Book Review

By Derryll White

Cotterill, Colin (2013). The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die.

This is the ninth volume in Colin Cotterill’s Dr. Siri investigation series. It is the most intimate thus far, revealing new facts about Indochina in the 1970s. Some of the tales of human exploitation are very sad, although it may be said that they are part of the human condition and continue in their ugliness to this day. Things such as the sexual exploitation of women, the usury foisted on the poor by those in power and the moral decay of political intent. Cotterill is very good that way, using exotic Laos as a mirror for the same ills we are facing in North America.

The author uses a new plot device in this volume – the unofficial biography of Dr. Siri’s second wife, Madame Daeng. A child of the revolution, she takes the reader through the background of Laotians organizing against the French colonial rulers. It is fascinating stuff and has the air of credibility about it.

Cotterill catches the flavour of Laos in 1978, focusing on the ability of a people without a solid economy or a developed government infrastructure to have fun. He does this well and the result is entertaining and instructive. The author demonstrates that laughter can be the ultimate defense against repression and exploitation. And he opens the door to questions about the after-world.

Colin Cotterill is an accomplished storyteller – informative, intriguing and entertaining. ‘The Woman Who Wouldn’t Die’ is a good read.

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Excerpts from the novel:

MEKHONG RIVER – Siri had always marvelled at the timelessness of river travel. For hours they hadn’t seen anything the early French explorers wouldn’t have experienced a hundred years before. All right, perhaps they wouldn’t have seen so many 333 Beer bottles floating nearer the towns or the Guevara T-shirts on fishermen. No odd TOA paint cans lined up for shooting practice. But, basically, the cruise could have been before history. Before the ridiculousness of war. Before the greed of generals and the land lust of politicians. The river had defied it all and survived.

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SIRI – “It might be too late, Siri, my darling. Cynicism is a big part of who you are. It`s the shutter you pull down to keep out the storms you can`t weather. As long as that shutter is down, your ghost friends will be on the other side of it.`

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LAO GOVERNMENT – This was largely a desk job. Promotion generally led one away from the work on3e enjoyed and into a state of inertia.

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REVOLUTION – The underground movement against the French was expanding. The Lao Issara organized acts of sabotage. We collected intelligence on troop movement through networks of observers in the villages. We lured the clumsy French militia into the jungles where they were ill-equipped to compete with nature. A platoon could often be defeated by dysentery alone and we would retreat not from the enemy but from the stench. We left the politics to the elders. Our job was to remind the French that they weren`t welcome.

– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them.  When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.

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