Flesh

Aug 02, 2012 Frances Le rated it 4 of 5 stars

I like books that make you think about them after you’ve put them away. But the power of words alone won’t cut the mustard. Only books that bring nutrition to the soul will stay around, at least in your mind. They stay alive with unforgettable characters, the perpetual clash of good and evil and what comes out of it, the human ignorance and redemption.

When I picked up The Homecoming of Samuel Lake from a New Fiction shelf, I already had a notion about this much talked about book. Then I was take...more

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Jul 22, 2012 Leigh-April Morgan rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who loves reading a good book

Recommended to Leigh-April by: I acquired this title for my county libraries.

Years ago when I read W. Saroyan’s The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, my thought was, I’ve never read anything like this. Having just read Flesh, a novel set in the old Vietnam (called Annam then) at the turn of the 20th century, the same thought hit me.

Flesh is written in a stylish prose. The prose is chameleonlike. Sometimes boyish, sometimes formal, sometimes poetic. And it’s deeply moving. It’s not a boy’s voice. It’s the voice through reminiscence of an old man in his seventies. Hi...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Cheryl rated it 3 of 5 stars

Tai witnesses his father beheaded. His father was part of a gang. He was betrayed. The man who betrayed him got away. Tai goes on a mission to get revenge for his family. It will be a life changing journey for Tai.

This is a interesting book. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand I liked the way Mr. Ha writes. He brought to life Tai. I was cheering for Tai and his mission. He was quiet but had a quiet strength about him. Ever though his father was dead, I felt like I knew him. Just from th...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Candice Holt rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Any serious book lover

Recommended to Candice by: serendipity

A very satisfying read, one of the quality novels I’ve read by Asian American novelists. Flesh is fresh, original in its storyline—it’s not a knock on other Asian American writers regarding their main themes usually focused on the Asian immigrant and ethnic adaptation. Flesh is also eloquent in its prose, a rare quality in modern fiction, if you consider prose and style as brick and mortar that have been missing sorely from literary fiction since Hemingway and Faulkner.

Tai, whose bandit father w...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Andy O'Keefe rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Goodreads readers

Recommended to Andy by: a librarian

FLESH's inside front flap says, 'Khanh Ha writes of the physical world with such sensuousness that he will make the reader’s heart ache.' Yes, Ha's prose at times borders on being lyrical yet restrained to the reader's enjoyment. And it's an enjoyable read throughout.

Ha deals with issues such as kinship -- obligations born out of it resting on those who choose to honor them or even take them beyond the loved ones -- and morality whose fibers Ha weaves and holds firm till the very end when it bec...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013-challenge-books, historic-fiction-1800s

Find the enhanced version of this and other reviews at: http://flashlightcommentary.blogspot....

I'm gonna be completely honest and tell you I wasn't sure what to expect from Khanh Ha's Flesh as I'm not well-versed in the history or culture of Vietnam. I came to it a blank slate and what I found was a book unlike anything I've ever attempted.

I hardly even know where to begin in reviewing this piece and I think a lot of that has to do with how the book is written. Unlike a lot of writers, I don't...more

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Oct 28, 2012 Erleen rated it 4 of 5 stars

You can read more reviews at Books For YA!

After I read Flesh, I honestly don't know how I'm going to review it. I'm not a big fan of historical fiction ever since high school because it tends to bore me whenever I read them. But Flesh is different than any historical novels that I read.

From the very first chapter of Flesh, I was already captivated by the narrator's dark tone and the way he set the mood of the story, as if warning me that this is not going to be an easy read.

In my twilight years,

...more

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May 01, 2013 Sheree rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, historical-fiction, 2013-100-plus-challenge, 2013-historical-fiction-challenge, read-in-2013, reviews

3.5 stars

Flesh is a story of shades and contrasts, languid but intense, darkly detailed and quietly introspective, poverty and cruelty, love and sensuality.

Tai is a compelling narrator and Ha excels with characterisation, even minor characters are fully fleshed out. Both setting and scene are vivid, from jungle to opium den, beheading to small pox epidemic. What was forefront for me was the deep sense of family honour, duty and loyalty guiding Tai's actions.

I've loved my many visits to differ...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Kathy rated it 3 of 5 stars

First of all I will be honest as I have stated before, my usual genre of books that I enjoy reading are, YA, and Paranormal in subject. I have read historical fiction and for the most part have enjoyed stepping away for a time and experiencing something new.

I am in two minds in this review. I loved the poetic way the author writes, I can smell and taste everything he is describing from the country side and the rice fields to the opium dens of the city and I am transported to a different time and...more

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Jul 15, 2012 Mitch Jp rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Goodreads readers

Recommended to Mitch by: a book-loving Asian friend

What a fine writer Ha is. FLESH is both sophisticated and complex; yet it delivers a spare narrative with such a sheer prose.

I haven't read anything like FLESH, regarding originality, since RICE by Su Tong. There are many debut novels that come out of nowhere and seize you and won't let go, e.g., Memoirs of a Geisha, The Tide That Binds, Cold Mountain, and FLESH is one of them.

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Mar 27, 2013 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, fiction, historical-fiction

The topic of "Flesh" is a hard one to get through. Tai is young but he knows that needs to revenge his father's death even though he didn't ever really have a chance to get to know him well. This guy has more courage packed into one person. I know that if I had been in his position, I would not have been nearly that brave.

Although I loved the historical setting of the book (more on that later), I was really gripped by Ha's writing in this book. Tai's story certainly has a lot of gravitas on it's...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Rebecca Graf rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you are looking for a book this year for your book club, consider Flesh by Khanh Ha.

This is the story of a young boy who watches his father beheaded by his own uncle. Knowing his father was a criminal does not lessen his desire for revenge. From there, the reader is taken through Tai's life as he battles smallpox, first love, humiliation, and pain. Life for him takes several new turns.

The story is not a fast paced read. There are many slow sections where the author describes scenes, the post,...more

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Jan 10, 2013 Lori L (She Treads Softly) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Flesh by Khanh Ha opens up with a much older Tai reflecting on a tumultuous time in his life when he was a teenager. At age 16, Tai, along with his mother and younger brother, witnessed the beheading of his father, a known bandit. After a terrible bout with smallpox, from which his younger brother dies, Tai sets out on a mission to retrieve his father's skull so it can be buried with his body, as well as uncover and seek revenge on the man who betrayed his father. He becomes an indentured servan...more Flesh by Khanh Ha opens up with a much older Tai reflecting on a tumultuous time in his life when he was a teenager. At age 16, Tai, along with his mother and younger brother, witnessed the beheading of his father, a known bandit. After a terrible bout with smallpox, from which his younger brother dies, Tai sets out on a mission to retrieve his father's skull so it can be buried with his body, as well as uncover and seek revenge on the man who betrayed his father. He becomes an indentured servant to one man, is entangled in the opium trade, and then his contract is sold to another rich man in exchange for a favored burial site for his father and brother. Tai ends up rescuing, falling in love, and even killing to protect Xiaoli, another indentured servant who works in an opium den in Hanoi.

Throughout the novel Tai is always concerned about his mother and he burial site for his father and brother's bodies. It is clear that the gap between the wealthy and the poor is large; life is harsh and the average citizen is struggling to survive in what ever way they can. At the same time, Tai is experiencing gaps in his cultural and linguistic knowledge between the Annam and the Chinese.

Flesh is a dark, atmospheric historical fiction novel that captures life in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) at the turn of the 20th century. Ha skillfully uses descriptive prose, in some instances it is almost poetic,and many of his descriptions evoke a sensory-filled reaction - sometimes ominous. The settings he describes can be filled with a sensual richness or evoke a sense of foreboding. And, while Flesh is about family loyalties and the daily struggles of people, it is also a violent novel, sometimes seemingly casually so, which could be disturbing to some readers.

In some cases the prose could have been tightened up and the actual storyline made a bit more concise. There is a fine line between artistic expression and expressionism in writing. Also, sometimes it felt like there was a sharp contrast between Ha's rich prose and the character's dialogue. While the action in the novel was always engaging, I did lose track of the point of the plot in some areas, which made me think it could have been made more clear with just a few minor additions (and subtractions) in the writing.

All in all, Flesh is highly recommended and I'll be looking forward to what author Khanh Ha publishes next. (I would give it 4 1/2 stars if that were possible.) I think he is definitely a writer to watch.

Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the author and Premier Virtual Author Book Tours for review purposes. (less)

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Dec 11, 2012 Sandie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Flesh starts with a memorable opening scene. The novel's protagonist, Tai, a young man of sixteen, stands numbed as he watches his bandit father undergo his punishment. He is decapitated by the uncle who raised him but who is the royal executioner. Tai, his mother and little brother, are there to bear witness and to take his father's body away for burial.

Thus begins Tai's journey to bring honor back to his family. Before the book ends, this journey takes him to new cities to live among strangers...more

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Nov 21, 2012 Angela Amman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Flesh, by Khanh Ha, takes place in Tonkin (now Vietnam) and follows Tai from the day he watches his father, a bandit from the Lau village, beheaded for his role in the attack on the rival village of Chung. Secrecy, betrayal, debt and obligation follow Tai as he works on a boat and then as a errand boy and assistant to two powerful men in the city of Hanoi.

Reading Flesh is like stepping back in time and settling in as a fly on the wall of Tai’s life. Understated emotion and beautifully rendered d...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Falcon Storm rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Falcon by: girlfriend

Shelves: reviewed

Okay, I think the first thing I should say before I start this review is that normally, I wouldn't have picked up Flesh to read on my own. Granted I have not been doing too much leisure reading these days, but I’m still glad that I did read Flesh.

While I was unable to connect with the main character Tài, I’m chalking that up to cultural differences, his journey on his way to honoring his family had me intrigued from the first chapter. Although not fast paced as most books I tend to read, I found...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Vibina Venugopal rated it 4 of 5 stars

The novel opens up with a scene of execution like the ones stripped off from the pages of history were the culprits are beheaded..A young boy Tai the protagonist witnesses his father's last moment by his great granduncle, and he has a sense of admiration for his father's bravery even during his last moment and yes Tai goes after his father's skull,he acts acts weird at atimes yet there is something fierce about him..Tai's life is clouded by sorrow and resentment, he runs away from his home away...more

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Oct 31, 2012 Laura Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: asian-philosophy, fiction, first-time-novelist, historical, indie-publishers, reviewed, 2012

Khanh Ha’s novel, Flesh, is an unusual, complicated story of human frailties and desires. Set in 19th century Vietnam, the book opens with a vivid (some might even say gruesome) description of the public beheading of the narrator’s father--a common thief. The boy, Tài, watches as each of the members of his father’s gang are summarily executed, and though Tài himself admits he was never close to his father, the scene has lasting consequences.

Miraculously surviving a smallpox outbreak, which claim...more Khanh Ha’s novel, Flesh, is an unusual, complicated story of human frailties and desires. Set in 19th century Vietnam, the book opens with a vivid (some might even say gruesome) description of the public beheading of the narrator’s father--a common thief. The boy, Tài, watches as each of the members of his father’s gang are summarily executed, and though Tài himself admits he was never close to his father, the scene has lasting consequences.

Miraculously surviving a smallpox outbreak, which claims his younger brother, Tài becomes determined to reunite his father’s head with the rest of his body. Though his mother has been allowed to bury the headless corpse in her backyard (as per common custom at that time), Tài’s father’s head is placed on a pike outside the city as a warning to other would-be thieves. How can he reclaim it without further offending the citizens whom his father has robbed? Furthermore, why bother attending to this task for a father that has never done right by his family? Tài wants to settle the score, avenging his father’s death by killing the man who ratted him out, but also by allowing his father’s and brother’s spirits to rest once their bones have been properly settled.

As Tài pursues his quest, he is aided by his employer, Chim, and Chim’s daughter Xoan. Chim provides ferryboat service on the river, and picks up a geomancer--a man who scouts out auspicious burial plots for the wealthy. Tài realizes that this man can help him find a better resting place for both his father and brother, and tells his mother of his plan. She makes a deal with the geomancer, sending Tài to work for him as payment for the burial plot.

And then... well, you’ll have to read the rest of the book to find out just what happens when you trust a geomancer with your life and death!

This historic fictional tale is a sweeping saga of family loyalties, religious and mystical beliefs, and the normal daily struggles of average people in 19th century Vietnam. Divided into chapters with titles like “The Demonic Opium Pipe” and “The Silk Woman,” Ha vividly paints scenes and characters with fine, careful brushstrokes, nudging his narrator forward from revenge-obsessed child to world-weary man. The story emerges gradually as from a mist—or perhaps a cloud of opium—with these tales told by an old man looking back on his life’s journey. Who is Tài, really, and how did he get to where he is today--an old man with a shiny skull and a pocket watch with a black-and-white photograph of a woman as the defining talismans of his personal history?

Is the desire for revenge enough to define or sustain a life? What happens when a child loses his father at a young age? Does even a common thief deserve forgiveness? Where do our ancestors go after they die, and can they help us to carry out our own individual destinies? Flesh offers readers a chance to explore these questions through a very human tale, sprinkled with ancient customs and superstitions as well as deeply-held religious beliefs both Asian and European.

This is an excellent Halloween selection for its dark themes, haunting spirits and gritty portrayal of life in Northern Vietnam.

(This review was originally posted at Black Heart Magazine, and a complimentary review copy was provided by Novel Publicity.)(less)

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Oct 23, 2012 Pavarti Tyler rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: epicfiction

Disclaimer: I received a complementary copy of Flesh from Novel Publicity as a part of Khanh Ha’s blog tour. No promise of a positive review was made.

Review:At the beginning of Flesh, we are introduced to Tài, a young boy whose father has been beheaded as punishment for crimes against a neighboring village. Tài’s young life is steeped in blood and disappointment. His father was only killed due to another in his tribe turning against him. The execution itself is performed by his Great-Uncle. Not...more Disclaimer: I received a complementary copy of Flesh from Novel Publicity as a part of Khanh Ha’s blog tour. No promise of a positive review was made.

Review:At the beginning of Flesh, we are introduced to Tài, a young boy whose father has been beheaded as punishment for crimes against a neighboring village. Tài’s young life is steeped in blood and disappointment. His father was only killed due to another in his tribe turning against him. The execution itself is performed by his Great-Uncle. Not long after this, he loses his brother to small pox and is himself very close to death.

This monstrous start to life as a young man continues through his life. Blood and danger seem to follow him everywhere. Woven within the story of his life are mysterious women and dangerous men who shape Tài into the person he ultimately becomes.

While I didn’t love Flesh, it was a refreshingly original story. Set in 20th Century Vietnam, the reader is asked to step outside of their own culture and morality and understand what it means to survive. Tài is a relateable and likeable character, as is Xiaoli, Lin Gao, and Xoan – mostly anyway.

While the writing in certain passages was exquisitely beautiful, it did not hold up for the length of the entire book. Ha clearly has a great poetic talent, as seen in the chapter where Tài is running through the woods suffering from the fever of Small Pox. Tragically, it was paired next to some very unfortunate phrasing. Sometimes, the quality of the writing would pull me out of the story and make it difficult to become re-engaged with the characters. I also found it difficult to orient myself in space from chapter to chapter, unclear about how much time had passed from scene to scene. The end result is that Flesh was a very disjointed read.

My biggest complaint, however, is the fact that while the book is written in first person, there are sections told in 3rd. I think the intention is for the narrator to be telling the reader a story, but the effect was that I was thoroughly confused. Also, there was quite a bit of head hopping, and since this clearly wasn’t written in 3rd person Omniscient, I found it difficult to get through.

Both of these issues could be rectified with another round of quality editing. I didn’t notice grammer or spelling issues so it was clearly edited, but the content could use some refining and the story overall a better structure to hang on. Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the Far East or South East Asia, specifically Vietnam during this time period. It’s a unique story and Ha has a unique and talented voice.(less)

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Aug 10, 2012 Virginia Doillon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Virginia by: Bookclub member

Flesh was one of the three titles our bookclub members presented in our July meeting. I recommended The Book Thief. Another member suggested The Buddha in the Attic. The third title was Flesh from our Asian friend. We discussed among ourselves—eleven of us—which title we would read for this August meeting with the member who proposed the book title leading the discussion. After much debate, we settled on Flesh. I agreed with the choice, though reluctantly. I was aware that we all knew about thos...more Flesh was one of the three titles our bookclub members presented in our July meeting. I recommended The Book Thief. Another member suggested The Buddha in the Attic. The third title was Flesh from our Asian friend. We discussed among ourselves—eleven of us—which title we would read for this August meeting with the member who proposed the book title leading the discussion. After much debate, we settled on Flesh. I agreed with the choice, though reluctantly. I was aware that we all knew about those two other titles, mine included. They and their authors were widely publicized. And it became easier for us to pitch them to the group. But after listening to our friend tell us what this novel was about, most of us became curious. Once we balked and he said, almost cynically, “When you buy something from a flea market and later everyone sees it and says, ‘I want it!’ then you just shake your head and say, “Can you get this darn thing from Neiman Marcus?”’

Next week we will meet again and our Asian friend will lead the discussion. Most of us have read the book. And I’m going to congratulate my friend on his choice. This book, Flesh, “takes you into dark and delightful places in the human condition—places where allies are not always your friends, true love hurts, and your worst enemy can bring you the greatest solace.” Most heart wrenching is when the 16-year-old boy witnesses his father’s death by beheading, which leaves a stain on his soul. Yet with the love for his father that comes only after his death, the boy realizes that the truth never dies, even when it has been buried. He now must deal with the new responsibilities in his life while, at the same time, reconcile his bond with a man he barely knows. He becomes steeped in a wisdom that comes of belief in human goodness, in return for virtue lost. Through this fateful story is woven a thread of a tender love, paid for in the blood of murders the boy commits—the bleakest love “where innocence is lost and the heart forever aching.”

Flesh is a worthy selection. It’s like uncovering the expected. I believe strongly that our club members will feel the same.
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Jul 25, 2012 Lilian Garcia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Lilian by: a blogger

I looked into the dark, whispering coppice for the lights of torches, for a crowd of unruly addicts and coolies. For a girl clad in black wearing a long pigtail. In the susurrus of the leaves I heard the weeping of my heart.

Passages like that remind me of The Great Gatsby. But Flesh isn’t about the romance and glitter of the Jazz Age, though it tells a boy’s story in his tragic search for revenge, for ways to save what’s left of his family. And somewhere in this quest, love blooms like an exqui...more

I looked into the dark, whispering coppice for the lights of torches, for a crowd of unruly addicts and coolies. For a girl clad in black wearing a long pigtail. In the susurrus of the leaves I heard the weeping of my heart.

Passages like that remind me of The Great Gatsby. But Flesh isn’t about the romance and glitter of the Jazz Age, though it tells a boy’s story in his tragic search for revenge, for ways to save what’s left of his family. And somewhere in this quest, love blooms like an exquisite flower.

Reading Flesh is like being treated to a sumptuous feast. You are transported to an exotic land called Annam (now modern Vietnam) at the turn of the 20th century. You witness the encroachment of Catholicism upon an ancient land traditionally worshiping ancestors and Buddhism. You feel the raw hatred toward the converted Catholics. You gasp at the horrors carried out by the law of the land: beheading criminals on the execution ground, hanging decapitated heads in public as a warning. You cringe at the eerie sight of a plague ravaged village—each infected abode with its front door shut and on it dangling a taro pot. Your gut churns at the custom practiced by the natives to ward off the evil curse of smallpox with a rotten eel. You grow inquisitive about the ancient belief in the Feng shui practice—it begins with a geomancer who scouts the land for a magical burial hole for the dead, where an auspicious site for interment will bring properity for the dead’s offspring.

From this backdrop you watch the first execution by decapitation when Tai, the 16-year-old protagonist, witnesses the death of his infamous bandit father. You hear him vow to kill the man who betrayed his father. You follow him in his grim search for his father’s head which is hung at the entrance of the village his father and cohorts have robbed. You hold your breath at his precarious venture into a Catholic stronghold and you squirm when they hang him. Then you follow him—after his narrow escape from the Catholics—from his village to Hanoi, to the Chinese quarter where opium is legalized by the French. In a den that comes to life with the “the occasional crackling of pipes,” you smell the dark odor of caramel of premium opium and you dream of “an ethereal world free of all pain, all worries.” You meet the predator in Đinh Hoa, the geomancer; you’re intrigued by the mysterious and refined Mr. Cao Lai—the wealthy and influential Chinese businessman; you dread the ominous sight of the French lieutenant—the horseman in black; and you become acquainted with Xiaoli, the graceful Chinese girl who sells opium waste to addicted coolies on the streets.

Suddenly love blossoms between Tai and Xiaoli in the midst of his chaotic city life. Love bottles up his revenge. Love keeps him rooted in the city which he has previously hated. And love puts him in danger. It turns him into a murderer. His victims: a Chinese opium addict, the French lieutenant. Now, by the counsel of Mr. Cao Lai—his employer—Tai begins to dress in Chinese outfit while posters of his sketch are posted on the city’s walls. Slowly he becomes Mr. Cao Lai’s protégé—more like a son Cao Lai never had. Yet he’s always wary of Cao Lai, for he doesn’t know who the man really is. But he knows this: Cao Lai seems to take a strong liking to his mother, the bandit’s widow full of grace. Making this relationship even more tense is Cao Lai’s sudden order for Tai: Stop seeing Xiaoli, or jeopardize not only her employment but his as well.

Things abruptly turn topsy-turvy in Cao Lai’s household. Scheming against him is one of his trustworthy business partners, and the ever cagey Cao Lai is sentenced to death for a horrendous crime that he has orchestrated. Here’s Tai’s thought as he visits his former employer in a death cell: Somehow I could not separate him, the mastermind of organized crime, the racketeer, the extortionist, from the person I used to know. He was clearly one of the business gentry.

But who is Cao Lai? Who is Xiaoli?

Read Flesh and find out what’s being giftwrapped in this exquisite novel.
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Jul 19, 2012 Teresa Tran Lutyens rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Teresa Tran by: Came upon a reader's comment on my local library's website

Reading Flesh brought back my creative writing instructor’s ‘must-have’ rules for a good novel: Readability, Creativity, Depth (RCD). He’s credited with a PEN Faulkner Award in fiction, so I listened. He said even with RCD, a novel must also be interesting. He meant the characters.

And that was what pulled me through Flesh. It has a magnet. It sucks you in. It slaps you with vicious scenes, gory scenes, downtrodden scenes. But all the while you could sense in your bones this stubborn grip of huma...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Elizabeth A. added it

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4.0 out of 5 stars A lush, poetic tale July 18, 2012
By Elizabeth A. White
Format:Hardcover
Author Khanh Ha's moody and atmospheric debut novel, Flesh, takes place in Annam (modern-day Vietnam) around the turn of the 20th century and follows several years in the life of Tài, a poor, young villager we meet as he and his family are fo...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Audrey-Uyen Hoang rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Goodreads readers

Recommended to Audrey-Uyen by: discussion selection for local library bookclub

I like this book for its depth and elegance. I like it from its eerie opening sentence: `In my twilight years, my possessions are sparse.’ From there you follow Tai, the protagonist at sixteen, through many twists and turns of his violent yet full of rude awakening world, and it begins with his witnessing the decapitation of his bandit father on an execution ground in Hanoi – and who but his granduncle is the executioner!

The author is economical with his words, poetic with his expressions, imagi...more I like this book for its depth and elegance. I like it from its eerie opening sentence: `In my twilight years, my possessions are sparse.’ From there you follow Tai, the protagonist at sixteen, through many twists and turns of his violent yet full of rude awakening world, and it begins with his witnessing the decapitation of his bandit father on an execution ground in Hanoi – and who but his granduncle is the executioner!

The author is economical with his words, poetic with his expressions, imaginative with his stage-setting skill:

It must have been my twentieth pipe when my eyes watered and I saw Lin Gao’s hand try to take the pipe away from me. I refused to let go. It must have been my thirtieth pipe when a hand offered me a cup of hot tea, and I drank it like water. My tongue seemed gone. It must have been my fortieth pipe when the room was no longer itself but a desolate ground, blue with fog. I hear voices calling out to one another, shuffling footsteps of frail specters, a lantern hovering by itself in midair. The wind blows through desolation and tall eucalyptus trees sway and sigh. From a cluster of trees emerges a horde of black-garbed beings and they stumble and bump one another soundlessly, and I can see the bones of their skeletons through their formless attire. Among them some are headless bodies walking around and around on the same spot, looking and looking. Nearby, chained to a tree, is the skeleton of a dog. He jumps at the poor apparitions only to be yanked back by his own chain. It must have been my fiftieth pipe. I lie down on the moss-covered ground while the phantoms walk over me, seeking something perhaps forever lost to them. A red poppy flower blooms, a handspan from my eyes. I see each petal open. I am no longer flesh, bound by nothing material. Yet I am a mere thought, unable to lift my own hand to touch the flower.

Through Tai, the author speaks to us the boy’s thoughts, feelings and beliefs, a voice at times dark, emotional in a world thick with opium smoke, of sinners and predators, at times tender in the embrace of love between the two young, innocent souls:

She moved the lantern into the corner where it burned, now yellow, now blue, and she lay inclined on the floor, resting her head on the rim of the wooden crate. The side of her face went dark, only the white of her throat glowed. When I lay down by her, her hands came up soft and warm touching my face like she wanted to feel the remains of the smallpox scourge. I held still, forgetting myself. Warm, fragrant heat clung to her skin. The curve of her throat sloped into the valley of her shoulder. Wind came sweeping through the door, the air infused with a tinge of wet moss. Her curved back, hollowed to kiss the fingertips. Patches of light on her feverish skin, white worms writhing in the sky. From the corner, the lantern’s flame sputtered and dimmed.

This is one book that, once you’ve put it down after finishing, you’ll find yourself thinking of its characters for days to come.
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Jul 11, 2012 drey rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-reads, multi-cultural

Khanh Ha’s Flesh starts off gory – with a beheading. Following closely on its heels is a smallpox plague, and more death. Tai is only a boy when he witnesses the first and survives the second. Told in a spare yet emotional voice, Flesh then takes us along as Tai grows up and does everything he can to make sure his father’s death is avenged and both father and brother are buried well.

This is a poor Vietnam, and its people do whatever they can to survive, including Tai. Along his journey, he recov...more

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Jul 18, 2012 Trudie Li Brooks rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Trudie Li by: My Vietnamese roommate

While reading Flesh I couldn’t help thinking of Red Sorghum – not the movie but the novel. I thought it’d be marvelous to see Flesh in a Chinese translation, much as it was a treat to me in college when I came upon an English translation of Red Sorghum. In the hand of Howard Goldblatt, Red Sorghum became tighter and easier to read than its original Chinese which I read in my high school year.

First the emotion that Flesh brought: vividly graphic prose that grips you with horrifying scenes of huma...more

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Nov 10, 2012 Debdatta Dasgupta Sahay rated it 5 of 5 stars

I took the longest time to read this book. While I finish a book in a day or two at the most, I read this one over a period of a week. No, not because it was boring, not because it was dragging and certainly not because it was easy to put down. The only reason I forced myself to put down this book after every few chapters is because I did not want it to end! Seriously, it is that good.

The story is that of and narrated by a teenage Vietnamese boy, Tai. Even though he did not share a particularly...more I took the longest time to read this book. While I finish a book in a day or two at the most, I read this one over a period of a week. No, not because it was boring, not because it was dragging and certainly not because it was easy to put down. The only reason I forced myself to put down this book after every few chapters is because I did not want it to end! Seriously, it is that good.

The story is that of and narrated by a teenage Vietnamese boy, Tai. Even though he did not share a particularly close relationship with his father, witnessing the beheading of his father makes a great impression on him. He decides to reunite his father’s head with the rest of the body. With that decision, Tai’s life takes a turn that changes him and his life completely. Revenge, redemption, peace and love – these become an integral part of his life – his driving force. What happens when Tai meets a geomancer and leaves his village behind to go work for that man, is for you to read and find out.

The characters are strong and colourful. Tai, the protagonist is someone you are forced to feel for and with. Also, the female characters in the book, especially the ones that touch Tai’s life directly, are really strong and are the ones that you cannot ignore. The dynamics of different relationships are bound to be different and the author has portrayed that very well through these different characters. The author has also managed to cover and describe quite a bit of 19th-20th Century Vietnamese culture and background.

The plot is good and though not very fast paced, it will never give you the ‘drag’ feeling. But I can guarantee you that it will make you think – even days after you have finished reading it. There’s certain ‘darkness’ (for lack of a better word for it in my limited vocabulary) in it that will creep up, get a hold on you and not let go easily. And yes there’s violence that will gross you out. But there’s also love and romance. Then there is hope and forgiveness. The author has expertly dealt with both the spiritual aspects and the emotional and materialistic side of human.

The best feature of this book is the author’s style of writing. I don’t know – this mind sound odd to you, but I thought that his style of writing was very elegant – not any other word, but elegant. It may be because the word elegance usually paints a ‘royal & sophisticated’ picture in my mind and that is exactly what I felt about Khanh Ha’s writing. There’s a certain charm in it that’s more at home with what we call ‘classics’ and hard to come by in modern literature. It is so expressive and touching all the while maintaining its charm. While I was reading, the smooth flow of the storyline naturally complimented his language to paint a very vivid motion picture in my mind.

This book has made a real good impression, one that’s going to last a long time, on me. I would suggest and recommend this book to the people who are looking for a book with good language, great plot, amazing characters and some ‘depth’.
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Sep 11, 2012 Ruth Hill rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

I suppose I have somewhat mixed feelings about this book. Yes, I can agree without a doubt that this is a book that is full of history that I honestly had never heard. I know very little about Vietnam, and this told me much about nineteenth century Annam (which became Vietnam). I was horrified to discover how the people were treated by the Chinese, and the barbarism nearly sickened me. The realism of the book certainly made an impression on me.

I was somewhat turned off by the unnecessary profan...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Patty rated it 4 of 5 stars

Flesh is not an easy book to read. It starts with and ends with a beheading and there is much in between that does not make for a light and happy tale. But sometimes I like a book that challenges me and this was definitely one of those books. The synopsis intrigued me but sadly had little to do with the actual story - I really hate when that happens. Fortunately Flesh was strong enough to survive my aggravation. For what our young hero Tai, really seeks is not to avenge his father's death but ra...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Olduvai added it

Shelves: 2012

Flesh opens daringly with a beheading. It is Hanoi, 1896, and a young boy watches as his father, a bandit, is executed.

Life in the almost-twentieth century Annam (Vietnam today) was ugly, beheadings aside. And that is where author Khanh Ha shines – bringing to the page all those pungent odours, the grisly details of the every day, the revolting traditional ‘cures’ for smallpox, and the brown, the brown, the brown of village life:

“The color of the land must have been dyed into their souls before...more

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