Ru

I admire the writing. It's filled with both beautiful and horrific images, sometimes stacked together. (E.g., description of grandmother in beautiful dress, at peaceful Buddhist altar; then, the suggestion that the incense blunts the pain that she feels about her departed son.)

On the other hand, I think the lack of structure put me off. I didn't feel attached to any characters because they come and go so quickly that they leave only impressions.

Told through very short (mostly less than a page) snippets and memories, this fictional memoir feels very personal and true. The lyrical prose and the glimpses into the narrator's life made this a quick, but fulfilling read. It's beautifully written and both the author and translator must be given credit for that. I love reading translated fiction that doesn't feel like it is translated, which has obviously been translated with so much care. The novel shifts from the past in Vietnam, on a boat immigrating due to the war, in a Malaysian refugee camp to the present in Quebec. The author explores many interesting ideas; the war itself, the loss of a country and its people, the struggle to settle into a new foreign country, and motherhood. However, I almost wish that the novel had focussed on a fewer number of these in greater depth. Probably due to the novel's short length and fragmented structure, I didn't feel there was enough depth to the characters and their stories to feel emotionally connected to them. Individually, each of the “stories” are beautiful and poignant, but overall the novel felt incomplete. Basically, I loved what was here, but I would have liked there to have been more. Still highly recommended though and I'd love to read anything else the author writes.