Summary

Mai Nardone’s story “Only You Farang Are So Easy to Come and Leave” presents Lara, a teenager whose parents move to their house in the suburbs of Bangkok in 1997 after the Asian economic crisis. The mother is bothered by having to downsize to a smaller house because the father lost his job in finance. Even though their economic situation have worsened, Lara still goes to an international British school. Lara notices that other students at the school also face problems in their families because of the crisis, as the father of a classmate kills himself. At the same time, she develops a crush on one of her colleagues, Tom.

Since he is unemployed, the father starts working around the house. In the family, there is a tense climate with the mother keeping an eye on what the father doe...