The Four Reigns : A Book Review

A tale of life, is what perfectly describes this book by the master wordsmith

Kukrit Pramoj, or Mom Rajawongse Kukrit Pramoj, a Thai politician and scholar, the thirteenth Prime Minister of Thailand. The Four Reigns is one of his most notable works. This describes the journey of a young girl named Phloi through the changes to the Thai society. A perfect glimpse of effects of wars and modernization.

The tale begins with a young Phloi leaving her father’s place for her mother’s desire for freedom from being a minor wife. She travels to the royal palace to start a new life as a minor courtier, building up new friendships and transitioning to womanhood. Phloi encounters a journey of a lifetime, friendships, love, heartbreak and marriage. The journey we all can relate to. Phloi faces despair of losing someone close to her , learns to cope and adapt and move on. She discovers the youthful alterations with her friend Choi. And learns to grow while working as a court attendant. With passage of time, she faces the duties of marriage with someone unknown, namely

Khun Prem. An arrangement made by the elders and traditions. Phloi then discovers the joys of falling in love. The book then delves into the life of Phloi and

Khun Prem as husband and wife and their journey of building a family together. The effects of western idealism and traditional discipline are constant aspects of their life.

With their children growing up and going abroad to study, the book then goes through another phase of Phloi’s life. It shows the changing views of the generation, the traditional views Phloi grew up with and her transition of rejection, doubt and acceptance of the change. It highlights how the ideas change. All Phloi had to worry in her youth was about a new dress. And the youth she encounters in her growing age delves into all, even politics. Phloi’s son bringing a French wife also is quite an interesting point at the story. The consequences of modern ideals are well profound in this phase of the book. Phloi witnesses the effects in her own daughter, which is quite a different situation as compared to her own. Through these characters, Pramoj explores how the conflation of advancement with Westernisation was popular among the upper-class, and the consequences of this problematic ideology.

The character witnesses World War I and its impact on the nation. She bears the loss of her husband, the strenuous process of aging, the grief of being alone and then the love of her family. Phloi witnesses bombing, rebel groups and even loss of one of her sons due to malaria. At the end of the war, she loses her house and returns to her ancestral land at Khlong Bang Luang to spend the last of her days.Phloi lives through time periods of four reigns as the title suggests, involving four different kings. The king well-renowned in history, King Chulalongkorn, was the monarch at Phloi's birth and

King Ananda Mahidol is the ruler reigning at Phloi's death.

On the whole, the tome is one of a kind. It is perfect blend of materials and emotions. An excellent glimpse into the pages of history while keeping a touch with the present. Pramoj has brilliantly fashioned the characters with whom we can relate at the emotional level. Some may view it as a life of a housewife with no aims and goals. But to me, this is a journey beyond that. The Four Reigns is a timeless piece of illustration of complexities of human emotions and their journey throughout.  To me, it is indeed a must read.