The Boat (Rough-Cut) by Nam Le Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Boat (Rough-Cut)
Book Review: The Boat by Nam Le
Summary: 4 Stars
This is captivating to read and size of book easy to carry while travelling. Short stories are touching and incredible cultural insight to each story's background setting in different countries. It left me wanting for more. Nam Le is indeed a master at his craft.Book Review: The Boat, by Nam Le
Summary: 5 Stars
I would not say that it's great, but that it's not horrible which makes it good. In terms of other short stories that I've read, MOST of these stories are better than average. The others, I would like to say that the author is trying to test his skill and see if he can accurately depict a situation that is out of his (life) experience. 5/5 overall for the range of stories, characters, and for a book that I did not regret reading.Book Review: This book is way overrated. Don't waste your time.
Summary: 1 Stars
The cover of this book should have been a United Colors of Benetton ad. It's like the Nam Le's agent told him, "Write something ethnic" and he nodded. When he pokes fun at writers jumping on the "ethnic" bandwagon in his first story, I had hopes that he would deviate from the dull, overdone "ethnic" phenomenon and do something original. But, no. Instead, he comes up with a wide range of stories that seem to fit certain buckets: "Old man story," "Japanese story," "Iran story." The problem is that despite the wide range of stories, nothing rings true. Nothing feels heartfelt. It all feels contrived and pretentious. I don't deny that his style is polished and some lines were beautiful, but I'd be more interested in reading something with real characters. These stories read like pieces written to impress a workshop teacher. They can be labeled as "important" or "literary." Too bad they are totally boring.Book Review: When Life Hands You Lemons, Le Hands You Stories
Summary: 4 Stars
People are at our best when we are at our worst. We are most human when Life comes at us with no remorse, takes its scornful glare and pierces it into our most protected and tender nooks, so that we are unable to move. We are most human when we are paralyzed by the unwavering gaze of Life, unable to stop it from picking apart our universe with the greedy crow's beaks that adorn its fingertips, when our foundations are shattered and we have fallen onto the broken pile of what remains of them. Nam Le found this out and, as such, has assembled a collection of short stories that tell of our most human moments.
Pacing back and forth from stoic decidedness, to abject bereavement, the stories record men and women who are going through the most extreme events of their lives. From consummate highs to lows, Le has captured the very essence of what it means to feel, and in some cases what it means to not feel at all.
Book Review: Wonderful collection
Summary: 5 Stars
An excellent debut collection of short stories. I particularly liked the author's ability to inhabit different peoples and places and points of view. I never expected to jump around, geographically and otherwise, quite so much as the stories moved, which took me, quite pleasantly, by surprise. Le's prose style is pensive and smooth and it can soar. Very good stuff here; I look forward to other works by Nam Le.