Dragon House [Mass Market Paperback]

John Shors (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2009

From the critically acclaimed author of Beneath a Marble Sky and Beside a Burning Sea—the new novel from “a master storyteller,”* set in contemporary Asia.

From John Shors comes an unforgettable story of redemption set in modern-day Vietnam.

Dragon House tells the tale of Iris and Noah—two Americans who, as a way of healing their own painful pasts, open a center to house and educate Vietnamese street children. In the slums of a city that has known little but war for generations, Iris and Noah befriend children who dream of nothing more than of going to school, having a home, and being loved. Learning from the poorest of the poor, the most silent of the unheard, Iris and Noah find themselves reborn. Resounding with powerful themes of suffering, sacrifice, friendship, and love, Dragon House brings together East and West, war and peace, and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Shors's third novel tells an absorbing story weakened by melodrama, sentimentality and exposition. After promising her dying father, a Vietnam War veteran, to take care of his shelter for street children in Ho Chi Minh City, American writer Iris agrees to take along her childhood friend Noah, now a depressed veteran who lost his leg in Iraq. In Vietnam, they find the shelter has drawn an appealing cast of Americans and Vietnamese, all seeking escape and salvation, including two children exploited by a brutal drug addict, and an impoverished old woman whose granddaughter is dying of cancer. Though interesting, most characters never overcome Shors's insistence on telling, rather than showing, their inner lives ("he hurt and hated so much"). Melodrama and mawkish foreshadowing ("I'm taking the risks... and everything's going to be just the way it was meant to be") will prove familiar to anyone who's watched a TV movie. Though frustrating, this is the kind of novel (provocative, polarizing, exotic) that should stir book group discussion.
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Review

?In a large cast of appealing characters, the street children are the heart of this book; their talents, friendships, and perils keep you turning the pages.?
?Karen Joy Fowler, "New York Times" bestselling author of "The Jane Austen Book Club"

?I loved this book and cared deeply about the characters brought to life by Shors? clear sensitivity to the plight of the unseen and unwanted in Vietnam.?
?Elizabeth Flock, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Me & Emma"

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 354 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade (September 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451227859
• ISBN-13: 978-0451227850
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,073,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After graduating from Colorado College, John Shors lived for several years in Kyoto, Japan, where he taught English. On a shoestring budget, he later trekked across Asia, visiting ten countries and climbing the Himalayas. Upon returning to the United States, he became a newspaper reporter in his hometown, Des Moines, Iowa, winning several statewide awards in journalism. John then moved to Boulder, Colorado, and helped launch GroundFloor Media, now one of the state's largest public relations firms.

John has been lucky enough to spend much of his life abroad, traveling in Asia, the South Pacific, Europe, Africa, and North America. Now a full-time novelist, John spends his days writing and going on family outings with his wife, Allison, and their two young children, Sophie and Jack.

John's novels (Beneath a Marble Sky, Beside a Burning Sea, Dragon House, The Wishing Trees, and Cross Currents) have won multiple awards, and have been translated into twenty-five languages.

For more information on John's books, please visit www.johnshors.com.

You can follow John on Twitter or on Facebook.

John thanks all of his readers for their support!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another John Shors Triumph!, August 29, 2009

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dragon House (Mass Market Paperback)

John Shors continues to establish his reputation as one of this decade's more important writers, an author who understands the art of blending artistic prose with an always surprising depth of knowledge of the cultures he chooses to explore in his fascinating novels - from India in his debut BENEATH A MARBLE SKY, to war time South Pacific in BESIDE A BURNING SEA, and now to Vietnam in this absorbing novel DRAGON HOUSE. There are passages in his works that suggest the gifts of W. Somerset Maugham, Joseph Conrad, Eugene Burdick and William Lederer ('The Ugly American'), and Evelyn Waugh, and yet he maintains his own literary style, mixing observations of physical circumstances with the manner in which the world as he finds it interfaces with his well-sculpted characters.

Shors creates characters about whom we care - Iris Rhodes, a devoted daughter of a Vietnam Vet who grants her dying father's wish to create a haven for the brutally neglected street children in the country where his life and conscience changed in the Vietnam War, and Noah Woods, a severely disabled Iraqi War Vet consumed with anger and guilt who joins Iris in moving to Ho Chi Minh City (ne Saigon) in an attempt to salvage his life. Once the two arrive in Ho Chi Minh City they discover the difficulties that surround their proposed project and it is only though the growing friendship with the people of the city that they are able to make a dent in the struggle for life that surrounds them. Very slowly but with solid technique Shors introduces the various Vietnamese children who will benefit from the project. In taking his time to completely cast his novel he offers in depth details about both pre-war and post-war Vietnam - the customs, the atmosphere, the foods, the smells, the dreams, both tenuous and crushed, that have been with the people of Vietnam since the devastation of the most unpopular war in history. It all works well as Shors accompanies quietly on a journey that makes a solid statement about how each of us can heal from past injuries.

This is a novel that stands well on its own merits, a strong contender for prizes and a position on the bestseller list. But it does more. For those of us who coped with the war in Vietnam firsthand, this book offers fresh insights as we now look back on that time. Shors gives us a solid example of how Vietnam Vets can find succor and growth from an experience that paralyzed many young minds. For that Shors deserves our thanks. But even beyond that, DRAGON HOUSE restores our faith that superb storytelling with the technique of a polished literary mind is still alive and well! Grady Harp, August 09

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poignant story of hope, redemption and sheer love, July 21, 2009

By 

K. Pickett "Book Butterfly" (Tampa, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dragon House (Mass Market Paperback)

Iris' father, a troubled Vietnam veteran, never lives to see his dream of opening a center for Vietnamese street children fufilled. As a man haunted by the atrocities of the war, Iris' father was not able to give her much emotional and physical support throught her life. Nevertheless, after his death, Iris picks up where her father left off and travels to Vietnam. Noah, a childhood friend and Iraqi war veteran, also decides to accompany her. After losing one of his legs overseas and witnessing his own fare share of trauma, Noah has a grim outlook on the world. His life now revolves around trying to dull his pain with alchohol and pills. He travels with Iris more to appease his mother than out of any altruisitc motive of his own.

It was obvious to me that John Shors had done his research on the cultural sights, sounds and morays of Vietnam. Upon looking up his biography, I wasn't surprised to read that he has in fact traveled the world extensively --he tought English in Kyoto Japan for three years then backpacked through different countries for the next three. When I was reading Dragon House, I felt like he instantly transported me into Ho Chi Mihn City where I was able to witness everything through my own eyes firsthand. I could almost smell the spices in the air and hear the clamor of all the congestion and voices within the overcrowded and dirty streets.

From the street children Mai and Minh who live under a bridge, to Tam, with her loving grandmother, I was extremely moved by the character appeal of the street children. The adversity these children have to overcome just to surivive day to day left me reflecting on my own life, and made me realize just how trivial some of the small trials and tribulations I tend to focus on really are. The pacing of the story was fast and intriguing, and I found myself anxiously flipping pages in the hopes of finding out if everyone was going to be "ok". That sentiment extended to Iris and Noah as well. I really loved the idea of both of these troubled people coming to Vietnam and finding renewed faith in themselves and the world through their efforts with the center.

Ultimately, Dragon House is a poignant story of hope, redemption and most importantly, sheer love. I read it over a span of twenty four hours and could not put it down. This book touched me on a deep, personal level. You would think a novel about the plight of street children would leave you feeling exhausted and downtrodden, but after devouring this page turner, I was uplifted by the themes of love, friendship and the resilience of the human spirit.

Note- A portion of the funds from Dragon House will be donated to The Blue Dragon Children's Foundation which works with children in need throughout Vietnam, offering them services and support in getting back into school and breaking out of the cycle of poverty. There is already one center open in Hanoi and is widening it's reach into Ho Chi Mihn City as well. To make Dragon House more affordable, Shores had the book printed as an economically priced paperback too!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the terrible beauty..., March 20, 2010

By 

K. Hernandez "DailyReadz - One Great Book Eve... (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dragon House (Paperback)

I cant throw enough clichés at this book - mesmerizing, touching, moving, heart-wrenching, compelling - and still I fail to capture the terrible beauty of it. The street children of Vietnam not only don't have a home, they generally don't have any parent or adult figure to help them. This book is the tale of two Americans, with plenty of troubles of their own, who go to Vietnam to open a center to help take care of as many street children as they can. The detail is wonderful, letting you understand how crowded and wild Ho Chi Mihn City really is. Clearly the author spent a lot of time traveling around the area and probably saw unbelievably terrible situations in many cases. But Shors wisely chose to tell only two of the thousands of stories; any more would have been more than the reader could possibly bear. The book focuses on Qui and Tam, the granddaughter who is dying of leukemia, and the story of Mai and Minh, two children under the dubious "protection" of an opium-fiend named Loc. The stories are sad and yet still hopeful, the center a haven of childhood for many children who didn't have one before. And as a bonus, John Shors is donating some of the proceeds of the book to the Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, which works with children in need in Vietnam. See [...] for further information.