Book Review: FLESH: A Novel by Khanh Ha

Flesh Title: Flesh: A Novelby Khanh Ha
Black Heron Press: June 15, 2012; hardcover
Genre: historical, literary fiction
Objective rating: 4/5

I blinked away wet stars in my eyes. "I want my daddy's skull back." 

"Daddy's skull? the older boy said, and then tapped the skull with his pipe. "This?"

About the book:

Set in Tonkin (now North Vietnam) in the early 20th century, the book follows young Tai, who as a child witnessed the beheading of his father who was accused of being an outlaw. Tai's father was known as a bandit but was something of a Robin Hood, who helped those around him. He was betrayed by someone in his band of outlaws, someone whose name Tai does not know. As a dutiful son, he recovers the skull of his father from the rival village where the execution took place, and is helped by a boatman and his daughter to escape.

Tai makes a pact with a geomancer to find a desirable and auspicious burial site for his father's and his brother's bodies, as Tai discovers that a good burial site can mean prosperity in the future for himself, his mother, and the future members of his family.

The novel follows the young man as he becomes a servant to the geomancer in the city and then finds a patron who buys the burial site for his family and bestows other favors on him.  Tai later discovers who betrayed his father and what fate has in store for him.

Comments: While it was slow going in the middle, the book picks up toward the end and I was quite engrossed in finding out what would happen to Tai and the girl he thinks he loves. The times are hard, people are poor, but the natural surroundings bring peace and comfort, as the writer shows in his lyrical and descriptive writing.

The novel is set during the time when Tonkin was under French colonial rule. The relationships between the French, the resident Chinese, and the Tonkinese (Vietnamese) are all featured in the book, which gives you a good feel for the culture, the times and its conditions.

I rated the book 4/5 and recommend it for those interested in Vietnam during this period of history.


Khanh Ha was born in Hue, the former capital of Vietnam. During his teen years he began writing short stories which won him several awards in Vietnamese adolescent magazines. He graduated from Ohio University with a bachelor's degree in Journalism. He is at work on a new novel.

Thanks to TLC Book Tours and the publisher for a complimentary review copy of this book. Click for other reviews

Book Review:The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam

The Headmaster's Wager

Title:THE HEADMASTER'S WAGER: A NOVEL by Vincent Lam
Published August 14, 2012; Hogarth
Genre: historical fiction
Rating: 5/5

"Tricks, Mr. Cho? Isn't this a mah-jong table?" said Percival, as he began to wash the tiles. "The only tricks are those of luck. Two hundred per player, then?"

"If you want to play, let's play." Cho looked up from under his eyeshade. (ch. 9)

About the book: Percival Chen, headmaster of an English language academy in Cholon, Vietnam in the mid 1960s, decides to wager a large sum of money in a mah-jong game, putting his school in jeopardy if he should lose.

The stakes are high - the winning pot plus a young Vietnamese woman are part of the bet. Percival, a Chinese who believes in the traditional ways, always dreams of one day returning to China, his homeland, and tries to raise his teenage son Dai Jai in the old fashioned way - urging him to always show respect by staying within the Chinese culture and not marrying outside of that culture. Dai Jai has been seen in the company of a Vietnamese girl, however, one of his classmates.

When Dai Jai leads an illegal protest at the school to defy the government's new rule that his father's school teach the Vietnamese language as well as English, Percival sends Dai Jai off to Shanghai to prevent him from being jailed for the offense and being conscripted into the Vietnamese army.

What changes life for Percival happens after he sends his son away to China and after he wins the high stakes mah-jong game and the Vietnamese girl along with it. Percival falls in love with the Vietnamese girl he won in the bet and his formerly circumscribed life slowly begins to change. Events escalate and Percival's life is affected dramatically, by the girl as much as by the war in Vietnam, the American presence there, and by the tumultuous political changes in China that affect his son Dai Jai.

My comments: The book revolves around the personality of the headmaster and the changes that personal circumstances and war have on his outlook on life. Vincent Lam has created an unforgettable character in Percival Chen, the headmaster, who made me alternately frustrated and anxious throughout the book.

Percival's naivete and his strict adherence to the old traditions almost lead to his undoing and you can say that many of the tragedies in his life are as much his own fault as that of the war and the political upheavals around him. Percival navigates rough waters and at the end of the book, I wanted to read more about this interesting fictional character.

About the author: VINCENT LAM is from the expatriate Chinese community of Vietnam, and was born in Canada. He is an emergency physician in Toronto and a Lecturer at the University of Toronto. His first book, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, won the 2006 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and has been adapted for television and broadcast on HBO Canada. He co-authored The Flu Pandemic and You, a guide to influenza pandemics.

I won a copy of this book.

Book Teaser: Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB; choose sentences at random from your current read. Identify the author and title for readers.

Shadow and Bone

"The servants called them malenchki, little ghosts, because they were the smallest and the youngest, and because they haunted the Duke's house like giggling phantoms, darting in and out of rooms, hiding in cupboards to eavesdrop, sneaking into the kitchen to steal the last of the summer peaches." (page 1; from an advanced reader's edition; final copy may differ).

Title:Shadow and Bone: Grisha Trilogy
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: fantasy
Source: ARC from Macmillan Children's Publishing

Book description:
Alina Starkov, orphaned by the Border Wars, relies on her best friend and fellow refugee, Mal. Drafted into the army of their war-torn homeland, they’re sent on a dangerous mission into the Fold, a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh.

Alina reveals a dormant power no one knew existed. She is whisked away to the royal court to become a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling. He believes she is one person with the power to destroy the Fold.

Sunday Salon: Two Good Reads

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

The heat all this month has helped my goal of shedding a few pounds. It has been easier to have salads for dinner and to eat light throughout the day. I hope to keep this up even when cold weather comes back!

My current reads include an ARC of a book sent by the publisher, which I am really enjoying!

Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World

Me, Who Dove into the Heart of the World is written by Sabina Berman, a writer who lives in Mexico. The novel is narrated by an autistic savant saved from savagery by a intelligent aunt. She calls herself Me and challenges the I think, therefore I amphilosophy of Decartes, saying she first existed before she became a thinking person, having been rescued and pulled into consciousness of herself by her aunt.

The book is due out in August and is translated from the Spanish.

A book sent to me by Gallic Books has been languishing on my desk for a few years but I have dusted it off and am also enjoying reading it.

The Nicolas le Floch Affair

The Nicolas le Floch Affair by Jean-Francois Parot is an historical mystery set in 18th century Paris, translated from the French.

Nicolas le Floch is a commissioner of police in Paris and is featured in the mystery series. In this book, his lover, a socialite, is found murdered, a victim of poisoning. A plot is in place to blame le Floch, who has to clear his name by finding the real murderer. He is also sent on a secret mission by King Louis XV to London. This is the fourth in the Nicholas le Floch Investigations series.
I have committed to six book tours in the next seven weeks! There will be a lot of reading plus sneaking in a few other things To Do before summer is out.

What are your plans for the rest of the month and August?

Book Review: Charlie: A Love Story by Barbara Lampert

This is a heartfelt memoir about the final years of Charlie the Golden Retriever, written as a journal by psychotherapist Barbara Lampert about her much loved pet.

Charlie: A Love Story

Title: Charlie: A Love Story by Barbara Lampert

Paperback; Langdon Street Press; January 16, 2012
Genre: memoir, journal

Charlie lived a charmed life with owner Barbara Lampert and her other dogs in Malibu, California. However, at age 11, when Charlie became ill, he became the subject of Barbara's journal, his progress intermixed with her daily jottings about her gardening, another passion in the author's life.


The book is a a very personal story of Barbara's coping with an ailing Charlie and the time she spends in her garden at Rose Cottage. The two stories seem to provide balance in her life - a thriving garden that she can keep on replanting and replenishing and a beloved pet that she knows will eventually succumb to illness and old age. Charlie in fact lived a good 14 years. The diary covers 2001 to 2003, his final years.

August 12 2001. Sunday. Our birthday. Charlie's and mine. I love that we 're born on the same day but the surgery is two days from now, so it's hard to celebrate. Today, nearly the whole family... spent some more hours in the garden. Charlie relaxed on a big rug, Barny played ball, David took pictures, I posed with Charlie, and Sabrina watched.

I could empathize with Barbara on the aging and illness of her dog, having also lost an old but well loved pet some years ago. Dog lovers as well as gardeners will be interested in Charlie and Rose Cottage, about the author's sentimental memories and the memories she has of life with her beloved pet.

Barbara Lampert's Bio:

Barbara Lampert is a Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in relationships. Barbara notes that for a lot of people, their dogs are their best friends. She loves helping people know that’s ok – that a soul-satisfying relationship may be found with any being and needs to be treasured. Barbara is an avid gardener in Malibu, California with her husband David  and their six-year-old Golden Retriever, Harry. She hopes that Charlie: A Love Story will be a tribute not only to a magnificent dog but to all dogs everywhere.

For more reviews of Charlie: A Love Story, visit http://charlie-a-love-story.blogspot.com/

Thanks for a review copy of this book to Tribute Books Blog Tours https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribute-Books-Blog-Tours/242431245775186

Book Review: The Song Remains the Same by Allison Winn Scotch

Title:The Song Remains the Same: A Novel
Author: Allison Winn Scotch
Putnam Adult; April 12, 2012
Source: Publisher
Objective rating: 4/5

I was grabbed by the story - Nell Slattery has lost her memory after a plane crash and is lied to by her relatives and her husband about details of her past. She doesn't recognize her husband, her mother, or her sister, and it seems she has become another person - a more outgoing and less stuffy and conservative person she hears she used to be.

Nell slowly discovers the truths about her marriage, her childhood, and the disappearance of her father, a well-known artist. She makes a decision to be a different person from the one she used to be. I thought the ending was a bit prolonged, however, and I was also a bit surprised by Nell's decision re her dad at the end of the book as this didn't seem totally in character. Overall, however, a very good read!

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book.

Sunday Salon: Missing Yoga

Welcome to the Sunday Salon!

Enlightenment for Idiots

I miss my yoga classes.

I thought I'd stop yoga for a while to concentrate on tai chi, but I'm not learning a lot from the class as our teacher goes way too fast for me. As far as I can see, tai chi is supposed to be sloooow. So, I started doing some yoga exercises on my own this morning and it's helping my aches and pains from all the heat and humidity the past few weeks!

 I started a mystery novel, was not in the mood for a mystery, and started reading The Song Remains the Same, a novel about a woman who wakes up in the hospital with severe amnesia after a horrific plane crash. She doesn't recognize her husband, her mother, or her sister, and it seems she has become another person - a more outgoing and less stuffy and conservative person she hears she used to be. Am eager to see how the plot unfolds.

Last week, I did a review of a book of poems for a tour for
Listening to Africa: Poems by Diane M. Raab and also reviewed an historical novel, 
The White Pearl by Kate Furnivall.

Next week is a book tour for

Charlie : A Love Story
by Barbara Lampert


In between I'm writing poetry! and plan to work on my family tree, improve my tai chi, and get through the heat wave that's coming up next week.  What are your plans?