"...His most telling insights about Burma, come in the tiniest frames. Although determinedly small in scope, the book takes on layers of themes: expat life, tourist impressions, political commentary and the role of international NGOs...Like other foreign visitors, Delisle is fascinated by the many antiquated and quirky elements of Burmese life: a Morse code key still in use, long ropes with clips hanging from apartment windows for hoisting up packages, reliance on bank ledgers and WWII-era fire trucks. He gets classic nonpolitical laughs from his Thinggyan soaking and the sudden onset of the monsoon...On a last neighborhood walk with his son, Delisle happens on a Ferris wheel of the low-tech Burmese type, being turned by one athletic longyi-clad man. It is a remarkable Buddhist image of the wheel of life and a most human symbol of Burma, so much effort for so little change—around and around it goes..."