Status Updates From Lotusland

"In Vietnam, a person without anyone depending on them is called a monkey without a tail" (98)

I... I can't really say that I like this book, because I honestly don't. I feel like I knew the entire plot just by reading the back story. There is just too much rising action to get the the climax, which is 85, if not 90, percent through the book. This just doesn't sit well for me, because reading this book became more a chore, and I really couldn't connect with the characters. I have so much more to say.

I don't know what to think of this book. One moment I hate the main character, the next moment I pity him. It seems to be that way with almost every character, and it's confusing me beyond proportion. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just aggravating, confusing... It's hard to find the correct word for my feelings; I suppose I could say it's lacking something, something that would make it amazing.

I don't know what to think of this book. One moment I hate the main character, the next moment I pity him. It seems to be that way with almost every character, and it's confusing me beyond proportion. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just aggravating, confusing... It's hard to find the correct word for my feelings; I suppose I could say it's lacking something, something that would make it amazing.

I don't know what to think of this book. One moment I hate the main character, the next moment I pity him. It seems to be that way with almost every character, and it's confusing me beyond proportion. It's not bad, it's not good, it's just aggravating, confusing... It's hard to find the correct word for my feelings; I suppose I could say it's lacking something, something that would make it amazing.

Everyone wants something from another, like a trail of dominoes, but rarely is the desire reciprocated, each one searching for something beyond their reach without seeing what they already have at hand. Blindness, illusion, disillusion, impulse to escape

Two American freinds in Vietnam, whose paths have diverged since they arrived 3 years ago, about to meet up again in Hanoi, the struggling unattached writer and the real estate entrepreneur, now married to said friend's ex girlfriend, with 2 children he can't communicate with. Freedom, entrapment, money, language, cultural differences, capitalism...