengthening the grip of your hand that your looking to do you have come to the right person
most of us who know him realised this a long time ago
Best one yet, Stray Gator.
So stray-gator you must belong to that 1% of males (usually considered to be liars) who claim to have never to indulged in hand strengthening exercises!
gidday blindboy, I have been lucky enough to learn techniques unavailable in any book or course. I get inside your head and focus and inspire you from the start until well after the finish of your session with me. come in and have a boiled lolly
gidday blindboy, training like that will get quicker results than you think if you pay attention to recovery.
Gidday little gates, I'll be back surfing in 6 weeks, and I'll have a an absolute blast... again. You shouldn't have used that avatar, its... well that repetitive unmistakable scrawny little figure, in that constantly getting bitch slapped position, on sea, and land, well everywhere, by anything and anyone, where we see you over and over and over and over and over and over and over again, is a dead givaway. A blast!
Hats off to ya though gatesy, legendary substance powered jaws of steel, yappin on regardless!
I only read half, and agree with much of what blindboy was getting at. She lost me in describing the orgy in such detail, as if she was there... and there was one big error here in my opinion. It was well described how high on coke they were before taking ecstasy, that changed the whole night. In this order, cocaine will cancel out the effects of ecstasy. Its a well known phenomenon. Just sayin'.