Helpful Score: 2
This is a historical novel set in Vietnam in the 1800s. It's sort of in the same spirit as James Clavell's Shogun (if you're old enough to remember that).
I didn't particularly like the book. I found the characters to be shallow and the action predictable. Plus, I found the Vietnamese characters seemed far too Westernized, too recognizably part of my own culture for me to believe they were an attempt to faithfully portray the people of a different one. While I firmly believe that there are things that are constant across time and cultures, there are differences as well; I didn't see the differences here.
Plus, way too much gratuitous sex. At 16, I would probably have loved reading this book when I thought no one was watching. But these days, I don't see the point of a graphic sexual description if it does nothing to advance the plot. I'm not a prude, but at times it seemed like a better title would have been "Sex lives in Vietnam in the 19th century." It probably would have sold at least as well with that title, perhaps better.
I didn't particularly like the book. I found the characters to be shallow and the action predictable. Plus, I found the Vietnamese characters seemed far too Westernized, too recognizably part of my own culture for me to believe they were an attempt to faithfully portray the people of a different one. While I firmly believe that there are things that are constant across time and cultures, there are differences as well; I didn't see the differences here.
Plus, way too much gratuitous sex. At 16, I would probably have loved reading this book when I thought no one was watching. But these days, I don't see the point of a graphic sexual description if it does nothing to advance the plot. I'm not a prude, but at times it seemed like a better title would have been "Sex lives in Vietnam in the 19th century." It probably would have sold at least as well with that title, perhaps better.
