Rice Without Rain

By Minfong Ho

Another dry season -- another silent harvest The parched yellow fields outside the village where seventeen-year-old Jinda lives are her family's only source of income. How can the rain-starved crop produce enough rice to feed them, much less pay the rent? Perhaps the recently arrived young strangers from the city are right about the need for centuries-old traditions to change. At least when she listens to their talk, she feels the stirrings of hope... Hesitantly, Jinga grows to trust the outsiders. There is Sri, who brings with her life-saving medicines and knowledge of how to use them. And there is Ned, who talks of taking charge of one's own destiny, and fighting those who would stand in the way. It is almost too late when Jinda realizes that her trust is misplaced -- that to Sri and Ned their cause is more important than the lives it would affect. Against a vividly evoked backdrop of rural and urban Thailand, Jinda heroically faces the challenges of holding on to who she is as the world around her revolves in what seems to be never-ending change.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688063551
• ISBN13: 9780688063559
• Release Date: May 1990
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

A Lovely Read

I thought Rice Without Rain was an absolutely spectacular book. A story that has love, war - what else could one want? RWR also brings the conflict in Thailand out into the public eye and has informed thousands about these violent periods in Thailand, of which the general population probably is vaguely aware of. The main character and our heroine, Jinda, is a very simple, good natured young woman, and warms the hearts of all readers with her innocent naivete. The characters are so real in this novel, that they will stay for you months after. They have with me.I personally would reccomend this piece to anyone. It has been the foundation of my newfound love for Asian literature.

Amazing

This book was the most amazing book I've ever read, it studies the trial and tragedies of a young Thai girl. At first she sees the world as flat, they always do something because that's the way they always do it, but when she meets the university students who come to study her village, the world becomes round to her. One of the great parts of the book is when her father is thrown in jail, the authors writing is so spirited that you can feel Jinda's (the main characters) anger and desparation. When she visits her father in prision tears sprang to my eyes, it's just that the author's writing is so amazing it takes you right to Bankok with the characters. The description is marvelous, the writing is timeless, and the story is amazing. Rice Without Rain will remain in my heart and my mind forever.

An ironic twist to a love story.

Children of the River by Linda Crew, was a very good novel, but not since Rice With Rain have I had so much interest in reading a novel. I never thought that I would encounter another book as depressing as Children of the River, yet Rice Without Rain certainly was the one. The story was about Jinda Boonreung, a village thai girl, who goes through many struggles to free her father. She also seeks love and happiness from a city boy in Bangkok, Ned. Though they met and fell in love, they couldn't be together. What a ironic twist, huh!? To find out more about this ironic love story and what happened at the end, I'll recommend that you'll need to read this book.

Jinda fell in love trying 2 sve her dad, thy wnt sep. ways.

Jinda, a 17 yr old girl tries to save her father from prison with the help of a Bangkok student named Ned. They fall in love but end up separated after Jinda's father dies. She stayed in the village afterwards and Ned joined the Communist army to fight for his rights. Never seeing each other again, Jinda says farewell to her first love.

Striking the emotional chord in all of us

"Rice without Rain" was a very down-to-earth and practical story.It discussed the key issues of poverty and unfairness towards farming communities.I was very emotionally touched by the life that Jinda went through as a result of all the revolutions and mental torture. She showed me that she was a strong character still very much in touch with her roots and that she treasured simple things in nature that city-dwellers like myself have come to take for granted---like rain.Indeed, in the last part of the story, as Jinda remembered all of the past, one could see that a new life was in the making.The rain was like healing water soothing the wounds of the land, curing all the suffering in the land.