I have to admit that I didn't take any notes during this discussion, but i did write a short review that summarizes my thoughts about the book. I'll post it below and you cal all feel free to jump all over it, if you like. :)
At the meetup we mostly talked about the life if a "boat person" and immigration in general. What kind of person will pay any price and can make the perilous journey from their home country to the US with little or no prospects for the future? And what kid of a person is ruthless enough to help them blaze that trail, no matter the risks? And are those organizers, or "snakeheads" actually ruthless, or are they just practical? Are cultural differences at the root of how we see them and what they do?
Here are my thoughts on the book itself:
I always seem to want half-star rating options. (This should get 3.5 stars instead of 4.) I enjoyed Keefe's engaging writing style (the opening is like a James Bond thriller), but got a little lost in the weeds sometimes when he went off on tangents and got deep into statistics and figures. The narrative is a bit inconsistent; sometimes it reads like a novel and sometimes it feels like a piece of in-depth journalism. Both kinds of work are valid - and he is a skilled writer in both arenas - but they don't mix very well and the transitions can be jarring and take the reader out of the story.
Overall a really good book with a fascinating story and I especially love the depictions of the people who are eager to pay enormous sums of money and risk everything just for a chance to go to America. It's a really great entry into the immigration discussion. But it could have been a much better one.
At the meetup we mostly talked about the life if a "boat person" and immigration in general. What kind of person will pay any price and can make the perilous journey from their home country to the US with little or no prospects for the future? And what kid of a person is ruthless enough to help them blaze that trail, no matter the risks? And are those organizers, or "snakeheads" actually ruthless, or are they just practical? Are cultural differences at the root of how we see them and what they do?
Here are my thoughts on the book itself:
I always seem to want half-star rating options. (This should get 3.5 stars instead of 4.) I enjoyed Keefe's engaging writing style (the opening is like a James Bond thriller), but got a little lost in the weeds sometimes when he went off on tangents and got deep into statistics and figures. The narrative is a bit inconsistent; sometimes it reads like a novel and sometimes it feels like a piece of in-depth journalism. Both kinds of work are valid - and he is a skilled writer in both arenas - but they don't mix very well and the transitions can be jarring and take the reader out of the story.
Overall a really good book with a fascinating story and I especially love the depictions of the people who are eager to pay enormous sums of money and risk everything just for a chance to go to America. It's a really great entry into the immigration discussion. But it could have been a much better one.