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Feng shui is an ancient Asian art that revolves around object placement in the home, garden, and workplace. In fact, feng shui specialists claim that the flow of chi (or energy) in the environment can directly affect our health, relationships, career, and even our checkbooks. Even toilet placement can affect the happiness of a marriage or the luck of young children. "In feng shui, chi is viewed as the ever-present force that circulates and moves in the environment," writes author Lillian Too. "...and wherever chi settles it brings a special kind of energy that attracts good fortune."
Written as a lively, comprehensive guide to feng shui, this 360-page book is full of practical suggestions, stunning line drawings, lavish photographs, and just about everything you'd ever want to know about this age-old Chinese art form. The eight-part encyclopedia covers topics as diverse as "Using Mirrors to Deflect Bad Energy," "Overcoming Bad Feng Shui When Traveling," and "Good Feng Shui Trees." It also includes a thorough feng shui dictionary. Even if this all sounds like mumbo-jumbo superstition, it still makes a fascinating coffee-table book. (Just be sure to place it next to a succulent potted jade plant to ensure prosperity!) --Gail Hudson
Book Description
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Feng Shui covers the origins, principles, and practices of Feng Shui from its source as an ancient science in China more than 3,500 years ago to its everyday applications an uses in a contemporary environment. Divided into eight accessible parts, the book considers all the aspects of Feng Shui necessary for living a healthy, happy and harmonious life, including Fundamentals of Feng Shui (landscape, compass formula, and symbolic Feng Shui; Feng Shui in the Home (Feng Shui for all types of home and for interior rooms); Personal Feng Shui and Feng Shui in the Family (for good health, in relationships, love and marriage, for traveling and going abroad); Feng Shui in the Garden (including plants, water, garden structures, lighting, Feng Shui in the Business World (for entrepreneurs, retail businesses, and corporations). There are also practical tips, including cures and antidotes for Feng Shui problems, a comprehensive and fully informative A to Z dictionary, cross-referenced with the main text and it is illustrated throughout with striking line drawings and full color artwork, specially commissioned photographs, and boxed features.
Customer Reviews:
Illustrated Ency. of Feng Shui: The Complete Guide to the Art and Practice of Feng Shui.......2005-09-30
One of Lillian Too's best books. Good for beginners and for those with some knowledge. Found it very helpful and easy to understand.
The bottom line of Feng Shui.......2003-06-24
The bottom line of Feng Shui
Time ago I decided to select and buy the 5 best Feng Shui books I was able to find, after several months of research (I had already bought another 5).
Maybe the best books on the subject are those in the realm of the so-called "traditional Feng Shui" (that is: F.S. using a compass, your birth date, the date of construction of your home, and some complex formulas to arrive to conclusions about the effects of your home over specific areas of your life). On the other side, "Western Feng Shui", in general, ignores the compass and takes the entry door of the home as the base for any further analysis, and uses mirrors, wind chimes and other cures to fix any existing problem. (Of course these are crude descriptions, F.S. goes far beyond this!!)
In this book, Lilian Too includes all her knlowledge on Feng Shui, based in what her experience has shown to be effective. I must stress this: based ONLY in what her long experience in F.S. has proved to be EFFECTIVE. And the result is a mixture of formulas and procedures from Traditional Feng Shui (mostly) and some "cures" and "boosters" that you will find also in "Western" F.S.".
Well, the point is that at the end, I found myself using this book more and more than any other I have. The reason? It simply works, and works in the deep and in the simple. So I left the deep T.F.S. literature for later, Western F.S. was absorbed in a couple of evenings, and in the meantime I'm using, applying and enjoying what this book shows, more than any other I've found.
Now I have some mixed comments:
-Lilian has written specific F.S. books (F.S. for love. F.S. for success, F.S. for the home, for the garden, etc. etc.) in those books she makes a complete analysis of every subject, but you can find the bottom line in this book. You might not need anything else (at least for a while). People buying these specific books may sense that they include almost the same information...
-The book has many illustrations and tables that make reading easy.
-I was not only amazed, but SCARED when I applied the "flying star formula" to several homes of people I know, it described circumnstances you thought were simply natural, but at the end seemed to be an effect of the kind of plan and location of things there.
-In some instances, it explains very easily with pictures, principles from traditional F.S. that I found hard to retain in memory when reading other books
The Most Comprehensive Book I have ever come across.......2001-02-12
I would like to thank Lillian Too for the most fabulous book on Feng Shui that I have ever come across. The author has taken great pain in explaining the details, with illustrations and pictures, on all pages. Each and every page of this book is worth its weight in gold!
Keep up the good work!!
Encyclopedia of FengShui by Lillian Too.......2000-10-28
I read a few other books before I found Lillian's Too's book. This encyclopedia has helped me put everything together. I got so confused to have read different FS, there's the Indian FS, the Western FS, the Japanese FS, I also was surfing the net and just read whatever was there. Thanks to Lillian, it all then finally made sense why other FS contradicted each other. It's also good to know that you can also use FS principles/cures from other FS as above in different rooms in your house. This is an excellent excellent book, anyone starting in FS should not be without.
This is not a good book !.......2000-07-26
This is not a good feng shui book because it only teaches a very basis.
Book Description
Aptly called "painting with scissors," decou-page is the art of decorating a surface with cut-out paper images, as beautifully documented in this overflowing archive of popular decoupage subjects. The book opens with a brief history of the craft and provides concise instructions for cutting out motifs, coloring black-and-white prints, preparing surfaces, gluing, varnishing, and sanding. Then a dazzling collection of more than a thousand prints provides animals, bows and ribbons, cherubs and cupids, flowers, fruits, and vegetables, shells and marine life, sporting images, and numerous borders and background patterns. The color pages are printed on one side so that all of the images can be used; because they can be photocopied easily, the black-and-white pages are printed on both sides.
Customer Reviews:
decoupage designs to copy or cut out.......2007-02-14
This was the first decoupage pattern book I ordered. It has lots of designs, so everyone is bound to find ones they like. Although a fair amount of the patterns are ones I will not use, I still feel like I got my "money's worth". Also, that is a matter of taste - the publication delivers exactly what it advertises and I think most people would like the designs more than I do (my tastes are a bit non-traditional).
Book a must for scrapbooking,card making and decoupage.......2006-07-23
This book is another must for scrapbooking,cardmaking decoupage and collage.altered books..all ..I love the color prints nice enough to frame alone and love the black and whites to add my own pastels to or paints..perfect for glass paints too..Very nice paper..a real find.B.W.
Great decoupage book!!.......2003-09-02
This is a really great book to have. The pictures are beautiful and there are lots of little elements tucked away on each page that makes the book even more useful. In addition to all the other excellent prints, the authors have also included the prints that were used for the items in their photographs.
I have made the soldier book-ends. The directions were very easy to follow. My wife is now working on the Christmas decorations.
Many thanks to Davis and Cooper for a wonderful book!
Excellent Presentation!!.......2003-07-15
This was a great book! The presentation and abundance of prints is excellent. I have been playing with decoupage for some time and I found that this book has inspired me to do more and more. I found the collection of prints very helpful in both planning and enticing new projects out of me. The variety of prints and the clear and precise information would be helpful to anyone working in decoupage or just beginning.
This author has really given me the additional boost I needed! Thanks Dee for a great book and your good work. I look forward to more!
Allen
Great, usable prints!.......2003-03-06
I have bought a lot of prints in my time decoupaging and I have to say that someone has finally done this right! I love this book. I have used tons of the prints (there is a terrific selection) and have made some really beautiful pieces.
The format is clear and easy to use, good for beginners or for more experienced people. There is a wide variety of material so that if you don't like one theme, there isn't too much of it.
I hope there is a second volume on the way soon b/c I am almost out of inspiration!
Book Description
This is a one-stop reference for any new owner of a digital camera-whether an experienced or novice photographer. This digital photography guide explains what a digital image is and what makes it different from a traditional film photograph. Each technique for using a digital camera-from producing high-quality prints to preparing images for e-mail for the Web-is accompanied by stunning color photographs that will inspire amateurs and professionals alike. All necessary terms such as megapixel, color depth, memory cards, and data compression are defined. Explanations of the latest computer hardware, scanners, software applications, and printing techniques are also given. Step-by-step instructions for creating stunning effects with the leading image manipulation program, Adobe Photoshop, and other software are provided.
Average customer rating:
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Marville Volume 1 TPB
Bill Jemas
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0785110429 |
Customer Reviews:
Don't spend your money.......2006-04-04
"Marville," a short-lived tongue-in-cheek feature from Marvel Comics, set out with a plan to spoof the comics industry. Unfortunately, the book by Bill Jemas is so busy trying to be clever and patting itself on the back for its obvious references to DC, Marvel and real-life icons that it forgets to come up with a plot and eliminates any pretense of character growth. Trust me, if you find one chuckle here, make it last -- 'cause you'll need it for the rest of the book.
When it's not trying to be funny, the book drags readers through a lengthy discourse through Jemas's theories on evolution and faith, relying in part on intelligent talking dinosaurs, cavemen who speak perfect English, and "proof" that the Marvel mutant hero Wolverine is cousin to us all. Perhaps worse than a book that tries to be funny and fails, this section is merely dull.
In its favor, "Marville" has appealing cheesecake covers by Mark Bright that have little if anything to do with the book, but at least give you something curvy to look at. Bright's pencils on the inside are good, but they need a story to support them. I'll give it 2 stars for the art.
Book Description
Masterpieces you can read over and over is how the Washington Post reviewed MacQuarrie's engaging, timeless stories of the misadventures of the Old Duck Hunters Association. Here are 53 classic hunting and fishing stories, some from sporting magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, including unpublished works from the author's literary estate. Available in individual volumes or collected in a slip-cased three-volume set, here is a legacy to today's sportsman from one of America's finest outdoor writers.
Customer Reviews:
The Best Darn Writter On Duck Hunting Ever........2005-09-29
I have read everything he has written that I am aware of. These are not how to books. If you are a hunter and love all the little things that suround the hunter and the sport of duck hunting you will love his books. When I hear his name "Gordon Macquqrrie" I smile. In my mind I have been to his cabin, set infront of his fireplace full of pine knots. I have shot Bluebills in the snow and smiled thinking of his hunts for Bills.
Like Mr. Macquarrie I am a Bluebill man. I started reading his books 30+ years ago before many knew of him. It's a good thing
to see today how so many hunters have come to know him. Many say that Nash Buckingham is the best of the duck hunting story tellers. I have read most of Nash's books and for me he doesn't hold a candle to Gordon. Gordon Macquarri is the best of the best. If you are a meat hunter and care little for the romance of duck hunting maybe you should just read the how to books.
More Stories of the Old Duck Hunters.......2000-10-05
Maquarrie is one of the greatest writers hunting and fishing has ever seen. He brings to life every story, and you can feel yourself in the blind or on the stream with the ODHA. His stories can be read over and over again, without loss of excitement.
Average customer rating:
- last stories of the old duck hunters
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Last Stories of the Old Duck Hunters (Gordon Macquarrie Trilogy)
Gordon MacQuarrie
Manufacturer: Willow Creek Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1572230053 |
Book Description
Masterpieces you can read over and over is how the Washington Post reviewed MacQuarrie's engaging, timeless stories of the misadventures of the Old Duck Hunters Association. Here are 53 classic hunting and fishing stories, some from sporting magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, including unpublished works from the author's literary estate. Available in individual volumes or collected in a slip-cased three-volume set, here is a legacy to today's sportsman from one of America's finest outdoor writers.
Customer Reviews:
last stories of the old duck hunters.......2000-11-01
if you hunt ducks this book is a must. it is packed full of the "good old days". not only that, but each story makes you feel as if you were there. you can almost feel the cold of the morning and the excitement of each flock that passes by.
Book Description
Masterpieces you can read over and over is how the Washington Post reviewed MacQuarrie's engaging, timeless stories of the misadventures of the Old Duck Hunters Association. Here are 53 classic hunting and fishing stories, some from sporting magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, including unpublished works from the author's literary estate. Available in individual volumes or collected in a slip-cased three-volume set, here is a legacy to today's sportsman from one of America's finest outdoor writers.
Customer Reviews:
A collection of absolutely wonderful tales..........2007-03-28
The terms "author" or "writer" do not apply to Mr. MacQuarrie. He is an artist. Reading "Stories of the Old Duck Hunters" will first transport you to your favorite duck blind, with the early morning sun glowing through the morning mist, the winter chill misting your breath and numbing your fingers. Then you will find yourself in the middle of the old Brule river, the cold water swirling around your waders as you try to tease a crafty Brown from behind a rock with a worn no-name brown fly.
MacQuarrie's wonderful story telling will cause you to laugh with joy, sigh with nostalgia, tense with apprehension, and bring the occassional tear to your eye. I found myself many times gazing of into space as I reflected upon my own experiences, the book momentarily forgotten in my hands as MacQuarrie once again made some connection to my thoughts and feelings. If you love the outdoors, and especially if your idea of a perfect day involves the frigid, wet, muddy, foggy self-torture device known as a duck blind, you must read this book.
The Best!.......2006-08-27
Just reread this old favorite of mine. His characters are masterpieces of excellent writing and his storytelling is an art. May GM's works live forever!
I told my wife, if I'm ever in a coma...........2000-06-08
I told my wife that if I am ever in a coma clinging to life, she should play these tapes. I can't say enough about MacQuarrie and his story telling ability. No one can describe better the experience of huddling in a pre dawn duckblind as wings whistle overhead in the darkness. Nor what it's like to feel the sure pluck of a brown trout at your fly during a spring rain. You will feel the glow of the woodstove and relish the ache in your arms that comes from rowing your boat back to the cedar cabin on a North Wisconsin lake. MacQuarrie's literary voice, the subject, and characters of his stories make my heart ache for a time that I was born too late to experience. Buy this trilogy. If you are a hunter or fisherman you will never regret it. If you aren't but take time to listen to these stories, you might find yourself looking at old shotguns, bamboo flyrods, and bluebill decoys in a different light. You might even find yourself in sleeting rain on a North Lake someday as wings whistle overhead.
Stories of The Ols Duck Hunters and Other Drivel.......2000-05-28
Collection of short stories dealing about hunting, fishing and life. MacQuarrie was one of our finest outdoor writers and had a way to put how many outdoorsmen really feel into words. A must read if you have any interest in the outdoor lifestyle.
The Stories of MacQuarrie.......2000-05-08
This is for anyone who is ever thinking about buying a book with stories by MacQuarrie in it. Buy it and don't look back. MacQuarrie wasn't an advertiser like so many things are today. He wrote about everyday people and their love of the out doors. You must be careful though because after you read MacQuarrie it will be hard to find someone to out do him. I never heard of him before I found a book that Zack Taylor compiled with the stories of MacQuarrie flyfishing. Buy anything you can find by him and you won't be sorry. Enjoy MacQuarrie in your private times when you need things to be enjoyable and he'll never let you down.
Book Description
Although his typewriter has been silent for nearly fifty years, Gordon MacQuarrie’s words continue to inspire generations of hunting and fishing enthusiasts. Through his “Stories of the Old Duck Hunters,” most of which are still in print, MacQuarrie captured the intangible, emotional qualities of the outdoor life in a way that made him unique among his peers. As a result, his audience and his legend continue to grow. Gordon MacQuarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter is the first full-length biography of this literary legend. It explores the relationships he nurtured and treasured; records his coming of age during Theodore Roosevelt’s Conservation Movement; documents his rise to national prominence as the first full-time, professional outdoor writer in America; and follows his life as journalist, storyteller, husband, father, outdoorsman, and conservationist. Complete with rarely seen photographs and a comprehensive timeline of his writings, this book is a fitting companion to MacQuarrie’s own Stories of the Old Duck Hunters anthologies.
Customer Reviews:
If you're a fan of the ODHA, this is a must read.......2007-10-20
If you've ever wondered who the real "Mac" was, Keith Crowley has the answer for you, and then some. If you you're like me and you need to read the Stories of the Old Duck Hunters over and over as the leaves start to turn, then you need to read this book to gain an even greater appreciation for the talents of this outdoor writer. Buy it and put it right next to the rest of your McQuarrie titles where it belongs.
Gordon Macquarrie: The Story of an Old Duck Hunter.......2005-02-24
This guy can write! Forget about the extensive research done to produce the tremendous amounts of factual data in the book, it reads with the ease and style not unlike that of the subject author. This book has earned a spot on the shelf next to my copies of Macquarrie Miscellany and the Trilogy!
Book Description
Masterpieces you can read over and over is how the Washington Post reviewed MacQuarrie's engaging, timeless stories of the misadventures of the Old Duck Hunters Association. Here are 53 classic hunting and fishing stories, some from sporting magazines of the 1930s and 1940s, including unpublished works from the author's literary estate. Available in individual volumes or collected in a slip-cased three-volume set, here is a legacy to today's sportsman from one of America's finest outdoor writers.
Customer Reviews:
Trilogy.......2000-01-22
This is the best outdoor writing I've ever read. Awesome storie
MacQuarrie Takes You There.......1999-12-09
This trilogy is probably the best rendition of hunting fishing adventures that I have ever read. These stories contain no grandiose panoramic gushing descriptions of landscape or sunsets, just simple, clarity. A great read.
The finest of outdoor writing........1999-08-25
Most outdoor writing is a bit boring: ". . . and then he hit my Royal Coachman like a freight train,[etc.]. . . ." Not these stories! MacQuarrie puts you right in the stream or field with him, without effort and with great, subtle humor. Only when he mentions an automobile do you realize these were written in the 20's and 30's. He wrote with the parsimonious beauty of Hemmingway. Read only one story per night, lest you get through the three volumns too fast.
The best hunting and fishing collection ever read.......1998-11-13
MacQuarrie tells it like it is about the true meaning about adventures in hunting and fishing and the impact they have on life. There are certain methods of putting proper priorities in life and MacQuarries brings them out. Every sportsman has someone like the President that does things to bring things into perspective.
As soon as I finished the three books, I started over.
Classic stories for people who love the outdoors.......1998-09-15
For anyone who has spent any time in the outdoors or wishes they could, these stories are great. All three books are a collection of Gordon MacQuarrie's short stories that appeared in print in the 1930's through the 1950's, in outdoor magazines, ie Field & Stream. The stories take place in northwestern Wisconsin, and include duck and deer hunting, as well as many fishing stories. Having spent time in this great area, the author paints great pictures of the country, as well as bringing out the true appreciation of the outdoors. These books also show the views of true sportsmen in regards to conservation, and the understanding of our responsibility to nature. And lastly, quite a few chuckles along the way. I can tell you that I have re-read these stories many times through the years, and will again... enjoy.
Book Description
In the fall of 1992, James Sullivan travels to Vietnam to bicycle from Saigon to Hanoi. He has just finished graduate school and has an assignment to write a magazine story about a country that is still subject to a U.S. trade embargo. But in Hue, the old imperial capital of Vietnam, the planned three-month bike trip takes a detour. Here, in a city spliced by the famed Perfume River and filled with French baroque villas, he finds himself bicycling over a moat to visit a beautiful shop girl who lives amid the ruins of the last imperial dynasty of Vietnam. She falls for him, but there's a catch. Several other suitors are vying for her hand, and one of them is an official with the city's police force. Over the Moat is the story of Sullivan's efforts to win Thuy's favor while immersing himself in Vietnamese culture, of kindly insinuating himself in Thuy's colorful and warm family, and of learning how to create a common language based on love and understanding.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting.......2007-01-13
This real-life story reads like a novel. Our book club had a good discussion about Over the Moat. I hope James and his family live happily ever after.
Culture shock without the shock.......2006-06-12
This is the true story of an American who, on a bike tour through Vietnam, is suddenly smitten by a girl at a kiosk in Hue. On the way back from Hanoi to Saigon by train, he impulsively gets off and goes back to her house to ask her to be his. She says that she can't answer yet, she can't answer till she's known him for a year. Can he wait a year? Can he wait a year in Hue?
It's a great setup for a book, but I was hoping to enjoy it more than I did. The problem is that the author is a bit incurious. The love story unfolds slowly, and during the time it unfolds -- a whole year -- it's not clear what he does. He writes in notebooks, but it all seems to be observations of himself. He can't get a job because of local regulations, except for some occasional work teaching English, so he isn't thrown into situations where he encounters Vietnamese other than Thuy and her family on a daily basis; and he doesn't try to integrate with other Vietnamese groups, perhaps to avoid causing trouble for them; so it means that the only Vietnamese he encounters are friendly barmen and hotelkeepers, and opponents in the police force and the immigration services. There are some nice descriptive passages and some of the turning points in the love story are genuinely tender and touching, but there are also some startlingly infelicitous sentences for a writing workshop graduate: "You couldn't forge mettle with the notes of an inspirational soundtrack running through your head" or "On day seventeen, my appetite quietly called for more than the couple of spoonfuls that had been satisfying it". The Publisher's Weekly review on this page comes closest to matching my own feelings: if the author had dug deeper and spoken more directly the book could have been much, much stronger.
Pleasant, but I was hoping for more. I would recommend Andrew X. Pham's Catfish and Mandala instead as a truly insightful Vietnamese-American cultural encounter, though from a different angle. And it has bikes too!
Great and exotic love story.......2004-10-30
Transport yourself to another time and another place through this love story, set in ancient Hue. James Sullivan did a great job explaining his thinking and feelings, and tried his best to explain how Vietnamese think. He did an excellent job giving the reader a feel for Vietnamese culture and beliefs from a very personal perspective. The story took a while to develop, and the jumping back-and-forth between various periods of time can be confusing at first. A must read for anybody who is thinking of traveling to Vietnam. Hue has changed much since this story (I visited there last year), so this book captured a Hue that's in the past.
Edge-of-the-seat romance .......2004-09-03
James Sullivan seems to have invented a new genre: the romance-thriller. Not one in which knife wielding, masked lunatics leap out of the bushes to threaten sex-crazed teenagers, but one in which the exigencies of the love itself, the longings and hesitations and misunderstandings, and the barriers raised by external forces, keep you on the edge of your seat. I stayed up until 2 in the morning finishing this one, dragged along by the compulsion to know what would happen next, what new byzantine twist would arise to thwart the lovers and how it would be overcome.
I cannot recommend this book too highly. I give it four stars instead of five only because of some awkwardness in the writing, occasional lapses of grammar, and confused narrative flow (notably at the beginning), and because of a few omissions noted below. But the subject matter, the story, is so compelling and uplifting that I urge you to simply go with the flow and if you have to paddle a bit to get into it, soon you'll be swept away by a powerful current.
Very briefly, the story is that of a young man, the author, who on a lark joins a friend for a bicycle trip in Vietnam, which they will write up for a sponsoring magazine. In the old-fashioned city of Hue, they meet Thuy, a young woman with whom they are both smitten, Jim seriously so. On the return trip by train, after a brief and cryptic visit, Jim jumps ship and spends several weeks getting to know her and her family. If they are ever to have a future, she tells Jim, he must return for a year so she can "know his temper".
After some time (it's not clear whether it's the promised two months or much longer) with his working class family and neighborhood near Boston, full of doubts and childhood/youth reminiscences, Jim gathers together enough money to live for a year, and returns. Over several months, their relation proceeds in the stately progression of a traditional courtship (interestingly contrasted with tales of the lurid sex trade Jim seems constantly exposed to, especially in Thailand, where he must return to renew his visa and for other business). As the relation gets serious, obstacles begin to appear, many seemingly due to one of Thuy's other suitors who works in the very department through which all paperwork relating to foreigners must come. We are also treated to a bit of travelogue, as Jim and Thuy visit a variety of sites or Jim deals with life as an outsider, and get to know Thuy's large family and their history, and the handful of foreigners living in Hue. I won't say more, so that you can discover this story for yourself.
Much as I love this book, much as I urge you "go out and get it", it does have problems. Time is often maddeningly unclear. The author sometimes takes on an almost Asian allusiveness -- I'm still unclear what the exact duties of the "mah-sah" girls in his Hue hotel were, which would be fine if he didn't go on at such coy length about it. The philosophical interludes are annoyingly sophomoric, along the lines of "when I was ten years old, playing stick ball, this four year old girl whom I was destined to love was ..." or all the possibilities that he might not have met Thuy, or missed her on the return trip ... the whole unique miracleness of it all. Practical details that would enhance the reader's understanding are missing; e.g., it would have been nice to say something about how Vietnamese names are structured (why is Thuy's family "the Nguyens" yet her parents are Mr. and Mrs. Bang?).
There are puzzling omission -- Though Jim sometimes thinks about it to himself, could he really never have spoken with Thuy about how their life would be in the US, what would be strange and daunting, what familiar, what difficult? Did he never tell her they would not be rich? Though Jim goes on about his Irish Catholic upbringing, why was no connection with Vietnam made -- either in that the slow traditional courtship is maybe not so strange to him, or to the Catholic influence in Vietnam from French colonialism? In light of the barriers put up by the Vietnamese government to their marriage, it would have been fair to mention that many American GI's who married Vietnames women during the war were denied permission to bring them to the States by the US government (not all those Americans who were "good at leaving" intended to leave their families there permanently).
Nonetheless, this is a book to treasure. Eager as I was to find out what happened, I was also reluctant for it to end. Let's hope the author has a sequel in the works!
Enchanting love among the ruins, postwar Vietnam.......2004-03-29
This is a first person memoir. It engaged me from the start perhaps because I had a draft lottery number that was the next one to be called before the Vietnam War ended. I have always considered how lucky I was and yet still eager to find out and understand the country and the people better. The war was such a turning point in the history of America. It was equally a turning point for the Vietnamese. The narrator takes a bike ride through Vietnam, makes a fortuitous stop in Hue, an old provincial capital city and that too becomes a turning point for his life. A quiet book, well written, enchanting. Enjoy!
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