The Headmaster's Wager

Sep 08, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, ebook, fiction, war

For readers interested in recent Chinese and Vietnamese history and culture, this novel is an intensive course. The tale begins with a young boy born to Chinese parents in Shantou, China during a period of change (the 1930s). The story takes on epic proportions when he relocates first to Hong Kong and then to Cholon (near Saigon) in Vietnam during the tumultuous period when a series of foreign powers (the Japanese, the French, the Americans) fought wars over Vietnam’s governance and managed to t...more For readers interested in recent Chinese and Vietnamese history and culture, this novel is an intensive course. The tale begins with a young boy born to Chinese parents in Shantou, China during a period of change (the 1930s). The story takes on epic proportions when he relocates first to Hong Kong and then to Cholon (near Saigon) in Vietnam during the tumultuous period when a series of foreign powers (the Japanese, the French, the Americans) fought wars over Vietnam’s governance and managed to turn a home-grown, bottom-up revolution into a full scale civil war.

Lam succeeds in showing us Vietnam in its blisteringly hot lush beauty, its violent history, and its complicated lines of distinction between natives and non-natives and skin colors: white, brown, yellow. The time period is recent and familiar, but the angle is unique. Events in Vietnam in the 1960s and ‘70s already familiar to readers are imagined from the point of view of residents on the ground and give us an eerie dislocation. We begin to perceive the difficult sets of choices people had for living with war and occupation.

We are also treated to remarkable insights into Chinese mores and mindset when this culture can be maddeningly difficult for Westerners to grasp. The backdrop of what we call the Vietnam War makes the story cinematic, particularly one scene when the Tet offensive hits Saigon and spills into Cholon during a celebratory and drunken banquet hosted by Chen Pie Sou, the Headmaster of the title.

There was one area, however, that I thought Lam didn’t get quite right as a novelist. Lam created a complicated and flawed main character in Chen Pie Sou, which should add to the drama of the unfolding story, and does…eventually. But I had difficulty liking Chen (or any of the characters) through Part I and felt dragged into Part II only by obligation. By Part III, I started to marvel at what Lam had managed to construct, and relished the details of Vietnamese life, and Chinese habits.

Vincent Lam is a doctor as well as a novelist, and he has written a couple of nonfiction medical-related books already, one of which is an info-book for the public on a possible flu pandemic. A nonfiction book of stories, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures: Stories, won many awards and was chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover New Authors title. This is his first novel.
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May 07, 2012 Friederike Knabe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian-lit

Sometimes in his dreams Chen Pie Sou returns to his childhood in Shantou, China, and to the day of his father's first departure for the "Gold Mountain" in Indochina. His father, Chen Kai, had tied a small good luck charm around his neck: a tiny rough lump of gold, found long ago by an ancestor. It symbolizes the promise of wealth and good fortune, left without inscription because the fortunes can take different forms for each wearer. Several times over the years the father returns with more mone...more Sometimes in his dreams Chen Pie Sou returns to his childhood in Shantou, China, and to the day of his father's first departure for the "Gold Mountain" in Indochina. His father, Chen Kai, had tied a small good luck charm around his neck: a tiny rough lump of gold, found long ago by an ancestor. It symbolizes the promise of wealth and good fortune, left without inscription because the fortunes can take different forms for each wearer. Several times over the years the father returns with more money; the growing Chen Pie Sou ponders: "... Chen Kai had an empty space [within him] that needed to be filled, but [he] could not understand what must be obtained to satisfy that void and bring his father home [for good]." The grown Chen Pie Sou, now known as Percival Chen, having followed his father to Saigon and living more than comfortably in Cholon, the Chinese part of town, "felt the same void, all money and distractions, could not fill it..." His position as Headmaster of the Percival Chen English Academy, the prestigious English Language School he established in his father's house, seems to be a part-time distraction at best; his main occupation being that of a wheeler and dealer par excellence, a bon-vivant, a gambler, womanizer, and a powerful representative of Vietnam's wealthy Chinese minority. His good luck charm that has served him well is now tied around the neck of Dai Jai, his beloved son... With it Chen not only passes on a family symbol he instils in his son the pride he holds for their Chinese heritage and traditions.

THE HEADMASTER'S WAGER is Canadian Vincent Lam's eagerly awaited first novel, following the author's 2006 Scotia Bank Giller Prize for his story collection Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Inspired by his own family background and, in particular, his grandfather's life in Vietnam, Lam has created a powerful and absorbing story of love, loyalty and betrayal, violence and tenderness, self-importance and naïveté and, eventually, hope and redemption. Set against the politically turbulent times in nineteen sixties and seventies divided Vietnam , Lam confidently balances the private and intimate sphere of one man's family story with the depiction of changing realities affecting them. At one level, Chen, like others in the Chinese community, shows a somewhat naïve belief that his influence will ensure successful negotiations with any new political power players, on another his unwavering belief in the influence in the family's ancestors on his and his son's behalf when Dai Jai attracts the attention of the Vietnamese "quiet police". More often than not, however, Chen relies on his colleague and friend, the teacher Mak, who, while Chinese but raised in Vietnam, is the complete opposite to Chen: quiet, reserved, without apparent vices. We learn about Chen's background and his friendship to Mak, in flashbacks. Lam gives us enough context to understand how events have shaped the two friends over time and opens a perspective on the Vietnam of the time that we have rarely seen or read about.

Lam always provides just enough detail to set the scene or build the drama to place events, such as the day of the first TET Offensive (1968), without moving outside of his narrative stream or his characters. The portrayal of the effect on civilians during that night could not have been more affecting. In the Offensive's aftermath the powers have shifted in Saigon and Chen's kind of gambles and bribes are less than successful and even ineffective. When another crisis concerning his son throws him off his routines, Percival has to call in all his favours and wager even more. His father's motto: "... never wager more than you can afford to lose. Leave yourself room to recover..." is profoundly tested. Will the lump of gold, the voice of the ancestors save them?

Percival Chen is not an easy character to like. He gets away with too much in his dealings; he can be too casual and insensitive. His ancestor worship, while plausibly conveyed, seems somewhat naïve and at times like an excuse to stand on the sidelines of political and societal events, convinced that he can do business whatever the political system in Vietnam. At the same time, there is a kinder and gentler man underneath it all and this side of Percival is endearing and attracts sympathy when endangered. Lam touches on this side of Chen on and off in the earlier parts of the novel. Yet, it comes fully to light with the unexpected love for a beautiful woman and all that develops from then on in his life...

Vincent Lam's novel is written mostly in a detached tone, his protagonist's story told in the third person. The author also takes some time in the beginning, for some readers maybe too much, to carefully build his central characters and to describe the context in which Chen and they operate in Saigon. But once the scenarios are set and the primary characters have been fully introduced, the narrative tension rises and rises towards some extraordinary drama that remains unforgettable. I find it important not to even hint at some of its elements... other than to say, the patience in the beginning is richly rewarded as the story unfolds and moves towards a conclusion that is as logical within the story as it is likely surprising for the reader.(less)

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May 25, 2013 J rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

BEWARE OF SPOILERS. I DON'T HIDE OR PROMOTE MY REVIEWS.

This book is powerful. Twice I had to put down the book, because the author had created such tension that I couldn't immediately go forward, out of anxiety for the characters.

And those two points came fairly early in the story, which takes place mostly in southern Vietnam, in the era surrounding the 1975 fall of Saigon.

Later I learned to discipline myself to keep reading, as those two early pivotal points are mild compared to the some of th...more

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May 20, 2013 Lori Cox rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult

Percival Chan is a Chinese headmaster of an English Academy located in Vietnam. An astute businessman, he takes advantage of the opportunities that arise in this warring country. When Dai Jai, his only son gets in trouble with the authorities, Percival finds that simple briberies no longer work and he is forced to send his son to China for safety. Percival take refuge from loneliness with a beautiful French/Vietnamese woman, an affair that has numerous repercussions for all.

This is a historical...more

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Feb 18, 2013 Deux Voiliers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Vincent Lam’s writing career has barely begun, but already he is becoming a literary icon in Canada. His Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, a collection of short stories, won Lam Canada’s most prestigious literary award, the Giller Prize, and his first novel, The Headmaster’s Wager, was short-listed for the 2012 Governor General’s Award. What is it that makes Lam’s work great?

It takes only reading the first chapter of The Headmaster’s Wager to understand that Lam excels in the art of traditional...more Vincent Lam’s writing career has barely begun, but already he is becoming a literary icon in Canada. His Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, a collection of short stories, won Lam Canada’s most prestigious literary award, the Giller Prize, and his first novel, The Headmaster’s Wager, was short-listed for the 2012 Governor General’s Award. What is it that makes Lam’s work great?

It takes only reading the first chapter of The Headmaster’s Wager to understand that Lam excels in the art of traditional story-telling. The Headmaster’s Wager offers a rare and refreshing look at the recent history of Vietnam through the lens of an unusual outsider. His hero, Percival Chen, is the quintessential Wa Kieu (overseas Chinese). While Vietnam is awash with political intrigue, Percival remains concentrated on making money, gambling and philandering. But his comfortable world as the headmaster and owner of a prosperous English language school is abruptly changed when his son, Dai Jai, in a fit of Chinese nationalism, challenges a new law requiring all schools to teach Vietnamese. The government’s brutal secret police shuttle Dai Jai off to an unknown fate, and the headmaster must find a way to save him.

The strength of Lam’s writing is foremost in his plot development. Lam, whose family originates from the Chinese diaspora that once dominated commerce in Vietnam, draws on his Asian heritage to educate the reader in the contemporary history of East and Southeast Asia. And he pulls no punches when it comes to the human rights abuses and atrocities committed by the various warring sides of the region – Japanese, French, American, Chinese, Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese government. However, in this world of human depravity, Lam’s hero always finds a way out. Connections are what count. Every situation offers a business opportunity. Everyone has his price. And no price is too high to pay for Percival Chen to protect the ones he loves.

In many ways, The Headmaster’s Wager evokes the ambivalent morality of the ill-fated heroes of Graham Greene’s novels. Like Greene’s Charley Fortnum in The Honourable Consul and Thomas Fowler in The Quiet American, Lam’s hero, Percival Chen, is superbly naive in his relations with his closest friends, uninterested in the politics of the world around him, fond of fine liquor and drawn to the bought beauty of young women. Like Greene’s characters, Chen inadvertently becomes the victim of political violence, but survives while those about him perish.(less)

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Jan 09, 2013 Monica rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asian

Chen Pie Sou is surrounded by war his whole life. When he is a boy during the Japanese occupation of China, his parents send him to Hong Kong to escape the worst of the atrocities. When the Japanese invade Hong Kong, he goes to join his father in Vietnam. The Japanese are there, but not as aggressively brutal because of the French presence. In Vietnam, he becomes Percival Chen, the headmaster of a successful English language academy before, during and after the American War.

He clings to his Chin...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Judith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This strange book took awhile to catch my interest but when it was over I was really sad to leave the characters and the setting. This is an historical fiction set in Vietnam during the 60's and 70's, and because you know how certain things turned out, there is quite a bit of situational irony. I found myself gripping the edge of my chair, saying, "get out now while you can!"

Chan is the owner/headmaster of a prestigious English school in Saigon. He happens to be Chinese and this heritage alone...more

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Dec 15, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Stayed up tonight finishing this book. Lam's masterpiece weaves a narrative arch from the perspective of its protagonist, Percival Chen, beginning in pre-Revolutionary mainland China continuing to Hong Kong in the face of Japanese imperialism, to Vietnam under the French and Japanese, through the American occupation and finally to the North Vietnamese victory. Through this narrative we are introduced lovingly to the traditions of Chinese culture through the experiences of an expatriate whose fat...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Dawn rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebook, fiction-historical

Better late than never I suppose.

This one's been hanging around in the "to be reviewed pile" for a fairly embarrassingly long time, and I'm not entirely sure why. But once i did pick it up, I didnt want to put it down. Lam is a master craftsman working at his height, and one can only hope he can top himself.

The story is one of hope turned to tragedy as we follow the life of a Chinese National- the titular Headmaster, known in Saigon by his english name, Percival Chen. We watch, riveted, as he...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Owen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The guy can write, no denying that. The book follows the classic historical fiction arc of family events being dimly influenced by the society simmering with uncertainty in the background. Eventually, everything comes to a head and conflict forces characters to deal with what they have been trying to ignore when they can no longer separate their lives from the surrounding politics. The twists, surprises and eventual connecting of various narrative lines and well-constructed and the literary arch...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Vera Marie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Perhaps books like this should come with a warning–”Dinner may be late and laundry will remain dirty.” Once I started The Headmaster's Wager , I was reluctant to stop for minor interruptions like answering the telephone or eating dinner. It plunged me into an unknown world. I cared deeply about the characters--flawed but trying to understand what is right. Besides graphic depictions of brutality and equally graphic and lyrical love scenes, the novel moves through a unique life with suspenseful (...more

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Oct 04, 2012 Tia Bach rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Rating: 4.5 stars, but worthy of rounding to 5

Beautifully written, the words like paint strokes on a detailed painting. Percival Chan appears to have a life many would envy, especially in the midst of war and poverty. He has accumulated wealth and good standing as the Headmaster of an English-teaching academy. But his former wife never cared for him, and his son's moment of defiance creates devastating long-term problems. For all his failings, including gambling and prostitutes, he loves his son...more Rating: 4.5 stars, but worthy of rounding to 5

Beautifully written, the words like paint strokes on a detailed painting. Percival Chan appears to have a life many would envy, especially in the midst of war and poverty. He has accumulated wealth and good standing as the Headmaster of an English-teaching academy. But his former wife never cared for him, and his son's moment of defiance creates devastating long-term problems. For all his failings, including gambling and prostitutes, he loves his son and will stop at nothing to keep him safe.

Percival nearly loses everything to get his son to safety. In the process of rebuilding and paying off debts after, he falls in love in the most unexpected place and embraces fatherhood yet again. Nothing is simple, however, in a complicated web of war, alliances, and basic survival.

Forgive me for simplifying, because this novel is a gorgeous and intricate story of a flawed but good man trying to find his place in Vietnam. His heart and loyalty remain in China, but his view of it was formed in childhood ideology. Percival places his trust in his friend and teacher at the Academy, Mak. Even when he senses his friend's nefarious connections, he ignores them in the guise of brotherhood. All he cares about is that Mak has always helped him; he turns a blind eye to the details. Those details later came back to both haunt him and save him.

That's just what Percival is... a haunted man. Haunted by constant nightmares, the past, and his own mistakes. Yet through it all, he is a character you can't shake. For all his flaws, he is devoted and loving. His focus on wealth drives him, but love is what he truly craves. Yet, it's what alludes him for so long. Later in the novel, when he attempts to cover his pain with drugs, he realizes, "Drifting from pill to pill was to live underwater, a false life beneath the surface of the real one, intruded upon by distant words and colored shadows."

The Headmaster's Wager is an intense historical course with equal parts action and emotion. Although a bit slow to start, thanks to the author's intricately laid background, it's a ride worth taking. I highly recommend.

Note: I received a complimentary copy for review purposes. A positive review was not guaranteed or requested; the views expressed are my own.(less)

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Aug 26, 2012 Ted Bangay rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Already reviewed by many others, here's my take on "The Headmaster's Wager."

I'm pretty familiar with the historical context of the book due to my having grown up in Canada during the Vietnam War. From that standpoint, the book provided an outstanding view of the experience of urban residents of Saigon and Cholon, the Chinese district of the city.

What I am unsure of is whether the book gives a good representation of Chinese culture, that is such things as Chinese family values, the role of fate a...more Already reviewed by many others, here's my take on "The Headmaster's Wager."

I'm pretty familiar with the historical context of the book due to my having grown up in Canada during the Vietnam War. From that standpoint, the book provided an outstanding view of the experience of urban residents of Saigon and Cholon, the Chinese district of the city.

What I am unsure of is whether the book gives a good representation of Chinese culture, that is such things as Chinese family values, the role of fate and luck, ancestral spirits, etc. I admit to being quite ignorant of these things. Other reviewers have described Percival as 'flawed' but in my opinion he is worse that that: he is reprehensible. Percival is obviously a gambler and a womanizer, characteristics that the author bludgeons us with I think. These traits are not exclusive to the Chinese as we all know! What's much worse about Percival is that he is chauvinistically Chinese in the extreme, refusing to allow his son to marry an Annamese woman and gleefully exploiting the local population from a business perspective. The question I have, again being ignorant of Chinese culture, is whether these traits were typical among Chinese expatriates in Vietnam at the time or whether they are Percival's alone. Clearly, I hope it is the latter.

The author does a good job of keeping certain scenes suspenseful, if not too graphic in violence. The plot bends and twists very well I think, and doesn't rely on unrealistic contrivances or coincidences. Kudos to the author on that. Many will disagree, but I thought the ending was very well rendered.

I found the novel's voice a little flat from time to time, almost as if the language was dumbed down for a child's ears. Another reviewer here said that the writing seemed sometimes to be just words on a page and I have to agree.

Vincent Lam is well-known among Canadian readers because of his having hit a home run with his first novel "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures" which I haven't read. Despite the accolades, there are some, other writers particularly, who think that his route to publication was made a bit too easy through his acquaintance with Canada's most famous author.

In summary, if you're the kind of reader who has to 'like' the characters, this novel probably isn't for you. I've suggested to my wife that she give this one a pass for this reason. So many fabulous books and so little time...(less)

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Aug 17, 2012 Jeanette rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Headmaster's Wager tells the story of flawed characters who struggle with their life choices. The setting for the book is Vietnam and covers the periods from Japanese occupation through the U.S. involvement in the Vietnamese civil war to the U.S. troops leaving Vietnam to Vietnamese unification.

One of the central themes in the book is mixed marriage and how children from these mixed marriages were regarded. Another theme of the book is what is right and what is wrong and the choices people...more

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Jun 04, 2012 Louise rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

Story Description:

Doubleday Canada | April 24, 2012 | Hardcover|ISBN 978-0-385-66145-4

Percival Chen is the Headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon. He is also a bon vivant, a compulsive gambler, and an incorrigible womanizer. He is well accustomed to bribing a forever-changing list of government officials in order to maintain the elite status of the Percival Chen English Academy. Fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, he is quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a di...more

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May 29, 2012 Steven Buechler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The is going to be one of the best releases of 2012.

Page 6
"Looking at his son was like examining himself at that age. At sixteen, Dai Jai had a man's height, and, Percival assumed, certain desires. A boy's impatience for their satisfaction was to be expected. Like Percival, Dai Jai had probing eyes, and full lips. Percival often thought it might be his lips which gave him such strong appetities, and wondered if it was the same for his son. Between Dai Jai's eyebrows, and traced from his nose aro...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian

This novel is set in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, but also looks back at the main character's life up to this point. Chen Pie Sou (Percival Chen) was born in China. His father dreamed of the Gold Mountain, earning money elsewhere to make a better life for his family. But he got caught up in the life there and seldom came home to his wife and child. When his mother died, Chen was sent to school in Hong Kong, where he learned English and set the road for his future. The Japanese invasion of Hon...more

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May 27, 2013 Blodeuedd Finland rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

A lot happened in this book, where to start? It took place over a few decades and even if a lot did not always happened to the character, then the world around him was re-shaped.

Percival is the principal of an English school. Is he a good guy? Well what is a good guy? He is kind (sort of), he cares about his family and tries to make their lives better. But at the same time he spends a lot of time gambling and whoring. But I would call him a good guy, a naive stupid man who is neither good or bad...more

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May 10, 2013 Debbie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, canadian-author

Canadian author Vincent Lam is the son of ex-pats Chinese from Vietnam.

This book, set in an ex-pat Chinese community just outside of what was then Saigon, South Vietnam, in 1968, is beautifully written and engaged me from the first page onward. The author skillfully conveyed the tension and uncertainty of living in a country at war, and invaded by hordes of outsiders (French, American, Communist North Vietnamese.) Even the ending of the book, which at first dismayed me, vividly depicted the unce...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Jill rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

“The world would be a faithful friend to anyone who could pay”

The Headmaster’s Wager possesses everything I look for in a book: intriguingly flawed characters, ambiguity, tightly-woven and suspenseful plot, page-turning revelations and a fresh perspective of an old plot theme – the Vietnam War.

Chen Pie Sou – renamed Percival Chen -- is the eponymous headmaster, in charge of the Percival Chen English Academy, which was formerly the rice warehouse of his father. He is a Chinese ex-patriot, a self-...more “The world would be a faithful friend to anyone who could pay”

The Headmaster’s Wager possesses everything I look for in a book: intriguingly flawed characters, ambiguity, tightly-woven and suspenseful plot, page-turning revelations and a fresh perspective of an old plot theme – the Vietnam War.

Chen Pie Sou – renamed Percival Chen -- is the eponymous headmaster, in charge of the Percival Chen English Academy, which was formerly the rice warehouse of his father. He is a Chinese ex-patriot, a self-described businessman, a wheeler and a dealer, and a notorious gambler and frequenter of prostitution houses. He is also a devoted father to his son, Dai Jai, who in a teenage pique of acting-out, catches the attention of the Vietnamese quiet police who are able to make him “disappear.” His father uses his connections to send him away to China at the height of the Cultural Revolution.

The wager in the title initially refers to the lengths that Percival Chen will go to in order to get his son back to safety. But in even more important ways, Percival is a gambler with life. Throughout the book, Percival will resort to many high-stakes wagers as the rules change before his very eyes. In the words of his father, Chen Kai, whom we meet in flashbacks: “My son has excellent luck! Just remember, never wager more than you can afford to lose. Leave yourself room to recover. Have something for the next bet. That’s how you’ll come out ahead in the end.” Those words are increasingly prophetic as the stakes increase for Percival Chen and when love, safety, and life itself are at risk.

Dr. Lam infuses power into this epic of the Vietnam War with Percival Chen’s unique outsider perspective and his ability to play all the forces against each other through this morally ambiguous war. The secondary characters – his fiercely loyal Teacher Mak, surely one of the most mysterious and exotic characters of any novel in recent years – and Jacqueline, his racially-mixed lover whom he wins in a high-stake game of mah-jong – are beautifully realized.

The book explores complex themes: the complexity of allegiances and the limits of wealth, power and friendship. It is a tale of love and betrayal and corruption and bribery and provides a careful glimpse into the Vietnam War from the perspective of the Chinese and Vietnamese. It’s also an astonishingly good book that forced me to stay up way past my bedtime because I just had to know what was coming next. I will be surprised if this one isn’t on my Top Ten list at the end of the year.

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May 14, 2012 Charles rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an excellent read about a less than sympathetic main character- Chen Pie Sou- born in China,he is left by his father who goes to Saigon to make his fortune-which he does in the rice business, and marries a second wife who tries to steal his fortune while taking the warehouse man as her lover. She manipulates Chen Pie Sou to be sent to Hong Kong for his education where he is renamed Percival by his teachers, and where he marries Cecilia a real harpy who does nothing but complain, especial...more This is an excellent read about a less than sympathetic main character- Chen Pie Sou- born in China,he is left by his father who goes to Saigon to make his fortune-which he does in the rice business, and marries a second wife who tries to steal his fortune while taking the warehouse man as her lover. She manipulates Chen Pie Sou to be sent to Hong Kong for his education where he is renamed Percival by his teachers, and where he marries Cecilia a real harpy who does nothing but complain, especially when Percival takes her and their son Dai Jai to Saigon, where his father is dying from his opium habit, but he manages to take over the large house, while his stepmother&lover take the rest&become rice dealers for the occupying Japanese army, making a fortune which they lose at the end of the war with the expulsion of the Japanese.
Percival transforms the house into an English school, with the graduates taking employment with the Americans who have replaced the French colonial power. He is a total xenophobe when it comes to non-Chinese, considering them inferior & to be taken advantage of. He us also an inveterate gambler & womanizer, and naively superstitious. He is not happy when his son takes up with a local student in the school, but manages to transmit his feelings when he totally opposes a new regulation that all schools must teach vietnamese, and Dai Jai expresses this forcefully in class, attracting the negative attention of the authorities&being brutally abducted&beaten, requiring Percival to rescue him with a large ransom, and forcing him to move back to his native Chinese town, when he is about to be conscripted into the S.Vitnamese army.
He then attends a high stake Mah-jong game wher he wins a large sum and a very beautiful metisse prostitute Jacqueline, whom he takes home, falls in love with, and keeps only to find that she is pregnant & gives birth to a boy on the eve of the Tet offensive,apparently 1 month early. He learns later much to his sorrow that she is his son Dai Jai's lover&that the child is in fact his grandson, though by that time he is bewitched with both.
Under the influence of teacher Mak who seems very well connected, he manages to establish the school's reputation as the best for English teaching & guarantees the students jobs with the Americans, which allows him to charge high tuitions. It turns out later that Mak is a Viet Cong agent, and the school is a covert operation to spy on Americans.
As the N.Vietnamese forces push inexorably south, people start to flee. Percival is abducted&brutally beaten almost to death by Mak under the direction of his superior Gen.Cho, when he gets a letter from Dai Jai that reveals the truth about the Red Guard movement and the real situation in China,he tries to get him back to Viet Nam with the help of Mak who helped get him out, but that threatens the operation of the school,and hence the beating which is to keep him quiet,about the school's real purpose.
As he recovers from this he becomes a narcotic addict, discovers the truth about Jacqueline&her son, and rejects her. Later she calls him to meet the son at the zoo, as she has a solution to avoid the impossible situation of meeting with Percival & Dai Jai on his return. She commits suicide&he adopts the boy.
As the Communist North rolls over the South,and the Americans abandon the country, Mak&Cho&Dai Jai are killed in Percival's borrowed car meant to reunite father&son. Percival manages to get the grandson out to the States, by pretending that he is the son of a deceased American&the madam who provided him with girls & Jacqueline, passes herself off as his mother-under a US programme, while Percival attempts to rejoin them by boat.

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Jun 18, 2012 Rarecat rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Percieval Chen, the headmaster of a profitable English academy in Saigon, placed bets all his life and had always been mostly lucky, even at times when he had nothing to gamble with. This is the story of his bets on life, on the lives of people he cared about. We followed his ups and downs, his passions and his decadence through the rise and fall of Saigon during the various regimes. It was a riveting story and Vincent Lam is a great storyteller. The book was hard to put down. Plot and character...more

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Nov 25, 2012 Jess Shulman rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literary-fiction

It pains me to give a low rating to The Headmaster’s Wager. I was fully prepared to love it from beginning to end. I loved Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures: Stories (the C-section story will haunt me forever) and was thrilled when Vincent Lam published a full-length novel. I have great respect for Vincent Lam himself; to be a successful doctor and a successful writer simultaneously is something only someone very special can do.

And I liked the story of The Headmaster’s Wager very much. It had...more It pains me to give a low rating to The Headmaster’s Wager. I was fully prepared to love it from beginning to end. I loved Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures: Stories (the C-section story will haunt me forever) and was thrilled when Vincent Lam published a full-length novel. I have great respect for Vincent Lam himself; to be a successful doctor and a successful writer simultaneously is something only someone very special can do.

And I liked the story of The Headmaster’s Wager very much. It had all the elements I love in good fiction – suspense, adversity, remorse, love, tragedy. The narrative was well-structured, the action kept up a good pace, and the ending was satisfying. I also learned from this story. I knew nothing of the Chinese diaspora, nor, for that matter, of life in Vietnam during the war, and now I feel somewhat educated in the period.

But I just didn’t feel emotionally connected to the story. It did keep me turning pages -- I wanted intellectually to know what happened next -- but I didn’t really care. Percival is the kind of complex, flawed character that I normally love, where you find yourself inexplicably rooting for someone you know you shouldn’t like one bit. But I didn’t root for him. And I didn’t hate him either. He was just there.

The disconnect for me came down to the voice, the writing itself. Another reviewer here said something like it sometimes felt like it was “just words on the page,” and I think that’s a great description. The wording is just kind of stilted. There’s hardly a contraction in the entire book, for example. At times, it almost felt like I was reading a translation. The words explained what Percival was thinking or feeling, but I found I never really felt it. I never got under his skin.

Lucky for Mr. Lam, I am just posting my first-ever Goodreads review for my nine friends, and everyone else (including those whose opinions matter) seems to love this book. So congratulations to him. I will definitely read his next one. But I would have put this one down after part 1 if I hadn’t had this book report due.
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Sep 17, 2012 Alice Meloy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Percival Chen runs an English language academy in Saigon, sending graduates to work as translators for the Americans who are heavily involved in the Vietnam War. Though he has lived in Vietnam since he was a young man, he is still very much a Chinese ex-pat, a stereotypical successful businessman who spends a lot of his energy paying out bribes, gambling, and womanizing. He is also totally devoted to his son, Dai Jai. Percival will wager anything for his son -- his own happiness and even his own...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'll call this review 3.5 stars. I wish Goodreads had half-stars. Anyhow, I digress.

The Headmaster's Wager is the story of Percival Chen, the headmaster of an English academy in Vietnam. The setting is the Vietnam war, and Cholon and Saigon are full of corruption and uneasiness. The story takes place over several years, and is filled with twists and turns.

But enough about a lame, spoiler-free plot summary. I definitely enjoyed the book, but I thought that it declined a bit in the last hundred p

...more

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Sep 30, 2012 Brian added it · review of another edition

Luck. Who is to say there is more than good fortune to success in business, in life, in love? It’s an ironic postulate. If there is no place for rational decisions, for morality, for guile, for brute strength in how things are decided in the end, there can be no hero that marches or rides into the fray to bring about a happy resolution to the story. No scapegoat can fall upon its sword to teach the reader its lesson. No dewy-eyed couple can walk down the aisle in the final chapter. In a world wh...more

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Oct 19, 2012 Jeanette rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-fiction, asia, av, four-star-fiction

This was a new perspective for me on the Vietnam War. Most of what is on offer for us here in the U.S. is told from the perspective of Americans involved in that war. THE HEADMASTER'S WAGER gives us a picture of life for the common people in and around Saigon during the war. There was a lot of money to be made as a result of the war, but the stakes were high, and certain classes of people were destined to lose regardless of who won the war. I now have a much better understanding of why some peop...more

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May 17, 2013 Dona Matthews rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I LOVED the last 1/3 of this book, but I found the first 2/3 hard going. The main character--Percival Chen, Headmaster of the English School in Cholon, near Saigon--is deceitful, materialistic, greedy, and irresponsible. For the first 2/3 of the book, there's nothing about him that I can like. I understand him a little -- his heart was broken by his father and it takes him decades to recover from that-- but he finds himself trapped in a loveless marriage to a beautiful woman, and becomes a worse...more

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Jul 17, 2012 Susan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an amazing novel and one I'm not going to forget. Vincent Lam is a fabulous storyteller and an emergency room physician when he's not writing. The Headmaster is Percival Chen, an overseas Chinese who settles in Saigon's Cholon (Chinatown) district with his Hong Kong-born wife. The two have a child, Dai Jai, who is eight when they divorce.

Percival gambles, drinks, and visits brothels. At his side is his trusted friend and colleague, Mr. Mak. It's Mak who convinces Percival to open an Eng...more

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May 13, 2012 Chelsea rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, fiction

I want to give this book 2.5 stars in actuality. I wavered between 2 stars and 3 but in the end I decided 3 would be a bit too generous. For the most part this book was just a whole lot of boring. You shouldn't have to be 300 pages in before anything interesting happens.

I got tired of reading endless descriptions of Chinese food, casinos, money and the Headmasters dislike for shaking hands with sweaty palmed Americans. I found the Headmaster (Percival) annoying, materialistic and incredibly thi...more

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