Curse of the Pogo Stick

by Colin Cotterill

Hardcover, 2008

Call number

MYST COT

Collection

Genres

Publication

Soho Crime (2008), Edition: First Edition, 256 pages

Description

Fiction. Mystery. HTML: In Vientiane, Laos, a booby-trapped corpse intended for Dr. Siri, the national coroner, has been delivered to the morgue. In his absence, only Nurse Dtui's intervention saves the lives of the morgue attendants, visiting doctors, and Madame Daeng, Dr. Siri's fiancĂ©e. On his way back from a Communist Party meeting in the north, Dr. Siri is kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers under the direction of the village elder so that he willâ??in the guise of Yeh Ming, the thousand-year-old shaman with whom he shares his bodyâ??exorcise the headman's daughter, whose soul is possessed by a demon, and lift the curse of the pogo sti

User reviews

LibraryThing member jnwelch
"Cars had become front yard ornaments. The sound of a passing engine prompted little children to run to the street's edge and wave. Siri might have been right. Laos was shrinking back into a preindustrial age."

We're back in 1970s Laos after a Communist takeover significantly assisted by our now
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disenchanted Dr. Siri. Early on he drowsily sits at a required lecture: "It was around three when he regained consciousness in time to learn that ' the quintessential socialist is patriotic, technically and managerially competent, morally upright and selflessly devoted to the greater social good', but he'd forgotten to bring his notepad." One comrade literally dies of boredom. You'll want to read what Siri announces to everyone about that.

This entry in the series features the oppressed and misunderstood Hmong, and the depth of understanding Siri brings to their troubles makes this one a standout. His alter ego Yeh Ming is revered by them, and one tribe seeks his assistance as they need to move on once again. An exorcism may be necessary. Meanwhile his bright assistant Dtui and her new romantic interest Phosy and the simple but insightful morgue attendant Geung must try to thwart a clever royalist bent on revenge against them and Siri, this time without him.

The series continues to be funny and illuminating about this part of the world, while providing unusual stories with engaging characters, not the least of which is our septuagenerian doctor, now romantically inclined toward the equally strong and eccentric Madame Daeng. She does for him what he does for others: leads him to understanding with a compassionate but fearless wit. Looking forward to the next one in this entertaining series.
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LibraryThing member richardderus
Rating: 4* of five

The Book Description: In Vientiane, a booby-trapped corpse, intended for Dr. Siri, the national coroner of Laos, has been delivered to the morgue. In his absence, only Nurse Dtui’s intervention saves the lives of the morgue attendants, visiting doctors, and Madame Daeng, Dr.
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Siri’s fiancée.

On his way back from a communist party meeting in the north, Dr. Siri is kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers under the direction of the village elder so that he will—in the guise of Yeh Ming, the thousand-year-old shaman with whom he shares his body—exorcise the headman’s daughter whose soul is possessed by a demon, and lift the curse of the pogo stick.


My Review: Dr. Siri Paiboun is my role model for growing older. I want to be as cantankerous and unafraid as he is, and as forgiving and tolerant as he is, and marry someone I'm in love with like he does.

Who am I kidding? I'd like any of those things NOW, except the marriage thing, which no thank you, I remember that too well.

So this is the fifth book in the series, and the action takes place late in 1977 into 1978. Siri's seventy-three. The reason I'm reviewing a book so late in the series is simple: I want to tell everyone that, contrary to established custom, the series isn't sagging, and the sleuthing isn't drooping. Siri's believability is quite as firm as it was, meaning if you didn't buy in from the get-go, you won't be in now either. I love our secondary characters quite a lot, and am invested in the world of Dtui and Phosy and Geung as much as Siri and Daeng and Civilai. It's just too much fun to perch on the back of the lilac police Vespa, pull my scarf over my nose and mouth, and whip along the trafficless roads around Vientiane to chase malefactors!

Now that's one helluva mental picture, isn't it? But in this book, in this series, your fat old stiff-jointed American correspondent here can do exactly that. AND solve a crime. (Sort of, there really isn't a mystery-novel crime to solve in this book...so what, though?) I get to travel to the Hmong Otherworld! I am invited to an illegal Buddhist wedding! And through it all, my green-eyed hobbit-sized impish cicerone, Dr. Siri, sees how true and marvelous the world is, how little in it matters except being present and available and kind.

Rightness. Completing one's journey and, thereby, completing the journeys of others. I hope all of us are able to say, looking at our last dawn, that we did that very thing, at least once.
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LibraryThing member Olivermagnus
The fifth book of the Dr. Siri Paiboun series begins in Vientiane, Laos, where a booby-trapped corpse intended for Dr. Siri, has been delivered to the morgue. In his absence, only Nurse Dtui’s intervention saves the lives of the morgue attendants, visiting doctors, and Madame Daeng, Dr. Siri’s
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fiancée. Meanwhile on his way back from a Communist party meeting in the north, Dr. Siri is kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers under the direction of the village elder so that he can, in the guise of Yeh Ming, the thousand-year-old shaman with whom he shares his body, exorcise the headman’s daughter, whose soul is possessed by a demon.

I always say this is not the series for everyone but I absolutely love them. Our champion is a 73 year old national coroner in 1970's Laos. Dr. Siri was a faithful revolutionary and has been compensated with the position of the country's only coroner, although he's really just a doctor who wants to retire and enjoy his old age. He and his assistants solve various crimes that come attached to the bodies they autopsy. His loyal associates are Nurse Dtui, smart and “big -boned” and the devoted Mr. Geung, who has Down's Syndrome. They have their individual stories and I love the plot lines that follow these characters.

Curse of the Pogo Stick isn't strictly a whodunit-style mystery but it does have great mystery elements, witty characters and humorous elements galore. I learned a lot about the Hmong culture in Laos and commend the author for featuring a culture that's largely unknown to most of us. Colin Cotterill has written a fantastic series that's one of my all-time favorites.
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LibraryThing member cameling
The Hmong, whether they chose to side with the Japanese, the French of the Americans, are people who have never been fairly treated by the ruling parties at the end of each war in which their help was sought. In Laos, the plight of the nomadic Hmong is observed at first hand by Dr Siri when he is
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abducted during a road trip with Judge Haeng to Luang Prabang, by Elder Long to help free his young daughter from a demon. Dr Siri, whose earthly body hosts Yeh Ming, a powerful shaman, is well known among the Hmong. The history and culture of the Hmong is covered in detail through the observations of Dr Siri.

In the meantime, over in Vientiane, Nurse Dtui discovers a booby-trapped corpse in the morgue and it's her keen observations that manage to keep a young arrogant doctor, Gaeng, the hospital director and Dtui herself from being blown up. With the help of Phosy and Civilai, they uncover a Royalists plot spearheaded by an adversary from a previous book in the series.

With comic relief provided by Judge Heang whether he's spouting bigoted political propaganda or mistakenly eating pig swill, the adventures of Dr Siri and his team continue to entertain and educate.
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LibraryThing member gypsysmom
This series just gets better I think. I've become very fond of Dr. Siri, the reluctant coroner of Laos. And his assistant, Nurse Dtui, really comes into her own in this book. In fact, there are two mysteries to solve, one for Dr. Siri and one for Nurse Dtui.

Dr. Siri is at a conference in the
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northern part of Laos with his boss, Judge Haeng. It's a very boring conference and when one of the other attendees dies while listening to the seemingly endless speeches, Siri diagnoses it as death from boredom. This does not endear him to the Communist Party higher-ups so they decide that Siri and Judge Haeng will return to Vientiane by road through highlands still inhabited by the Hmong rebels. Meanwhile back in Vientiane Nurse Dtui is waiting for a stand-in coroner to do an autopsy on the body of a soldier.

Siri is kidnapped as his convoy travels but his kidnappers mean him no harm. They just want help from the spiritual entity that inhabits his body to exorcise a demon in the headman's daughter. Nurse Dtui realizes there is something amiss with the corpse and manages to prevent the bomb inside it from detonating. That leads her and the rest of the gang in Vientiane to start searching for the villainess, The Lizard.

Along the way we learn lots about the Hmong who fought on the side of the Royalists in the civil war. Despite the fact that Siri is a Communist and fought in the Civil War on the other side from them, he is quite tolerant of them. Of course, Siri isn't your typical Communist.
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LibraryThing member -Eva-
Hmong villagers kidnap Dr. Siri Paiboun so that Yeh Ming, the shaman who lives in Siri's body, can save the headman's daughter from a demon and the curse of the pogo stick. This is another great installment of a series that provides brilliant local color, strange politics and history, charming
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characters, and an intriguing mystery. Also, Judge Haeng gets a bit of a boot in this installment as well, which regular readers will enjoy. As long as you're prepared that part of the mystery is solved by involvement of the supernatural, this is highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member prettysinister
This is the first of Cotterrill's books I've read. I was thoroughly delighted and plan on reading them all now. The combination of wry hip humor with 1970s Southeast Asian characters greatly appealed to me. I also found the bizarre supernatural dream sequences to be some of the most imaginative and
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original I've read in a long time. The book is categorized as a crime novel and Dr. Siri and his morgue crew do display some Holmesian detective skills along with the usual forensic investigative techniques that take place in crime novels about coroners and medical examiners. But this is far more than just another crime novel. We get political and cultural insights into Laos and its people of the late 1970s. I never thought that Laos would ever be as fascinating as Cotterill has managed to make it. His characters help make these stories succeed. They have depth, compassion and nearly all of them display a wicked sense of humor – something I think must've been crucial in order to survive in the poverty and despair of a Southeast Asian country still struggling with its royalist past and a culture that is heavily steeped in mystical religious beliefs. Cotterill has no tolerance for the communist bureaucrats of the era and tends to be far more cruel with them than the rest of his cast of characters. Over-inflated egos, self-importance and the arrogance of the officials are all ridiculed by both author and his cast of corpse keepers.
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LibraryThing member sriemann
These books are another wonderful series that focus on people and cultures very different than my own -- and that's what makes them great. Cotterill does his homework and puts in descriptions and details that solidify the 1970's Laos and peoples of that time, this book bringing in a lot of
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attention to the Hmong people and their culture.
The prose is witty and the plot well-thought out -- I finished in two days, and got to a point where I couldn't go to bed until I had finished the book.
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LibraryThing member RBeffa
This is the fifth book in the Dr. Siri investigation series. The stories continue to be inventive, interesting and god forbid, educational on the culture of Laos. This isn't my favorite of the series but still enjoyable - it just seemed weaker overall.

I don'think the writing was quite up to the
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standard of others in the series. There were lines here and there that threw me out of time. I also didn't care too much for the schtick that was being played out with Dtui and Mdme. Daeng.

For some reason, Dr. Siri's fiance (and wife later in the series) is now Madame Daeng rather than Deung.
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LibraryThing member mamzel
This may be my personal favorite of the series to date. Dr. Siri was away at a party convention when the body of a soldier comes into the morgue. The doctor's assistant, Dtui, noticed something suspicious about the body, much to everyone's relief. This put her and Dr. Siri's fiance on a hunt for
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someone who wanted Siri dead. Meanwhile, on the way from the convention his convoy is ambushed and Siri is abducted to a remote Hmong mountain village for help from his companion spirit, a thousand year old shaman named Yeh Ming. And so we are taken for a glimpse of another part of Laos' cultural background.

Taking place just after the end of the Vietnam war, communism is still trying to find a place in Laos. Most of the French-educated people escaped to Thailand leaving the running of the country in the hands of young and inexperienced politicos. I still find it hard that people think a population can just drop their history and religious beliefs and show loyalty to a new regime just because. Dr. Siri is a rare example of an educated man who stays in his country regardless, trying his best to serve his new bosses and still deal with the ancient and primitive beliefs of those left behind.

Still a fascinating series. I highly recommend this series to readers who like to follow a cast of interesting characters in a fascinating setting, solving a mystery or two along the way.
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LibraryThing member cathyskye
First Line: As there were no longer any records, the Hmong could not even tell when they actually misplaced their history.

Dr. Siri and his boss have traveled to the north in Laos to attend a Communist Party meeting. Dr. Siri would rather undergo a series of root canals without anesthesia.

Back in
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Vientiane, a booby-trapped corpse intended for the 73-year-old coroner has been delivered to the morgue. Only Nurse Dtui's quick thinking saves everyone in the morgue from being blown to bits.

On their way back from the meeting, Dr. Siri is kidnapped by seven female Hmong villagers so that he can exorcise a demon from the headman's daughter. While Judge Haeng gives jungle survival a try, Dr. Siri has to arrive at the solution to the curse of the pogo stick.

I think this may be the first Dr. Siri mystery that I haven't rated an A-- and I'm feeling extremely disloyal. The wit and the humor are still here in abundance, but having Dr. Siri separated from his friends and co-workers for almost the entire book just doesn't work. Especially when a dinner has to be held at the end for readers to discover what was going on with the booby-trapped corpse and other incidents that occurred in Vientiane. One of the greatest strengths of this series is the interplay between all the characters. Without that the book feels out of kilter.

All series have a book that's not quite as strong as the rest, and in all honesty, if this had been the first Dr. Siri mystery I'd read, I would've loved it and rated it higher. It is still a wonderful read (I learned quite a bit about the Hmong culture), and I urge everyone to give this series a try. Cotterill has written a marvelous series that's one of my all-time favorites.
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LibraryThing member Disie35
I truly love this series and will be hoping for more as I am just starting to read #6 of 7.

The author not only provides a wonderful protagonist in the 73 year old
"National Coroner" Dr. Siri Paibounh but also lots of local color as well as plenty of Laotian history in which, by the way,
the U.S.
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plays a less-than exemplary role.

Series is a unique mix of communism, gory autopsies, murder, and lots of comic relief. Oh, and a dash of the
supernatural!
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LibraryThing member DavidO1103
Another winner in the Dr Siri Paiboun series! Beautifully narrated, as always.
LibraryThing member nateandjess
A decidedly enjoyable read linking 1970s style forensics with centuries-old folklore. At times the plot jumps a bit, and certain actions aren't revealed until the very end. Despite this, the book has an overall quick flow and captivating story. I would recommend this to those who enjoy mysteries,
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delightfully witty characters, and booby-trapped corpses.
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LibraryThing member LaurieRKing
Something of the flavor of McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe stories, but with substance. Set in Laos in the 70s, his aging coroner is a reluctant detective and more reluctant host for spirits.
LibraryThing member austcrimefiction
Anybody who hasn't indulged in the Dr Siri series by Colin Cotterill could be forgiven for wondering what on earth is going on with CURSE OF THE POGO STICK. Booby-trapped corpses and reluctant coroners might be reasonably expected in crime fiction, but Hmong villagers needing exorcism by a
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thousand-year-old shaman who shares the aforementioned coroner's body? Understandably a "What the" moment.

Whilst the spiritual (supernatural) component of CURSE OF THE POGO STICK is considerably stronger than the earlier books, the series has been building the unlikely scenario of Dr Siri and his intrepid band of assistants - Nurse Dtui, Mr Geung and now Madame Daeng, for a number of books now. Of course, the unlikely scenario probably relates mostly to western readers, as there's something intrinsically Laotian about these books. Not only are all the characters set within an environment which is beautifully drawn, the Laotian way of life and thinking is demonstrated in a way that makes it feel very real.

Laos is almost as much a character in these books as the people mind you. Whilst CURSE OF THE POGO STICK is set partially in Vientiane, Dr Siri spends more of his time held in a village in the mountains, deep in the countryside, in threatened Hmong territory. Whilst this book does have Nurse Dtui and Madame Daeng involved in why somebody would send a booby-trapped corpse to the mortuary, a lot of time is spent with the Hmong and with Dr Siri.

Perhaps it is this aspect that could make this book less attractive to fans of the series or as an introduction point for newcomers, as there is, alongside a considerably stronger spiritual component, a hefty dose of social commentary - with the Hmong being one of the most threatened groups of people within Laotian society. Having said that, this reader has been a from the first book fan of this series, and CURSE OF THE POGO STICK appealed just as much as the other books. Whilst not normally a fan of the supernatural, with Dr Siri, I have developed a considerably higher tolerance factor. Possibly because the author delivers these components of all the books as less of the supernatural, and more a long-held cultural belief system that is fundamental to these people's lives. Social commentary, on the other hand, is one of my very favourite things, and learning some of the hazards and problems that the Hmong experience made time spent with Dr Siri both educational and entertaining.

Perhaps if you are new to this series, it may be better to start a little earlier. Get to know Dr Siri and his band of supporters from the beginning, and you will be able to follow their story as the author relaxes into what seems to this reader, at least, to be a very Laotian way of telling a story.

Previous books in the series are:

* The Coroner's Lunch
* Thirty-Three Teeth
* Disco for the Departed
* Anarchy and Old Dogs
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LibraryThing member dougwood57
The Curse of the Pogo Stick is the fourth entry in this idiosyncratic detective series that features the septuagenarian Dr. Siri Paiboun as the crime-solving national coroner of Laos. Oh yes, and he's sort of possessed by the spirit of an ancient shaman, Yeh Ming. Standard fare.

The series is set
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in the 1970's after the Pathet Lao came to power in the wake of the Indochinese wars that devastated the region. Siri himself was for many years an active member of the Communist resistance. He was even briefly a fighter until it was determined he was useless with a weapon and more useful treating the sick and wounded. Siri's enthusiasm for the Pathet Lao has waned due mostly to the fear and paranoia the regime creates as it looks for enemies of the people it thinks lurk everywhere.

I read this book out of sequence and enjoyed it enough to seek out the first book in the series (The Coroner's Lunch). I enjoyed this book more than the first simply because the stage setting has been done and we can get on with the stories. As odd as it may sound, Cotterill has created an English cozy kind of atmosphere. This reader found himself rooting for Siri and his rather motley assistants not so much to solve the crimes, but to find happiness in life and victory over the young largely clueless bureaucrats ruling the roost.

Cotterill recreates the extreme privation of post-war Laos and some sense of what life would be like in the country aside from the war's impacts. The mysteries (there are at least a couple that need solving) are good, if not great. Some will be put off by the mystical element that Yeh Ming introduces. The thousand year-old spirit more resides in Siri's mind next to his own mind rather than actually possessing him. I strongly favor realism over romanticism and I certainly am not a big fan of mysticism, but somehow Cotterill makes the Yeh Ming element work. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member eachurch
Another entertaining Dr Siri mystery. It's an amusing novel, full of great characters, and good humor. Cotterill continues to do a great job moving the series along.
LibraryThing member burritapal
Hardback soho press Inc 2008

In this book in the series, nurse Dtui has married her policeman husband, and is pregnant with their first child. Siri is engaged to be married with madame daeng.
P.26-7:
"The hmong at first migrated to Laos from China almost two centuries before. They were a people forced
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through their Swidden – slash and burn farming -- lifestyle to move on every five to ten years when the fields became unproductive. Originally, land had been plentiful and this was no problem. but soon, with overcrowding on the plains, they were forced to higher and higher ground. They were a race with no nation, no large cities, and few ambitions beyond family and home. they lived according to tradition with the elders teaching everything technical, moral, and spiritual to the young. But history constantly found them in the wrong place at the wrong time. opium cultivation had been imposed on them by the Chinese and French administrators, then they were taxed for producing it. When they supplied to the wrong side, they were hounded off the land. they found themselves in a system they had no desire to enter, constantly having to fight for their independence. when they fought it was not out of conviction but for their own survival.
in laos, interclan rivalry was exploited at the time of the Japanese occupation. One clan collaborated with the japanese, the other with the french. the split became even more pronounced after the war, with one side forming an alliance with the Communists in the North and the other with the americans. there was very little option of non-alignment. The Lao hmong lived in a land that had forever been somebody's battleground. diverse groups who had no interest in politics were forced by their clan name to favor one side or the other. clans found themselves pulled into The fray by recruiters. Once again, the Hmong had become somebody's enemy – a title their culture abhorred and given their history of abuse, one they hardly deserved."

P.36:
"Some people just die. Siri had come to that conclusion after many years of careful observation. they don't necessarily die of anything, they just get old, everything gives up , and they pass away. It's as simple as that. there are those who describe it as dying of old age but that puts old age in the same category as bubonic plague and the black death. there really is nothing dangerous about old age and there's no reason to be afraid of it. It certainly hadn't done Dr Siri any harm. he'd been passing through its hallowed halls for some years and it hadn't killed him."

When siri is kidnapped by the hmong, judge haeng jumps out of the Jeep, and disappears into the jungle. Siri lets the hMong know that the judge will perish if left in the jungle, and that he needs his assistance, so two young soldiers rescue him and bring him back to the village.
P.137:
"a broken wrist, a lost toenail, several deep lacerations probably caused by running into trees, bruises, a slight fever as a result of malnutrition, and a bad case of poison ivy. but, against all the odds, judge Haeng would live to tell the tale. Bao looked at his well-manicured fingernails and soft hands.
'He isn't your assistant, is he Yeh ming?'
'in fact, he's my chief,' Siri confessed.
'but... But he's much younger than you.'
'That's The marvelous thing about communism, bao. equal opportunity. even a man without experience has the chance to run a department.'
'it's a silly system.' "

Long's daughter, who has supposedly been impregnated by a demon, has lost her soul. So Siri goes to the underworld, looking for her it.
P.153:
" 'Siri pushed over a stack of files with his finger. it collapsed a second and a third stack and exposed a stunned, red-faced man who looked at him through bloodshot eyes.
'Wh...?'
siri said, 'you find some of the most bad-mannered people in jobs dealing with the public. Why do you suppose that is?'
'what?'
'It takes skills to deal with people day in and day out. customers have feelings, you know? It isn't that difficult to show a little courtesy and civility. it takes no more effort to make your clients happy than it does to depress the socks off them. if you can't do that, I don't really know why you're here. There are plenty of non-contact careers available for bookkeepers.'
There was a long silence during which the two stared at each other. the ginger-haired man swallowed and his voice broke a little as he said, 'I'm Nywa Tuatay, the deputy overlord of the otherworld.'
'then, as I say, perhaps you should be looking for a position that better suits your personality.' "

P.163-4:
" 'congratulations,' he said. 'you're a grandfather.'
The women, still carrying their mental images of terror, approached the babies cautiously. did they sport horns? Have fangs? Did they have all their requisite limbs and organs?
'Are they...?' Long began.
'they're perfectly normal, perfectly healthy human beings,' Siri smiled. although they were certainly pretty babies, he didn't add the word 'beautiful' in case the infant-stealing dab spirits were listening.
...
'And Chammee?' Long asked. 'where is my daughter?'
it was the question Siri had dreaded. He pulled away from bao and stood before long with his hands collapsed in front of him. He shook his head. 'I'm afraid it was too much for her,' he said.

The villagers have a huge party to celebrate the release of Chammee's soul, and a farewell party for their own tribe.
P.181:
"...the silver jewelry and ornaments he'd seen little signs of since his arrival had gone with their owners. with the whiskey still buzzing in their heads, the Hmong had packed their valuables and their opium nuggets and their salted pig meat and they left. And Siri had slept through it all. his chest felt empty as if some important organ had been removed from it. he held the pa n'tow to his nose and breathed in the strength and youth of his general bao and the courage of her tribe.
If he hadn't been so dehydrated, he might have even managed a tear or two. something about the countryside released the emotions that remained bottled in the city. perhaps he wasn't just sad for the plight of these friends, perhaps it was a global, all-encompassing sadness that included his whole country, and the hopelessness of life, and the fact that there would never really be peace in the world because man was intrinsically stupid. at that moment, with the mother of all hangovers pounding in his head, he felt he shouldered the misery of every victim in the universe."
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LibraryThing member wildbill
Someone is out to murder Dr. Siri. While he is at a meeting of communist bigwigs in northern Laos a dead body comes into the morgue that is booby trapped with a hand grenade. Anyone performing an autopsy on the body would have have ended up in very small pieces. Nurse Dtui, her husband, Mr. Geung
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and Dr. Siri's new sweetheart get busy trying to find who is behind this plot. Unfortunately the clues they find lead them into a trap set up by the evil woman who is after Dr. Siri. When we last see them they are surrounded by people with guns who are set to take great delight in killing them all. You have to read the book to see what happens next.
Up north Dr. Siri and Judge Haeng are traveling through the jungle when their convoy is attacked. Judge Haeng runs off into the jungle and Dr. Siri is brought to a Hmong village. The villagers need Yeh Ming to perform an exorcism on one of the daughters of the village headman who has become afflicted by the curse of the pogo stick. Dr. Siri is taken to a hut and is shown the pogo stick which brought a curse on the whole village. It was evidently a souvenir from American fliers and afflicted all the children in the village with an uncontrollable desire to jump up and down for hours.
Dr. Siri is taken to see the afflicted daughter who has been impregnated by a powerful demon. In their first encounter the demon beats up Dr. Siri leaving him scared and injured. Dr. Siri gets some quick shaman lessons and goes into the Underworld to try to save the girl.
Meanwhile Judge Haeng is lost in the jungle until he wanders into the village and ......... you have to read the book.
The story ends on a romantic note as Dr. Siri has the opportunity to find out how good a lover he is at the age of 73.
This is another enjoyable visit with Dr. Siri and friends with enough suspense to keep the reader interested in the story and plenty of drinking and other types of fun. If it was not the best book in the series I have read so far it was definitely good enough to make me want to read the next one.
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LibraryThing member ffortsa
Dr. Siri is kidnapped and ends up assisting Hmong people to leave their village. The title refers to a pogo stick they had fought over and later converted to a totem.
LibraryThing member Carol420
I'm sure that starting at the beginning of the series would have given me a much clearer understanding of the characters...but hey...why should I start doing that now? It seems that politics plays a large role in the stories, but the books are NOT about politics...they're about friendship and love
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of the people living in a small Laotian community. Dr. Siri, the main character, has special abilities that connect him to the spirit world as well as special abilities to work the system. I found the book to be beautifully written and the cast of characters a rare treasure...and at the center of all this is a fantastic mystery, the kind that grabs the reader and makes you want to keep reading well into the night. I'm hooked as long as he continues to produce such marvelous, funny, endearing and amazing characters as those I have already met. I'll be good and start at the beginning.
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LibraryThing member alanteder
Dr. Siri and the Hmong Exorcism
Review of the Knopf Canada hardcover edition (August 26, 2008) of the Soho Crime hardcover original (July 1, 2008)

Curse of the Pogo Stick is the 5th book of the Dr. Siri Paiboun series and has Lao national coroner Dr. Siri and his nemesis Judge Haeng off in Northeast
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Laos. Back in the capital city of Vientiane, Siri's friends and allies, fiancée Daeng, Inspector Phosy, Nurse Dtui, Attendant Deung, and old comrade Civilai are dealing with the after effects of the failed coup d'état from the previous book Anarchy and Old Dogs (2007).

Siri and Haeng are kidnapped by a tribe of Hmong who need Siri's shaman powers to exorcise an evil force in their village (the pogo stick of the title is a macguffin, and hardly features in the book). This plot line provides author Cotterill the opportunity to expand on the history of the Hmong and how their culture has been decimated in the long nationalist and political conflicts of the region. The hapless Judge Haeng provides the comic relief with his cowardly antics.

Meanwhile in Vientiane, the forces of the Lizard are attempting to assassinate Siri's friends in retribution for their coup failure. Nurse Dtui is able to defuse their various bombings and poisonings. She and the rest of the gang formulate a plan to expose the conspirators.

This series continues to delight with its overviews of Lao lifestyles and culture, the human persistence in the face of bureaucratic & totalitarian incompetence and Dr. Siri's unique investigative methods that combine spiritual perception with common sense intuition.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Curse of the Pogo Stick by Colin Cotterill is the fifth book about Dr. Siri Paiboun, the 76 year old reluctant Head Coroner of the newly communist country of Laos. When Dr. Siri and his boss, Judge Haeng go to the north of the country to attend a convention they fall into the hands of a group of
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Hmong who need help in removing the curse of the pogo stick. At the same time, Dr. Siri’s friends and co-workers are involved in a challenge as well. It starts with a bobby trapped body and escalates from there as they face-off with known terrorist, The Lizard.

The author has plenty of opportunity for humor and wit with Dr. Siri acting as the long dead shaman Yeh Ming, and Nurse Dtui and her husband investigating The Lizard. This is an unusual crime series that veers toward satire and irony rather than detection, and Curse of the Pogo Stick showcases the engaging Dr. Siri and his friends in a most satisfying manner.
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LibraryThing member Ma_Washigeri
...and another half star. Feeling a bit browbeaten by the anti-communist stance. Take his point but feels like he is getting a bit lazy and over-playing it. Quite a short book this one, entertaining but not much meat to it so I might go straight on to the next which I've picked up somewhere.

Pages

256

ISBN

1569474850 / 9781569474853
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