The judgment

This epoch-making novel, set in the rural central Thailand of the 1980s,

is a scathing satire and chilling endictment of modern society,

which makes heroes of 'fuckin' cheats'

and condemns upright citizens out of sheer hypocrisy.

It earned its author his first SEA Write Award in 1982.

Twelve years later, his second award, for Time,

confirmed Chart Korbjitti as the most outstanding novelist of his generation