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The Boat
A stunningly inventive, deeply moving fiction debut: stories that take us from the slums of Colombia to the streets of Tehran; from New York City to Iowa City; from a tiny fishing village in Australia to a foundering vessel in the South China Sea, in a masterly display of literary virtuosity and feeling.
In the magnificent opening story, “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice,” a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his father’s experiences in Vietnam—and what seems at first a satire of turning one’s life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland, and the ties between father and son. “Cartagena” provides a visceral glimpse of life in Colombia as it enters the mind of a fourteen-year-old hit man facing the ultimate test. In “Meeting Elise,” an aging New York painter mourns his body’s decline as he prepares to meet his daughter on the eve of her Carnegie Hall debut. And with graceful symmetry, the final, title story returns to Vietnam, to a fishing trawler crowded with refugees, where a young woman’s bond with a mother and her small son forces both women to a shattering decision.
Brilliant, daring, and demonstrating a jaw-dropping versatility of voice and point of view, The Boat is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human, and announces a writer of astonishing gifts.
In the magnificent opening story, “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice,” a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his father’s experiences in Vietnam—and what seems at first a satire of turning one’s life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland, and the ties between father and son. “Cartagena” provides a visceral glimpse of life in Colombia as it enters the mind of a fourteen-year-old hit man facing the ultimate test. In “Meeting Elise,” an aging New York painter mourns his body’s decline as he prepares to meet his daughter on the eve of her Carnegie Hall debut. And with graceful symmetry, the final, title story returns to Vietnam, to a fishing trawler crowded with refugees, where a young woman’s bond with a mother and her small son forces both women to a shattering decision.
Brilliant, daring, and demonstrating a jaw-dropping versatility of voice and point of view, The Boat is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human, and announces a writer of astonishing gifts.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published May 13, 2008
About the author
Nam Le
22 books129 followersNam Le came to Australia from Vietnam with his parents, when he was less than a year old, as a boat refugee. He went to Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne, from where he graduated with a BA (Hons) and LLB (Hons). His Arts thesis supervisor was the Australian poet Chris Wallace-Crabbe. He worked as a corporate lawyer and was admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria in 2003/2004.
However, he decided to turn to writing, and in 2004 attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the United States of America where he completed a Masters in Creative Writing. He became fiction editor at the Harvard Review. His first short story was published in Zoetrope in 2006. Nam Le also held fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown in 2006, and at the Phillips Exeter Academy, in 2007.
In an interview on Australian ABC radio, he said he turned from law to writing due to his love of reading: "I loved reading, and if you asked me why I decided to become a writer, that's the answer right there, because I was a reader and I was just so enthralled and thrilled by the stuff that I'd read that I just thought; what could be better? How could you possibly better spend your time than trying to recreate that feeling for other people". In the same interview he said that his first writing was poetry.
He returned to Australia in 2008, but is moving to Great Britain to take up a writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia.
When asked about his source of inspiration, Nam Le said in 2008 that "I’d say I’m most inspired by my parents for the choices and sacrifices they’ve made. It still boggles me".
However, he decided to turn to writing, and in 2004 attended the Iowa Writers' Workshop in the United States of America where he completed a Masters in Creative Writing. He became fiction editor at the Harvard Review. His first short story was published in Zoetrope in 2006. Nam Le also held fellowships at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown in 2006, and at the Phillips Exeter Academy, in 2007.
In an interview on Australian ABC radio, he said he turned from law to writing due to his love of reading: "I loved reading, and if you asked me why I decided to become a writer, that's the answer right there, because I was a reader and I was just so enthralled and thrilled by the stuff that I'd read that I just thought; what could be better? How could you possibly better spend your time than trying to recreate that feeling for other people". In the same interview he said that his first writing was poetry.
He returned to Australia in 2008, but is moving to Great Britain to take up a writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia.
When asked about his source of inspiration, Nam Le said in 2008 that "I’d say I’m most inspired by my parents for the choices and sacrifices they’ve made. It still boggles me".
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 827 reviews
May 25, 2019
The production quality, art direction, sound design, and every other thoughtful decision that went into crafting this interactive web comic is what pushes this story to 5 stars. I think if I had read this story in a traditional format with just the text, I would have rated it 3 stars, because the short length and choppy writing don’t provide much context for the historical setting or enough to make me emotionally connected to the characters. However, the craft truly enhanced the story to make it feel more visceral and immersive, and from my POV as an art director, I’m impressed enough with the work on a technical level to give it the full 5 stars. I appreciate how the music and sound effects create a claustrophobic atmosphere, and that there were so many little details like having the comic panels tilt around the screen when the boat is rocking around. The emotional beats were executed well, such as showing starvation through art that diminishes as you scroll down. These nuances make it clear that there was a lot of time, care, and thought put into this. I totally get why people might rate this 3 stars due to lack of historical context provided and not having much of an emotional connection, but I think if you come from a design background you will appreciate the craft, and if you are of Vietnamese heritage it’ll be a sobering story to think about.
June 20, 2008
*sigh* Where do I even begin with what went wrong with this book. It started off so well. Certain scenes are so well described that I was really invested as a reader. However, I hate the way he ends each story... or rather, doesn't.
The first story felt like a good introduction chapter to a novel, except it's not a novel it was just a short story on its own. In turn it made the story have a horrible ending with a quick sum-up of what the character understood from the events in a few sentences.
It's an interesting book because it asks the question of whether or not anybody can write a story about a time, place, culture, language, etc that is not their own. I think it's possible because he does it decently in two/three of the stories. However, the rest were crap. I didn't believe them. They lacked a certain insight of someone who has lived that life or lived in that place or understood that culture. "Write what you know" should be plastered across his computer screen or above his typewriter. The stories were like the Hollywood version of certain stories. (No wonder certain critics were giving such high praise of it.) These stories were stories that were clearly imagined about other places and other times while the author rests comfortably in a pampered lifestyle thousands of miles from the actual locations.
The first story felt like a good introduction chapter to a novel, except it's not a novel it was just a short story on its own. In turn it made the story have a horrible ending with a quick sum-up of what the character understood from the events in a few sentences.
It's an interesting book because it asks the question of whether or not anybody can write a story about a time, place, culture, language, etc that is not their own. I think it's possible because he does it decently in two/three of the stories. However, the rest were crap. I didn't believe them. They lacked a certain insight of someone who has lived that life or lived in that place or understood that culture. "Write what you know" should be plastered across his computer screen or above his typewriter. The stories were like the Hollywood version of certain stories. (No wonder certain critics were giving such high praise of it.) These stories were stories that were clearly imagined about other places and other times while the author rests comfortably in a pampered lifestyle thousands of miles from the actual locations.
May 23, 2020
5★
I was delighted to find this book of well-written short stories by Aussie author Nam Le, who arrived here by boat as a refugee from Vietnam when he was only one.
These eight stories are all quite different from each other and Le speaks in many voices from different countries, all believable: Vietnamese, Colombian, Japanese, Iranian, Australian.
I think my favourite is the young Aussie lad in the fishing family with the sick mum. Football, a girl, bullies, a jetty, a struggling dad and younger brother. It’s all there. It’s a short story, but it’s all there. This one is reminiscent of Tim Winton.
That to me is the beauty of a good short story. You are curious about what came before and what might follow, but it isn’t necessary to know.
I don’t know if the first story is autobiographical or not, but Le got his Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa, and the first story is about a son writing about his Vietnamese father, who has come to visit him at the University of Iowa at an inopportune time when he has writing deadlines to meet. He resents the interruption and the reminders of his father’s history.
A friend says to just write about Vietnam. “Ethnic literature is hot.” His friends talk about exploiting the whole Vietnamese thing. He doesn’t want to, but as he pieces together his father’s story and understands the horrors of the massacre from which he escaped, he feels compelled.
“…all I could do was think about my father and his excuses. Those tattered bodies on top of him. The ten hours he’d waited, mud filling his lungs, until nightfall.”
He has trouble dealing with the contrast between his father’s experiences and his own life. It’s hard to look at this little old man and realise this was “the soldier” who’d raised him and punished him so harshly.
I enjoyed his writing style. About young Colombians, a guy says, “They look younger than I remember. Only Pedro has grown—he looks like he has been seized by a fistful of hair and stretched up two inches.”
About a father desperate to see his daughter who was taken from him as an infant, “The past’s a cold body of water for me and nowadays my bones ache after even a quick dip.”
The Aussie boy is sitting by the shore “shivering. It was like the wind was greased, he thought, it slid right against you, leaving your skin slippery where it touched.”
About swimming he thinks, “it was easy to forget, past the reef, that you were on the edge of the great continental shelf until a rip drifted you out and one of those cold currents snaked up from the depths and brushed its slightest fringe against your body. Then you remembered.”
I haven’t even mentioned the bombs in Tehran or the people in Hiroshima or The Boat, a harrowing story that could also have been his. You’ll just have to read them.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of these to review. I hope there will be more to follow from this talented writer.
I was delighted to find this book of well-written short stories by Aussie author Nam Le, who arrived here by boat as a refugee from Vietnam when he was only one.
These eight stories are all quite different from each other and Le speaks in many voices from different countries, all believable: Vietnamese, Colombian, Japanese, Iranian, Australian.
I think my favourite is the young Aussie lad in the fishing family with the sick mum. Football, a girl, bullies, a jetty, a struggling dad and younger brother. It’s all there. It’s a short story, but it’s all there. This one is reminiscent of Tim Winton.
That to me is the beauty of a good short story. You are curious about what came before and what might follow, but it isn’t necessary to know.
I don’t know if the first story is autobiographical or not, but Le got his Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Iowa, and the first story is about a son writing about his Vietnamese father, who has come to visit him at the University of Iowa at an inopportune time when he has writing deadlines to meet. He resents the interruption and the reminders of his father’s history.
A friend says to just write about Vietnam. “Ethnic literature is hot.” His friends talk about exploiting the whole Vietnamese thing. He doesn’t want to, but as he pieces together his father’s story and understands the horrors of the massacre from which he escaped, he feels compelled.
“…all I could do was think about my father and his excuses. Those tattered bodies on top of him. The ten hours he’d waited, mud filling his lungs, until nightfall.”
He has trouble dealing with the contrast between his father’s experiences and his own life. It’s hard to look at this little old man and realise this was “the soldier” who’d raised him and punished him so harshly.
I enjoyed his writing style. About young Colombians, a guy says, “They look younger than I remember. Only Pedro has grown—he looks like he has been seized by a fistful of hair and stretched up two inches.”
About a father desperate to see his daughter who was taken from him as an infant, “The past’s a cold body of water for me and nowadays my bones ache after even a quick dip.”
The Aussie boy is sitting by the shore “shivering. It was like the wind was greased, he thought, it slid right against you, leaving your skin slippery where it touched.”
About swimming he thinks, “it was easy to forget, past the reef, that you were on the edge of the great continental shelf until a rip drifted you out and one of those cold currents snaked up from the depths and brushed its slightest fringe against your body. Then you remembered.”
I haven’t even mentioned the bombs in Tehran or the people in Hiroshima or The Boat, a harrowing story that could also have been his. You’ll just have to read them.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a copy of these to review. I hope there will be more to follow from this talented writer.
February 10, 2018
dnf at page 205 (with 2 short stories to go)
I read the first story in this collection for uni and I really liked it. I wanted to read more of Nam Le's short stories, because why wouldn't you when you really liked one.
I can say for me the first short story, the one I'd already read, is the best one. It gripped me and piqued my interest and I've actually read it 3 or 4 times now. Really like it
But none of the other stories were really grabbing my interest. And the thing is, there's no doubt Nam Le is a good writer. His words are beautiful and he captures so many different people and puts down such an interesting take on them all. But something wasn't grabbing me. I was increasingly disengaged, and this is the year I've told myself I'm not going to force myself to finish things I'm not loving
There will definitely be stories in here people will like. The second story (probably my favourite beside the first) follows Columbian spies, the third story Halfhead Bay follows an Australian surfer who's story is reminiscent of the ones Tim Winton writes. If you like Winton you'll like that one.
It is unfortunate I wasn't finding something to grab me here. I think it was the characters - none of these short story characters really made me want to read on.
But I don't think this is a bad collection, and I think Nam Le is a beautiful writer (someone mentioned he's a poetry writer? makes sense)
So overall, this is good, but it wasn't for me.
I read the first story in this collection for uni and I really liked it. I wanted to read more of Nam Le's short stories, because why wouldn't you when you really liked one.
I can say for me the first short story, the one I'd already read, is the best one. It gripped me and piqued my interest and I've actually read it 3 or 4 times now. Really like it
But none of the other stories were really grabbing my interest. And the thing is, there's no doubt Nam Le is a good writer. His words are beautiful and he captures so many different people and puts down such an interesting take on them all. But something wasn't grabbing me. I was increasingly disengaged, and this is the year I've told myself I'm not going to force myself to finish things I'm not loving
There will definitely be stories in here people will like. The second story (probably my favourite beside the first) follows Columbian spies, the third story Halfhead Bay follows an Australian surfer who's story is reminiscent of the ones Tim Winton writes. If you like Winton you'll like that one.
It is unfortunate I wasn't finding something to grab me here. I think it was the characters - none of these short story characters really made me want to read on.
But I don't think this is a bad collection, and I think Nam Le is a beautiful writer (someone mentioned he's a poetry writer? makes sense)
So overall, this is good, but it wasn't for me.
May 8, 2020
So, looking at other reviews for this book, it was clearly a love or hate book, and unfortunately I am far close to the hate end of the scale the an the love end!
This is a collection of seven short stories by a Vietnamese Australian author. The first story, and the last (titular) story are autobiographical in some shape or form, the others take place in a range of places - the USA, Iran, Colombia and Japan.
For me the stories didn't read well. They were awkward or clunky in their transitions (in time mostly), or remained unresolved (and for me, therefore pointless) or just didn't feel believable or legitimate. Perhaps it was a stretch to write in the 'voice' of people of different nationalities, although in some cases the settings were fairly reasonably described.
Ultimately I had to skim the last three stories, as the previous ones had made it too unlikely that I would sustain a more careful read of this book.
2 stars.
This is a collection of seven short stories by a Vietnamese Australian author. The first story, and the last (titular) story are autobiographical in some shape or form, the others take place in a range of places - the USA, Iran, Colombia and Japan.
For me the stories didn't read well. They were awkward or clunky in their transitions (in time mostly), or remained unresolved (and for me, therefore pointless) or just didn't feel believable or legitimate. Perhaps it was a stretch to write in the 'voice' of people of different nationalities, although in some cases the settings were fairly reasonably described.
Ultimately I had to skim the last three stories, as the previous ones had made it too unlikely that I would sustain a more careful read of this book.
2 stars.
May 3, 2020
this broke my heart into a billion pieces :)))))
first book for asian readathon - read an asian book you can’t relate to (not asian/vietnamese, not a man) 🇻🇳
first book for asian readathon - read an asian book you can’t relate to (not asian/vietnamese, not a man) 🇻🇳
July 21, 2008
I have to admit, I am still ten pages from finishing this book, but I can't do it anymore! With the exception of the first story, this book bored me to tears. I give it two starts instead of one, because Le is a great writer. At fear of sounding like a literary agent, I will still say that I couldn't relate to any of these characters or their lives. And this is because the writer didn't make it easy for me to relate to them. Le is an excellent writer, but a horrilbe story teller. He never drew me in for a second, and I'm not one to easily get bored with books. One of the writers quoted in the back of the book says "The Boat will be read as long as people read books." Good God! I hope not, which really is sad because this could've been a really good book, given Le's talent, but it comes off forced...it's no surprise his friends tell him he needs to write about his family's life in Vietnam instead of old, rich men in Manhattan. To get a taste of Le's talent without having to read the whole thing, read the New York Times book review and read the excerpt from the first story.
October 18, 2021
Based on a narrative by Nam Le, The Boat tells the story of a young girl's arduous journey from Vietnam as an asylum seeker. It is the first interactive webcomic that I've ever read and I am in awe at the production quality and the thought that went into the design and formatting. I especially enjoyed the soundtrack and how it enhanced the scenes at hand.
The feelings of claustrophobia and the inhumane conditions on the boat really came across through the hauntingly beautiful music and fitting sound effects. On top of that, the black and white art style added to the bleak nature of their quest.
This webcomic follows the young girl Mai and the two people she's closest to on the boat: the even younger boy Truong and his mother Queyen. Personally, I didn't quite manage to connect to any of the characters because the webcomic was just too short for that (it took me around 15 minutes to finish it) and I didn't always get why characters acted in certain ways. Therefore, despite the heavy subject matter, the webcomic didn't have the emotional impact that I should have had.
Being a very ignorant German, who knows next to nothing about the Vietnam War (because we don't learn about it in schools here), I had hoped that the comic would include more historical facts and the political context in which the story was set. Unfortunately, we got absolutely nothing on that front, and so I had to do all the research on my own (which is fine, don't get me wrong). Here's what I learned:
The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975 with the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army and the subsequent evacuation of more than 130,000 Vietnamese closely associated with the United States or the former government of South Vietnam. Most of the evacuees were resettled in the United States in Operation New Life and Operation New Arrivals. Within the same year, the countries of Cambodia and Laos also fell to communist forces, thus engendering a steady flow of refugees fleeing all three countries.
Vietnamese boat people were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration was at its highest in 1978 and 1979, but continued through the early 1990s. The number of boat people leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995.
The combination of economic sanctions, the legacy of destruction left by the Vietnam War, Vietnamese government policies, and further conflicts with neighboring countries caused an international humanitarian crisis, with the Southeast Asian countries increasingly unwilling to accept more boat people on their shores. After negotiations and an international conference in 1979, Vietnam agreed to limit the flow of people leaving the country. The Southeast Asian countries agreed to admit the boat people temporarily, and the rest of the world, especially the developed countries, agreed to assume most of the costs of caring for the boat people and to resettle them in their countries.
I'm not a history buff by any means but I found it very interesting to learn about this chapter of Vietnamese history, and I am very glad that these happenings are worked through in works of fiction, even in such progressive forms such as an interactive webcomic. (Even though, to be quite honest, the interactive part of this webcomic was pretty slim since you could only chose to learn more about certain character's histories by clicking on a button, but yeah, baby steps.)
Nam Le has said of his Vietnamese heritage and writing that: "My relationship with Vietnam is complex. For a long time I vowed I wouldn’t fall into writing ethnic stories, immigrant stories, etc. Then I realized that not only was I working against these expectations (market, self, literary, cultural), I was working against my kneejerk resistance to such expectations. How I see it now is no matter what or where I write about, I feel a responsibility to the subject matter. Not so much to get it right as to do it justice. Having personal history with a subject only complicates this — but not always, nor necessarily, in bad ways. I don’t completely understand my relationship to Vietnam as a writer. This book is a testament to the fact that I’m becoming more and more okay with that."
So, all in all, I think it's very cool that this webcomic exists and I love the fact that it's available for free for all those who are interested in it. So, if you have 15 minutes to spare, definitely give it a go.
The feelings of claustrophobia and the inhumane conditions on the boat really came across through the hauntingly beautiful music and fitting sound effects. On top of that, the black and white art style added to the bleak nature of their quest.
This webcomic follows the young girl Mai and the two people she's closest to on the boat: the even younger boy Truong and his mother Queyen. Personally, I didn't quite manage to connect to any of the characters because the webcomic was just too short for that (it took me around 15 minutes to finish it) and I didn't always get why characters acted in certain ways. Therefore, despite the heavy subject matter, the webcomic didn't have the emotional impact that I should have had.
Being a very ignorant German, who knows next to nothing about the Vietnam War (because we don't learn about it in schools here), I had hoped that the comic would include more historical facts and the political context in which the story was set. Unfortunately, we got absolutely nothing on that front, and so I had to do all the research on my own (which is fine, don't get me wrong). Here's what I learned:
The Vietnam War ended on April 30, 1975 with the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army and the subsequent evacuation of more than 130,000 Vietnamese closely associated with the United States or the former government of South Vietnam. Most of the evacuees were resettled in the United States in Operation New Life and Operation New Arrivals. Within the same year, the countries of Cambodia and Laos also fell to communist forces, thus engendering a steady flow of refugees fleeing all three countries.
Vietnamese boat people were refugees who fled Vietnam by boat and ship following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. This migration was at its highest in 1978 and 1979, but continued through the early 1990s. The number of boat people leaving Vietnam and arriving safely in another country totalled almost 800,000 between 1975 and 1995.
The combination of economic sanctions, the legacy of destruction left by the Vietnam War, Vietnamese government policies, and further conflicts with neighboring countries caused an international humanitarian crisis, with the Southeast Asian countries increasingly unwilling to accept more boat people on their shores. After negotiations and an international conference in 1979, Vietnam agreed to limit the flow of people leaving the country. The Southeast Asian countries agreed to admit the boat people temporarily, and the rest of the world, especially the developed countries, agreed to assume most of the costs of caring for the boat people and to resettle them in their countries.
I'm not a history buff by any means but I found it very interesting to learn about this chapter of Vietnamese history, and I am very glad that these happenings are worked through in works of fiction, even in such progressive forms such as an interactive webcomic. (Even though, to be quite honest, the interactive part of this webcomic was pretty slim since you could only chose to learn more about certain character's histories by clicking on a button, but yeah, baby steps.)
Nam Le has said of his Vietnamese heritage and writing that: "My relationship with Vietnam is complex. For a long time I vowed I wouldn’t fall into writing ethnic stories, immigrant stories, etc. Then I realized that not only was I working against these expectations (market, self, literary, cultural), I was working against my kneejerk resistance to such expectations. How I see it now is no matter what or where I write about, I feel a responsibility to the subject matter. Not so much to get it right as to do it justice. Having personal history with a subject only complicates this — but not always, nor necessarily, in bad ways. I don’t completely understand my relationship to Vietnam as a writer. This book is a testament to the fact that I’m becoming more and more okay with that."
So, all in all, I think it's very cool that this webcomic exists and I love the fact that it's available for free for all those who are interested in it. So, if you have 15 minutes to spare, definitely give it a go.
February 4, 2009
like Bon Iver's debut album of last year this book proves that sweet art will make its way when it's at it's least eager. a quiet, brilliant idyll. each story sent me on a one hour walk around the canyons. the first one and the last one were my favourites and 'halflead' could've been a winton short from 'the turning'. im officially jealous of this vietnamese australian master-craftsman.
December 30, 2008
"Faulkner, you know," my friend said over the squeals, "he said we should write the old verities. Love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice."
This quote is planted square in the middle of Nam Le's opening story, a metafictional conceit that allows the author to address the reader directly about how ethnicity and the immigrant experience can both confer a special status on an author while also becoming a crutch, hobbling his imagination.
That's precisely what I admire so much about this collection. Nam Le shows an impressive reach in the range of these stories. The most successful--the opening story, "Halfhead Bay", and "Meeting Elise" are grounded by sympathetic characters and some sizzling prose. The least successful don't fail because Nam Le wasn't "writing about what he knows" as some other reviews on this site have indicated. They fall flat from an overexposure to one too many writing workshops. Fearing melodrama, Le strips any emotional arc from stories like "Hiroshima" or "Tehran Calling." Characters are mired in their own ennui. Here the preachings of a literary culture that mistrusts redemption and epiphany and grace lead to stories that fail to move.
Such blemishes in an otherwise stirring collection are just fine with this reader. "Write what you know" is one of the most wearisome cliches of the workshop. I'm glad that Le has chosen instead to reach for the Other, while still daring to explore his own complex heritage. The result makes for a rich stew of stories overall, one that introduces a writer who shows great promise.
This quote is planted square in the middle of Nam Le's opening story, a metafictional conceit that allows the author to address the reader directly about how ethnicity and the immigrant experience can both confer a special status on an author while also becoming a crutch, hobbling his imagination.
That's precisely what I admire so much about this collection. Nam Le shows an impressive reach in the range of these stories. The most successful--the opening story, "Halfhead Bay", and "Meeting Elise" are grounded by sympathetic characters and some sizzling prose. The least successful don't fail because Nam Le wasn't "writing about what he knows" as some other reviews on this site have indicated. They fall flat from an overexposure to one too many writing workshops. Fearing melodrama, Le strips any emotional arc from stories like "Hiroshima" or "Tehran Calling." Characters are mired in their own ennui. Here the preachings of a literary culture that mistrusts redemption and epiphany and grace lead to stories that fail to move.
Such blemishes in an otherwise stirring collection are just fine with this reader. "Write what you know" is one of the most wearisome cliches of the workshop. I'm glad that Le has chosen instead to reach for the Other, while still daring to explore his own complex heritage. The result makes for a rich stew of stories overall, one that introduces a writer who shows great promise.
September 13, 2022
Le, who was born in Vietnam and raised in Australia, won the Dylan Thomas Prize for this collection of seven stories. The opener, “Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice” – the title being William Faulkner’s advice for what authors should write about – knocked my socks off. It’s a crisp slice of autofiction about his father coming to visit him while he is a student at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Nam (the character) is ambivalent about whether to write about his family’s history of escaping Vietnam by boat, but as a deadline looms he decides to go for it, no matter what his father might think. There’s a coy remark here from one of his friends: “you could just write about Vietnamese boat people all the time. … You could totally exploit the Vietnamese thing. But instead, you choose to write about lesbian vampires [not in this collection!] and Colombian assassins, and Hiroshima orphans—and New York painters with hemorrhoids.”
So there you have four of the story plots in a nutshell. “Cartagena” is an interesting enough inside look at a Colombian gang, but Le’s strategy for revealing that these characters would be operating in a foreign language is to repeatedly use the construction “X has Y years” for giving ages, which I found annoying. “Meeting Elise” is the painter-with-hemorrhoids one and has Henry nervously awaiting his reunion with his teenage daughter, a cello prodigy. There’s a Philip Roth air to that one. “Hiroshima” is brief and dreamy, and works because of the dramatic irony between what readers know and the narrator does not. “The Boat,” the final story, is the promised Vietnam adventure, but took forever to get to. I skimmed/skipped two stories of 50+ pages, “Halflead Bay,” set among Australian teens, and “Tehran Calling.”
It’s a shame that the rest of the book didn’t live up to the first story. The settings and styles felt too disparate overall, with no linking theme. I know that authors are supposed to be able to write about whatever they want, rather than just sticking to their own heritage – a provincial attitude the above quote is mocking, surely – but I had to wonder why these stories mattered to the author, and thus why they should matter to me. As far as I can tell, this is all Le has published. He won another five awards for it, and landed on the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 list in 2008. What happened after that??
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
So there you have four of the story plots in a nutshell. “Cartagena” is an interesting enough inside look at a Colombian gang, but Le’s strategy for revealing that these characters would be operating in a foreign language is to repeatedly use the construction “X has Y years” for giving ages, which I found annoying. “Meeting Elise” is the painter-with-hemorrhoids one and has Henry nervously awaiting his reunion with his teenage daughter, a cello prodigy. There’s a Philip Roth air to that one. “Hiroshima” is brief and dreamy, and works because of the dramatic irony between what readers know and the narrator does not. “The Boat,” the final story, is the promised Vietnam adventure, but took forever to get to. I skimmed/skipped two stories of 50+ pages, “Halflead Bay,” set among Australian teens, and “Tehran Calling.”
It’s a shame that the rest of the book didn’t live up to the first story. The settings and styles felt too disparate overall, with no linking theme. I know that authors are supposed to be able to write about whatever they want, rather than just sticking to their own heritage – a provincial attitude the above quote is mocking, surely – but I had to wonder why these stories mattered to the author, and thus why they should matter to me. As far as I can tell, this is all Le has published. He won another five awards for it, and landed on the National Book Foundation’s 5 under 35 list in 2008. What happened after that??
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
August 22, 2008
These are quite simply some of the most amazing stories I have ever read. I am not typically an avid fan of short stories. I typically find them little more than character sketches (like E. Annie Proulx's Postcards) or short scenes that are surely a part of a greater whole but simply leave me with a literary hole. But Nam Le has done something amazing with most of his stories -- they smack of realism, the characters are full, the stories hold up on their own and are not just false starts of novels, and while many of these pieces cover difficult terrain (quite literally and figuratively) with the exception of one rather formulaic story (Hiroshima), I never felt these were cookie cutter, maudlin pieces. A wonderful (and quick) read!
June 15, 2019
Please take 30 minutes (on an iPad or computerx not a phone, mobile doesnt quite work)and scroll through this dynamic webcomic. Even if you're like me and not a huge fan of most graphic novels or comics, just take 30. The design is INCREDIBLE, the use of sound and music highlighting every moment of this, and the inventive use of comic panels that reacted to the reader scrolling down as well as to the sound effects is just goddamn brilliant.
THe story too, is poignant, though it didn't quite grasp me as fully as i think it should, considering the subject matter. This is no happy memoir, but I think I need longer narratives to truly connect with anything, and this felt like an excerpt from a longer story (and may be, since I believe this was adapted from an actual nonfiction collection not originally designed for web consumption).
What you'll see from other reviews of this is that most people don't know shit about Vietnam, and did not understand the conflict, so the impetus for the beginning of this story is left murky until the descriptive text at the end, and I think that's part of what prevents readers from feeling connected. A part of me wishes this information was worked in organically to the story so the impact could be that much more, but I also understand their choice to let the suddenness and jarring impact of the first few moments drive the plot. It's a cool choice, but one i think that paired with the shortness of the tale are why I can't give this the full five stars that the UNBELIEVABLE DESIGN deserves.
Seriously, just watch it. Click on the url, scroll through, invest yourself in the moments and in such a wonderfully, uniquely modern way to tell a heart-wrenching story.
http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat
Tw: death/war/sickness/enclosed spaces
THe story too, is poignant, though it didn't quite grasp me as fully as i think it should, considering the subject matter. This is no happy memoir, but I think I need longer narratives to truly connect with anything, and this felt like an excerpt from a longer story (and may be, since I believe this was adapted from an actual nonfiction collection not originally designed for web consumption).
What you'll see from other reviews of this is that most people don't know shit about Vietnam, and did not understand the conflict, so the impetus for the beginning of this story is left murky until the descriptive text at the end, and I think that's part of what prevents readers from feeling connected. A part of me wishes this information was worked in organically to the story so the impact could be that much more, but I also understand their choice to let the suddenness and jarring impact of the first few moments drive the plot. It's a cool choice, but one i think that paired with the shortness of the tale are why I can't give this the full five stars that the UNBELIEVABLE DESIGN deserves.
Seriously, just watch it. Click on the url, scroll through, invest yourself in the moments and in such a wonderfully, uniquely modern way to tell a heart-wrenching story.
http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat
Tw: death/war/sickness/enclosed spaces
August 28, 2023
The second collection of short stories I've read since records began. The first was Borges' Labyrinths, which is a completely different kettle of fish, so lets consider this the first.
If you like short story collections - as I do then - this book should be at the top of your to read list. Each of the eight stories are at once remarkably different, absorbing and completely transportive. Le is an Australian of Vietnamese heritage living in New York and this collection is suitably cosmopolitan. In addition to stories set in the countries just mentioned we have stories set in Tehran, Hiroshima and Cartagena, Columbia. As an author, Le is a citizen of the world.
Some of the reviews below are hostile because they feel that Le is not a good storyteller; that the narrative arc lacks a satisfying conclusion. But I think this criticism slightly misses the point, each story is a snapshot of a life. A brief trespass into someones life over a few days, (or in the case of 'Hiroshima', hours or minutes) of someones unique and complex experience in this world over time and space. Le takes us there and I for one loved the experience. The characters are often a little one dimensional and, in nearly all cases, similar but I think Le is writing about places and situations and the effect they have on people rather than the people themselves.
The reason for this similarity is almost certainly that L very much puts himself into the characters he writes. But that's one of the reason this worked so well, the protagonist and the reader are observers in these worlds, we're on the inside looking out. Of course, not being a novel, the endings to these stories can be sometimes be abrupt, I often felt the characters and setting disappear in front of me just as I was getting to know them.
But that just seems to be the nature of the beast when it comes to short fiction, and if you can accept that, The Boat is about as good as it gets.
If you like short story collections - as I do then - this book should be at the top of your to read list. Each of the eight stories are at once remarkably different, absorbing and completely transportive. Le is an Australian of Vietnamese heritage living in New York and this collection is suitably cosmopolitan. In addition to stories set in the countries just mentioned we have stories set in Tehran, Hiroshima and Cartagena, Columbia. As an author, Le is a citizen of the world.
Some of the reviews below are hostile because they feel that Le is not a good storyteller; that the narrative arc lacks a satisfying conclusion. But I think this criticism slightly misses the point, each story is a snapshot of a life. A brief trespass into someones life over a few days, (or in the case of 'Hiroshima', hours or minutes) of someones unique and complex experience in this world over time and space. Le takes us there and I for one loved the experience. The characters are often a little one dimensional and, in nearly all cases, similar but I think Le is writing about places and situations and the effect they have on people rather than the people themselves.
The reason for this similarity is almost certainly that L very much puts himself into the characters he writes. But that's one of the reason this worked so well, the protagonist and the reader are observers in these worlds, we're on the inside looking out. Of course, not being a novel, the endings to these stories can be sometimes be abrupt, I often felt the characters and setting disappear in front of me just as I was getting to know them.
But that just seems to be the nature of the beast when it comes to short fiction, and if you can accept that, The Boat is about as good as it gets.
May 24, 2020
I read the interactive webcomic adaptation found here:
The time, care, and thought that went into the production, art design, sound design and every other aspect of this is utter brilliance. I definitely think reading the story this way was much more enjoyable than reading the text alone which was very short in length and choppy. I also found the story lacking some historical context and establishment of emotional connection to stories, but the experience overall was so enjoyable, I still want to give it 4 stars.
This story has made me want to go out and search for more stories of this time and experience. I highly recommend it!
The time, care, and thought that went into the production, art design, sound design and every other aspect of this is utter brilliance. I definitely think reading the story this way was much more enjoyable than reading the text alone which was very short in length and choppy. I also found the story lacking some historical context and establishment of emotional connection to stories, but the experience overall was so enjoyable, I still want to give it 4 stars.
This story has made me want to go out and search for more stories of this time and experience. I highly recommend it!
October 8, 2021
read it here.
Possibly the best medium this could be done (interactive webcomic) and I'm glad to consume. All the sounds/music, the art and the production quality was outstanding. I kept thinking about how much effort and creativity juices needed to produce this. The writing was simple yet heart-wrenching when paired with the rest of the setup - I lovedweird to use this term but u get my gist the way my experience reading this was heightened with tilts, blurs, shakes - I felt the cramped space, and the anxiety-inducing, rampaging storms and the horrifying faces of death. The historical videos in the background were heartbreaking to the core. As someone who is not Vietnamese, it opened up my eyes to the terror of the history of these "boat-people". My heart continued to linger with pain on the thoughts of the long past of strangers and humanity.
Highly recommended to check out if you have 20minutes to spare.
Possibly the best medium this could be done (interactive webcomic) and I'm glad to consume. All the sounds/music, the art and the production quality was outstanding. I kept thinking about how much effort and creativity juices needed to produce this. The writing was simple yet heart-wrenching when paired with the rest of the setup - I loved
Highly recommended to check out if you have 20minutes to spare.
April 6, 2024
It takes me four years to thoroughly finish this book.
I read the first story four years ago and love this author since then. People in the west tend to consider Le as an immigrant writer because of his unusual personal history. They consider all those exotic stories fantastic and people born and raised like this somehow have the duty to write about these things, people they'll never meet, lives they'll never live and burdens they'll never carry. It makes sense that people tend to be curious about these things so far away from their lives, but somehow I consider this as a bad taste of reading. Writers like Le, and Junot Diaz, Mohsin Hamid shouldn't just be treated as some immigrant writer. They've lived in US or UK for enough time to write stories just like those local writers. They don't need some exotic marketing angle, surely not some stupid labels such as Vietnamese Australian author.
After reading this book for such a long time, now I love the Halflead Bay more than the Love and Honor one. The latter one shows some smart attitude to those readers who are expecting Le to write about his own story. It looks like a true story, yet all of these things are made up. Halflead Bay, just like the story Le wrote in 2012, The Yarra, is about Australian's life, and that's the real life Le has lived since he went to Australia after he was born. He's spent almost all his life in Australia and the West, it seems stupid to put some Asian-immigrant label on him. Halflead Bay is also one of the earliest stories Le has ever written. It's a story about Australian teenager and his family. Not like other stories in this book that are mostly made up by collecting materials in a researching way, this Australian story is much closer to Le's normal life and has a lot of brilliant also frustrated moments. It's also the longest story in this book. Other stories in this book happened in different places, such as Tehran, New York and Hiroshima. They are quite well written by this young author. He uses the same method of collecting materials in the law firm to write these stories, which is smart, and made all these things more real, but somehow these characters are not that connected to readers. We can see how these people end up like this in their lives, but it's just not that easy to share the feelings with them. And maybe Le's put too much effort on making things real, these stories end in a hurry, some words haven't been said, some feelings haven't been showed and some people haven't been forgiven. The feelings just hang in the middle of nowhere that readers may not feel the same at all.
But I still love Le's first work, and consider him one of the smartest writers at his age.
I read the first story four years ago and love this author since then. People in the west tend to consider Le as an immigrant writer because of his unusual personal history. They consider all those exotic stories fantastic and people born and raised like this somehow have the duty to write about these things, people they'll never meet, lives they'll never live and burdens they'll never carry. It makes sense that people tend to be curious about these things so far away from their lives, but somehow I consider this as a bad taste of reading. Writers like Le, and Junot Diaz, Mohsin Hamid shouldn't just be treated as some immigrant writer. They've lived in US or UK for enough time to write stories just like those local writers. They don't need some exotic marketing angle, surely not some stupid labels such as Vietnamese Australian author.
After reading this book for such a long time, now I love the Halflead Bay more than the Love and Honor one. The latter one shows some smart attitude to those readers who are expecting Le to write about his own story. It looks like a true story, yet all of these things are made up. Halflead Bay, just like the story Le wrote in 2012, The Yarra, is about Australian's life, and that's the real life Le has lived since he went to Australia after he was born. He's spent almost all his life in Australia and the West, it seems stupid to put some Asian-immigrant label on him. Halflead Bay is also one of the earliest stories Le has ever written. It's a story about Australian teenager and his family. Not like other stories in this book that are mostly made up by collecting materials in a researching way, this Australian story is much closer to Le's normal life and has a lot of brilliant also frustrated moments. It's also the longest story in this book. Other stories in this book happened in different places, such as Tehran, New York and Hiroshima. They are quite well written by this young author. He uses the same method of collecting materials in the law firm to write these stories, which is smart, and made all these things more real, but somehow these characters are not that connected to readers. We can see how these people end up like this in their lives, but it's just not that easy to share the feelings with them. And maybe Le's put too much effort on making things real, these stories end in a hurry, some words haven't been said, some feelings haven't been showed and some people haven't been forgiven. The feelings just hang in the middle of nowhere that readers may not feel the same at all.
But I still love Le's first work, and consider him one of the smartest writers at his age.
June 8, 2017
7 stories. 7 decades. The US. Colombia. Japan. Iran. Vietnam. Somewhere in the mix the voices break, voices merge… this Aussie writer of Vietnamese origin needs to narrow his horizons.
The stories are book-ended by the two that are concerned with the Vietnamese condition during and after the War. They have varying levels of success, although the first ('Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice' - a quote from Faulkner) wins out in its consideration of what should be utilised creatively from our genes (should an Aussie-Vietnamese only write an 'ethnic' story?) The final and title story, 'The Boat,' tells a survival tale based on the experiences of an over-crowded junk filled with Vietnamese Boat People. Its power lies in evidencing how quickly death becomes ordinary to the people surrounded by it.
Halflead Bay is perhaps my favourite of the collection. An unsteady mix of coming-of-age school yarn and mother-illness-misery it may have touched me because my own mother, like the Mom in the story, battled Multiple Sclerosis. As a commentary on power and powerlessness it is starkly successful but there are still moments when you are aware this is clearly the result of an imaginative exercise rather than something fully lived through. Some thing there- some thing untouchable- doesn't hold true. The best fiction doesn't pull you up like this. Similarly, the Colombian favela-sited yarn, Cartagena, seems the product of watching 'City of God' and a heap of documentaries. It is ambitious writing but it is also vicarious. When it comes to the 1945-set 'Hiroshima' and the post-Revolution 'Tehran Calling' the author really is pushing his luck. I couldn't help but wonder if he had read, and been inspired by, 'Persepolis.'
Seven years on from the publication of this slender volume of short stories Nam Le has published nothing. I am hoping for a novel at some point. Despite some reservations regarding this first work, I would most probably read it.
The stories are book-ended by the two that are concerned with the Vietnamese condition during and after the War. They have varying levels of success, although the first ('Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice' - a quote from Faulkner) wins out in its consideration of what should be utilised creatively from our genes (should an Aussie-Vietnamese only write an 'ethnic' story?) The final and title story, 'The Boat,' tells a survival tale based on the experiences of an over-crowded junk filled with Vietnamese Boat People. Its power lies in evidencing how quickly death becomes ordinary to the people surrounded by it.
Halflead Bay is perhaps my favourite of the collection. An unsteady mix of coming-of-age school yarn and mother-illness-misery it may have touched me because my own mother, like the Mom in the story, battled Multiple Sclerosis. As a commentary on power and powerlessness it is starkly successful but there are still moments when you are aware this is clearly the result of an imaginative exercise rather than something fully lived through. Some thing there- some thing untouchable- doesn't hold true. The best fiction doesn't pull you up like this. Similarly, the Colombian favela-sited yarn, Cartagena, seems the product of watching 'City of God' and a heap of documentaries. It is ambitious writing but it is also vicarious. When it comes to the 1945-set 'Hiroshima' and the post-Revolution 'Tehran Calling' the author really is pushing his luck. I couldn't help but wonder if he had read, and been inspired by, 'Persepolis.'
Seven years on from the publication of this slender volume of short stories Nam Le has published nothing. I am hoping for a novel at some point. Despite some reservations regarding this first work, I would most probably read it.
August 28, 2021
Invisible Cities Project | April 2021 | Selection for Vietnam.
Story blurbs from the publisher.
1. Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice - 3 stars
When his father arrives, the narrator is dreaming about a poem he is writing. His father had a habit of speaking in Vietnamese proverbs.
2. Cartagena - 2. 5 stars
After his friends seek out and attack “the target” at the opening of the story, Ron realizes that this business was personal.
3. Meeting Elise - 5 stars
As a painter, Henry has a weakness for beauty. His estranged daughter, he realizes, has a severe beauty all the way through her . . .
4. Halflead Bay - 3 stars
The way of life of a family in a coastal town, the subjectivity of a teenage boy, the confusion of sexual attraction, the power dynamics among teenagers.
5. Hiroshima - 4 stars
During a war game played by the evacuated children staying at the temple, Mayako imagines herself as a soldier who has died in the service of the Emperor.
6. Tehran Calling - 3 stars
Sarah feels that Paul was “the aberration of her life: the relief from her lifelong suspicion that she was, at heart, a hollow person, who clung to hollow things."
7. The Boat - 3 stars
Why have Mai’s parents sent her away from home?
Story blurbs from the publisher.
1. Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice - 3 stars
When his father arrives, the narrator is dreaming about a poem he is writing. His father had a habit of speaking in Vietnamese proverbs.
2. Cartagena - 2. 5 stars
After his friends seek out and attack “the target” at the opening of the story, Ron realizes that this business was personal.
3. Meeting Elise - 5 stars
As a painter, Henry has a weakness for beauty. His estranged daughter, he realizes, has a severe beauty all the way through her . . .
4. Halflead Bay - 3 stars
The way of life of a family in a coastal town, the subjectivity of a teenage boy, the confusion of sexual attraction, the power dynamics among teenagers.
5. Hiroshima - 4 stars
During a war game played by the evacuated children staying at the temple, Mayako imagines herself as a soldier who has died in the service of the Emperor.
6. Tehran Calling - 3 stars
Sarah feels that Paul was “the aberration of her life: the relief from her lifelong suspicion that she was, at heart, a hollow person, who clung to hollow things."
7. The Boat - 3 stars
Why have Mai’s parents sent her away from home?
January 2, 2016
No, I haven't finished this book in the traditional sense, but for now I think I'm done with it. Before going any further I want to say that the author is good. In fact Very good. Many times I found myself wishing I could write with such depth, such empathy. The first three stories in this collection I really enjoyed. The latter three for some reason lost my interest. Anyway, the issue is not with the author but with me. I didn't have the patience to appreciate it.
I hope one day to do Nam Le justice but for now I'm moving right along.
So many books, so little time
I hope one day to do Nam Le justice but for now I'm moving right along.
So many books, so little time
January 6, 2018
2.5
Theres no denying it - Nam Le is an incredible writer. His poetry background is blatantly obvious in the prose. Its just a shame none of these stories left any impact on me. The concepts and ideas are interesting but I really struggled at times to stay engaged. Also had a bit of an issue with his female characters throughout - found them particularly one-dimensional.
Theres no denying it - Nam Le is an incredible writer. His poetry background is blatantly obvious in the prose. Its just a shame none of these stories left any impact on me. The concepts and ideas are interesting but I really struggled at times to stay engaged. Also had a bit of an issue with his female characters throughout - found them particularly one-dimensional.
June 7, 2020
they gave a whole new meaning to the concept of webcomics
http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/
http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/
March 11, 2008
Wow! Beautiful. Disturbing. I just read an Advanced Reader's Copy of this book and was particularly impressed by Le's ability to create characters that all convincingly inhabit so many different landscapes and cultures. I was expecting a more specific cultural tone or flavor from this book--but the stories and persepctives are radically different, and are able to stand alone as their own worlds, which to me signals an astounding stylistic range--clearly the writer could have stuck with just one of these modes and been successful. But the stories also cohere as a collection, bound by the same deeply feeling, fiercely compassionate subjectivity, whose great skill is to manifest in such distinct--and distinctive--voices. I'm bowled by this book.
June 17, 2019
This is a gorgeous book. The writer's dexterity in moving from geography to geography is itself a reason to read it, and my favorite is the last story, the titular "The Boat" (also the longest), in which a young girl is fleeing Vietnam after the war. The story ties in brilliantly with the first one in the collection, "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice" (best short story title ever), in which the son of a Vietnamese refugee is trying to write his father's story. Le's sentences uplift in a hypnotic way (keep a dictionary nearby). The content is heart wrenching. Highly recommend.
July 2, 2018
Nam Len novelleissa kierretään maailma. Ollaan milloin Kolumbian slummeissa, milloin Teheranissa, Australialaisessa kalastajakylässä, Hiroshimassa, haaksirikkoutuneessa pakolaisveneessä Etelä-Kiinan merellä.. Tarjolla on karuja tarinoita ja useimmiten lapsille käy huonosti.. Silti tyyli on valtavan kaunis ja kertojaäänet erilaisia. Kolmen ensimmäisen novellin jälkeen olin valmis antamaan tälle täydet viisi tähteä, mutta sitten muutama tarina meni huikan ohi. Lopetus oli taas aivan huikea. Silti, nämä olivat novelleja parhaimmillaan!
March 14, 2009
Beyond the opening story, this is a fairly forgettable collection. After the third story it became a chore to read and after the dreadful Halflead Bay it became a penance to even look at the thing.
The writer definitely has skill and - I believe - a bright future, but it seemed to me that he still is developing his talent. Despite not really enjoying this collection, I will keep an eye out for future work from him.
The writer definitely has skill and - I believe - a bright future, but it seemed to me that he still is developing his talent. Despite not really enjoying this collection, I will keep an eye out for future work from him.
July 25, 2022
liked the first story (“Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice”) but the rest were lackluster :/ a lot of interesting premises w/ minimal exploration/expansion.
March 19, 2021
Cuốn này tóm tắt lại bằng một câu bình luận ngắn gọn của bạn tác giả ở ngay phần đầu sách: "Cậu có thể chuyên trị khai thác cái đề tài Việt Nam ấy. Nhưng thay vào đó, cậu chọn viết về ma cà rồng đồng tính, những kẻ sát nhân Columbia, trẻ mồ côi Hiroshima và những họa sĩ New York bị bệnh trĩ". Sau khi đọc xong thì mình thấy đúng y như vậy đó. Khi mình đọc cho bạn mình nghe đoạn này, nó đã cười phá lên vì không tin được tác giả lại bê nó vào sách.
Cuốn này nếu bạn tính đến sự hài lòng về trải nghiệm thì nó sẽ cho bạn 10 điểm về phần ngôn từ, nhưng tôi không biết chính xác điều tác giả muốn gửi gắm là gì? Tình yêu thương? Gia đình? Bạn bè? Quá trình đọc khá thoải mái và thu hút cho đến cái kết, nó khiến tôi hụt hẫng không hề nhẹ, như bị ngã xuống vực vậy. Kiểu sao ông nỡ đẩy tui ngã đau vậy. Hụt hẫng thực sự. Chắc có truyện ngắn đầu tiên và cuối cùng đã cứu vớt được một chút cuốn sách này.
May quá bạn cho mượn đọc.
Cuốn này nếu bạn tính đến sự hài lòng về trải nghiệm thì nó sẽ cho bạn 10 điểm về phần ngôn từ, nhưng tôi không biết chính xác điều tác giả muốn gửi gắm là gì? Tình yêu thương? Gia đình? Bạn bè? Quá trình đọc khá thoải mái và thu hút cho đến cái kết, nó khiến tôi hụt hẫng không hề nhẹ, như bị ngã xuống vực vậy. Kiểu sao ông nỡ đẩy tui ngã đau vậy. Hụt hẫng thực sự. Chắc có truyện ngắn đầu tiên và cuối cùng đã cứu vớt được một chút cuốn sách này.
May quá bạn cho mượn đọc.
November 11, 2018
I'm not sure I can find words to describe what I felt about these short stories. I read up on the author, and realised to my horror that this is his only released work to date. I would love to read more by Nam Le! The book contains seven short stories that span half the world and tell the stories of very different people. The stories themselves seem to be magical, because no matter if the characters are a fourteen-year-old hired killer in Colombia, a Vietnamese girl in a refugee boat in the South Chinese Sea or a child in Hiroshima an August day in 1945, I'm there with them all through it all.
I am going to recommend this book to everyone who will listen. Of that I'm sure.
I am going to recommend this book to everyone who will listen. Of that I'm sure.
May 1, 2020
oh my goodness, that was horrific and beautiful and true and i- all the work that went into that production was simply incredible. please, if you are able, read the story for yourself, with this link here for free. make sure your audio is on because- holy shit.
http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/
http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/
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