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.