Customer Reviews

Indochine

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this book in the used bookstore because I thought it was the written version of the movie "Indochine", starring Catherine Denevue, which I love. Instead, the only similarity was the Vietnam setting, although both are must read/ see. The book was written in beautiful detail. It was the story of Nina, a young woman of half French and half Viatnemese heritage in the era of the Vietnam war. Their family house was bombed by one of his father's enemies. Her mother died and her father vanished, leaving her to struggle to live by herself. She didn't know who her friends and enemies were. Her life was in a constant danger. It is a very lively book and one of my favorite books.

I think this is the most captivating story I've ever been lucky enough to stumble across. I can't believe some of the reviews I've read! Racist?? We're talking about French colonial Viet Nam. Those were racist times, but in no way does the author hint to French or American superiority. Anyway, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone, and I recommend that all you Philistines thicken up a bit and stop getting your feelings hurt so easily.

This is a very interesting novel. I would recommend it. Preferring non-fiction, I do enjoy these historical novels.

In order to make editorial comments on a piece of writing, one must be able to understand what one is reading. The passage about a 'copulating man getting murdered' is out of context. Raoul Costas was killed after he and Ariane had passed out from smoking opium. An Annamite mudered the French pedophile for self-preservation, and for the purpose of continuing his goal of fighting the occupiers, and reuniting the country. This is a vast and sweeping epic that never slows down, at the same time reminding us precisely if not painfully, what life was like in Indochina between 1954-1965. It's also about identity, justice, and transformation. Is it perfect? No, but is that really a standard by which to judge a great work?

I bought this book in a used book shop, read it and disposed of it straight away. The plot is loose and pushy in an 'american in england' kind of way. The author shows very little knowledge of the Vietnam War. Don't waste you money.

With its racist caricatures and cliche situations (e.g. A man gets murdered while copulating and it takes his bimbo partner a while to realize what happened), this book would've been laughble were it not so poorly written. It's good to see that this book got what it deserves - getting out of print. BTW, this book has NO relation to the movie.

Racist, badly written, tastless, laughable, no idea, pushy, ripped-off, taken hardworking students for a ride, everyone hated her, no story, ganged up, wrote letters, wrote several in fact, then got what she deserves - out of print, should have been charged!