Many surprises in this book . I knew very little about the stories of those who lived through the Vietnam War. There were very complicated relationships between Chinese, Vietnamese and the history of the Japanese, American and French involvement. Love, friendship, secrets, betrayal, heartbreak and enduring hope... This book has it all.

I didn’t really get into this. Just didn’t have the stomach for political violence. So probably more about me than about the book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It was mostly set in 1960's and 70's Saigon, and told from the perspective of a Chinese owner of an English Academy (school which taught it's students to be English translators). I liked learning more about the time period and the flawed characters.

Plot: Percival Chen is a teacher at in English language school in Cholon (the Chinatown just outside Siagon), Vietnam. He has to send his only son away, but find consolation in the arms of Jacqueline , a mixed race prostitute.

It was beautifully written. The plot was very tense, but I felt the pacing was a bit off. There would be quiet times after tense scenes that I supposed were to let the reader breathe and another quiet before the storm, but all I could think of was what an idiot Percival had been. I liked this book mostly for the plot. The writing was lovely, but did get a bit tiresome after a while. The relationships between the characters and their actions were so engrossing. I kept reading because I wanted to find out what happened next and what would happen to our protagonist.

This story is very good. Some parts were hard to listen to, and I probably would have skimmed them if I was reading the text. I had a little bit of a hard time following the flashbacks on the audio version, but once I realized what time period we were in, the characters were defined enough that I could catch up easily.

Love and family will always matter more than life’s materialistic riches too bad our protagonist realized this when it was too late

Wow. It took me a long time to get through this book. It was both wonderful and terribly heartbreaking. This is the first book that I've read that was set during this time and in this part of the world. The horrors of war have shaped so much of human history, will we ever live in peace and harmony? I cried through the end of the book, but have no regrets; these stories will stay with me for a very long time. It was an excellent story and very well-written; I would read more works by this author.

This book takes place in Vietnam during many occupations; French, Japanese, and lastly American. None of those occupations went well, either for the occupiers or the Vietnamese people. This book is about family and what the main character would do to secure safety for his son and grandson at any cost. A culture of superstition, bribery and drug use (abuse), it was an informative read.

A very fine book. Meticulously plotted. Gave me real insight into Vietnam, then and now.

Spoiler: My heart crushed when I read what Jacqueline did.