A beautifully crafted memoir about fathers and sons, masculinity, and the lengths we sometimes go to in order to confront our past"[A] lucidly written memoir . . . Coffin's triumph lies in ridding the language of his father, a language that compelled him to dwell in a house he did not recognize." —Matthew Janney, The Los Angeles Review of BooksWhile lifting weights in the Seldon Jackson College gymnasium on a rainy autumn night, Jae...

Six years ago at the age of twenty-one, Jaed Muncharoen Coffin, a half-Thai American man, left New England's privileged Middlebury College to be ordained as a Buddhist monk in his mother's native village of Panomsarakram--thus fulfilling a familial obligation. While addressing the notions of displacement, ethnic identity, and cultural belonging, A Chant to Soothe Wild Elephants chronicles his time at the temple that rain season--receiving alms in the streets in saffron robes; bath...

"Jaed Coffin narrates these personal stories of his encounters..His quiet, calm narration has a steady, honest tone as he describes his upbringing, his relationship with his father, and the low-level fights that take him around Alaska." — AudioFile Magazine**This program is read by the author.A beautifully crafted memoir about fathers and sons, masculinity, and the lengths we sometimes go to in order to confront our past.**While lifting wei...