Customer Reviews

LITTLE SAIGON.

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

 

 

As a reader of all T. Jefferson Parker's novels, I held back on buying and reading this one for some time, but since I enjoyed his other books I gave this a try.

Boy was I happy! For me this was definetly the sleeper hit for T. Jefferson Parker. The excitement and plot twists kept my attention. I was really bummed to finish. It was a great insight into the Vietnamese culture of Westminister, CA.

A few flashback scenes really helped explain the motivations of some of the key figures.

Exceptional

I glady put it down. Just awful and could not get past Chapter 7. Really forced myself to get that far. I read his Rayborn and Hunter series and thought they were good, this however is insipid. Seems like it was written by a guy with a dictionary on a long flight or two.

I am having a difficult time getting interested in this, I must agree with the other bad reviews on this book. Will drop it and go on to the next on my pile. Too bad other authors are so willing to endorse and promote bad books like this one. It is really boring. I've read Parker in the past and he was so much better.

I just finished reading Border Lords. T. Jefferson Parker just gets better as a novelist as the years roll by. However, I read Little Saigon nearly two decades back. It still remains not only my favorite Parker novel, but my favorite crime novel of all time! When I visited Westminster, California, in 2009, I understood the town perfectly--well perfectly for a westerner--thanks to having read Little Saigon. In Parker's early books, he often explored the ruptures inside of family relationships--especially father/son, and brother/brother. In this particular book, he nailed it. He also explored the personal torment of fear... Having watched surfers quite a few times, it is firghtening just for the viewing. This is a marvelous and complex novel. Finely crafted. I told everyone I knew about T. Jefferson Parker those two decades back, and he subsequently proved my words by winning the Edgar twice. T. Jefferson Parker is the best who ever trolled the waters of crime fiction.

for a westerner who could write about vietnam and vietnamese, parker actually did a very good job. the only problem of this book is the scenario and storyline are both trivial and messy, and it might not be readily interested by the western readers. yes, there are quite a lot of the northern vietnamese who actually were vietcons or north vietnam soldiers who mingled with the refugees and migrated to america. it's a fact that i do know for sure. this novel, in general, is still quite readable.

Once again T. Jefferson Parker has introduced the reader to a segment of society that one would normally not be exposed to. He did it against the usual backdrop of a very well written mystery.

I am a huge T. Jefferson Parker fan. For some reason, I could not get into this book - but I definitely will not give up on Mr Parker!

Vietnam War without end
Mix in an out of work surfer, a legless Vietnam vet, the largest Vietnamese community in America, lots of money, timeless love, the CIA, and old war grievances and you have the recipe for explosive violence in a big way. That is T. Jefferson Parker's Little Saigon in a nutshell. A good solid read if a bit tedious at times. I enjoyed the host of characters although at times the sheer number were overwhelming and tended to be a little hard to keep track of. All in all a good potboiler with a unique twist at the end.
Character development was above average despite the fact there were so many. All the characters had their demons and nightmares but Chuck Frye had more than most. Eventually he was able to ride to the proverbial rescue, and despite the loss of family and friends, close a lingering, sordid family history of distrust, dismay, love, and familial uncertainty.
Minimal gratuitous sex, violence, and language. Interesting intertwining of Vietnamese postwar culture and American life.
Recommended as a pulp fiction beach read.

This was the third Jefferson Parker book that I have read (having read his first and third books) and was looking forward to more classy detective fiction featuring characters that I liked and a storyline that was Ross Macdonald-like.

What I got was a book that started so quickly and poorly I couldn't believe it. Loads of characters that did nothing for me, dialogue that was terrible and a lead character who at best was insipid.

I have the next 11 books that Parker has written on my shelf, hope none of them are as woeful as this effort.

Bennett Frye is a man who left his legs in Vietnam, but hasn't let this stop him. His wife Li is an icon of the Vietnamese refugee community in Orange County California. His brother Chuck is a former world class surfer whose business is on the rocks while his life is falling apart. Their father Edison is in the process of building the largest development in the area, Laguna Paradiso which will be a self-contained community with ocean views.

When Li is kidnapped, many of the disparate threads below the surface of Little Saigon, begin to surface and therein is our story. The problem with this book is that everyone is two dimensional. It's impossible to care what happens to these people because we truly have no reason to care. TJ Parker has built an interesting if implausible story line but the people who populate it aren't.

I had read some many reviews of Parker's works that I wanted to start by reading one of his earliest books. Bad idea. From what I understand you would be best off starting and stopping with "California Girl".