The Alleys of Eden: A Novel (Paperback)

by Robert Olen Butler (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Cliff Wilkes, an early Vietnam arrival (as one of the original American "advisors"), has been in hiding for five years - ever since his involvement in a torture-death turned him into a deserter; his refuge has been the room of a Saigon bar-girl named Lanh. But, as Butler's first novel begins, the South is being overrun, Saigon is emptying - and Cliff and Lanh are getting onto a departing helicopter, though they decide to split up temporarily because of Cliff's deserter past. So: Cliff takes a false name, claiming to be a journalist who lost his papers. . . while, back in the States, Lanh is relocated through social welfare agencies to a small rural Illinois town named Speedway. And when Cliff joins her there (still somewhat on the lam), the relationship in the book's first half - Cliff the refugee, Lanh the protector - is reversed. In fact, Cliff now finds a Lanh who comes to life only with the one other Vietnamese family in town, the Binhs; otherwise she keeps to their rented room, all but mute. A pathetic situation? Yes - but Butler makes more of it than that, thanks to some wise, novelistic strokes. He keeps Lanh an unsentimental, seasoned character - no waif. He avoids the usual Sayonara-style pidgin conversations by having Cliff and Lanh speak Vietnamese (translated, of course, into articulate English). And he arranges for Cliff to be constantly, painfully aware of the sociological/sexual matrix upon which his days with Lanh precariously rest. Admittedly, the book is now and then overly doubled-up inside of Cliff's thoughts - connecting, intensifying realizations - and at those times it is annoyingly pawky. But this is still one of the more specific Vietnam novels, taking into account the unreality of over-there as well as back-here - something which Butler achieves mainly by giving all his players a spare, unfrilled dignity. A promising debut. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
Living in a back-alley room, a man and a woman are hiding from a dangerous past. Clifford Wilkes is the last American deserter left in Saigon; Lanh is a woman slowly recovering from a bitter life of prostitution among the foreign troops. The outside world now begins to threaten their love. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company (January 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805031413
• ISBN-13: 978-0805031416
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,074,594 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A second to "Scent", March 28, 2000

By	JK Yoon (Bay Area) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Alleys of Eden (Hardcover)

Having lived abroad in Asia for 4 years, I have enjoyed Butler's "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain". The fact that the author lived, ate and spoke among the natives effuses throughout his books. So my disappointment couldn't have been greater when I picked up this book. The action, which the author wants to depict as breathless is listless and the characters come across as pathetic and pitiful when they should be portrayed daring and poignant. As his earlier work, this novel confirms that the author only got better with age.

5.0 out of 5 stars A great, wonderful, sweeping read, May 6, 2006

By	K. Mccandless (Earls Court, London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Alleys of Eden (Paperback)

I usually don't gush over books like this but The Alleys of Eden has to be one of the best novels I've enjoyed this year. It's a quick read but it's also beautifully written. From the back streets of Saigon to San Francisco, Butler captures what 1975 felt like exactly. I wasn't expecting much from it (being a first novel and all) but I'm going to go back right now and read it again.

4.0 out of 5 stars Can wartime love survive in "peacetime" across continents?, October 27, 1998

By A Customer

"The Alleys of Eden" was first published in the early 1980's. Its revival is due to the later works of Robert Olen Butler, including the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner, "A Good Scent from a Faraway Mountain." Few writers have delved into the psychological lives of Vietnam vets as Butler has. This novel tests the love between an American deserter in Vietnam and a Vietnamese woman, who are bonded by the extremities of the war. When the couple try to start over in America, they are faced with a different set of challenges. This novel is remiscent of Le Ly Hayslip's autobiographies, "When Heaven and Earth Change Places," and "Child of War: Woman of Peace." The irony is that it took more than a decade for Butler's refreshing novel to surface, and that is largely due to the efforts of the Vietnam vets' struggles to be heard and the public's recent interent in literature related to Vietnam.