Book Description
This acclaimed novel reveals the life of a Vietnamese family in America through the knowing eyes of a child finding her place and voice in a new country.
In 1978 six refugees—a girl, her father, and four “uncles”—are pulled from the sea to begin a new life in San Diego. In the child’s imagination, the world is transmuted into an unearthly realm: she sees everything intensely, hears the distress calls of inanimate objects, and waits for her mother to join her. But life loses none of its strangeness when the family is reunited. As the girl grows, her matter-of-fact innocence eddies increasingly around opaque and ghostly traumas: the cataclysm that engulfed her homeland, the memory of a brother who drowned and, most inescapable, her father’s hopeless rage.
Customer Reviews:
Lyrical Hydrodynamics of the Buddhist Gangster Blues.......2007-09-08
"The Gangster We Are All Looking For" is probably one of the more amorphous novels I've come across in quite a while. In place of an obvious plot is an eddying flow from vignette to vignette, and image after image drifts into and out of the narrative a bit clearer every time but never quite resolved fully, as if to say in life there are indeed very few true resolutions. As a novel it is short but substantial, but in its pronounced lyricism it somehow comes across more as a rather extended and deeply reflective prose poem and scintillates as such. Readers expecting a standard story with a clear plot and sharply defined characterization will be sorely disappointed, but those willing to go with the flow of Le's prose will be richly rewarded, eventually finding that it does indeed meanderingly follow a certain progression full of memorable characters.
In such a richly multifaceted though brief work as this, various aspects will doubtlessly well up in prominence for different readers. For me, Le's talent as a writer for depicting the worldview of a child so evocatively, in a protean stream of consciousness in which colors and vivid images predominate--all without even once lapsing into any hint of sappy sentimentality or condescending idealization--is indeed remarkable. So is her binocular ability to at once convincingly depict both the loving solidarity of a family and its dysfunctional tensions--true of any family, certainly, but in this case given a very specific character due to the extreme experiences of fleeing a war-torn homeland and surviving on the seas as refugees before settling into a new country to live a life at once dislocated and yet getting by--again handled with a sure narrative hand that can move you deeply without jarringly yanking on your heartstrings. As an author's first published work it's extremely impressive, as a vividly subjective document of the Vietnamese-American experience it's irreplaceably significant, and as a work of fiction it's unconventionally elusive but carefully crafted, personally heartfelt, and utterly unforgettable.
culture in the state of emergency.......2005-10-15
A half remembered quote by Antonin Artaud should preface this book: "No one has ever written (or drawn, painted, composed, etc.) except, quite literally, to get out of hell" (sic). What I find so moving about Le's narrative is that she does just this, but with a heartbreaking sympathy and understanding of the damned who populate the novel -- the father who went from being her guardian and companion to a fearful, mad domestic abuser, the mother haunted by the abandonment of both her parents and her dead son, and of course the (sometimes) narrator herself. Reading Le's snapshots of time perpetually out of joint, one feels the inconsolable longing and lament of wanting to understand and be understood; even as the family's separation from both the past in Vietnam and mainstream America in the present forces them to perpetually drift in the starless waters of San Diego's endless suburbs. The novel reads like a dark, dreamy prose poem, streaked with the violence of war and the innocence of first loves that can't outlive their episodic telling. Some philosopher once said: "In exile, the only home is that of writing," and I think this applies to "the gangster..." and the experience of displacement and uprootedness that it conveys. This book should have been awarded a prestigious prize, but I also feel lucky, like many of the other reviewers, to have "discovered" it without the help of advertisement or any bookstore blurbs. A book that will stay in your memory.
Story of a little girl.......2005-04-23
At first I didn't think much of the book but it was only 156 pages so what could I loose? It's hard to describe this book. There is a certain charm about it. I read some of the reviews and they're right. There is no central plot or climax to the story. It's just a little refugee girl's story of her family. It's filled with real life truth and sorrow of how her family dealt with the era. I fell in love with it after page 100. It's a good story with poetic flow.
Not much of a plot.......2005-04-07
Oh, dear.I must be missing something here, given the superlative reviews others have written. Where's the plot? Where's the character development? Where's the narrative arc? Where's the dramatic tension? I'm not quite done, but I have found this book almost impossible to follow. I can't get a handle on what's real in the story versus what is a dream or a fantasy. The story switches back between the past and the present, and the narrator's childlike voice leaves me confused as to what is actually happening. Not my cup of tea, though I recognize I'm in the minority here.
Exquisite storytelling........2004-07-31
In 1978 six Vietnamese boat people were intercepted in the South China Sea and sent to a refugee camp in Singapore. After being sponsored by a church group they were sent to live in San Diego and start a new life. The young girl and her father are the first to arrive followed by the mother several years later. Their relationship with their sponsor is strained and the girl and father eventually move out on their own and forge out a new life in their strange surroundings; the girl attends school and the father works odd menial jobs.
In many aspects THE GANGSTER WE ARE ALL LOOKING FOR is an unconventional novel; there is no plot and little action. Rather, this book contains streams of consciousness of the young girl who is the narrator. There is an abundance of fanciful dreams and child-like perceptions of the world around her, along with her view of her parent's relationship and her mourning of her brother's death. Admittedly this book is slim but there is much essence packed within its 160 pages. Le Thi Diem Thuy performs an admirable job in re-creating the experiences of a Vietnamese family who immigrates to Southern California in a marvelous and unique style.
Product Description
Fiction, General, Vietnamese, Life, Growing Up
Average customer rating:
- Not very good
- Best Book ever!/Fantastic
- Good Afternoon Read
- Twelve Across is a nice evening's read
- Twelve Across is a great read!
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Twelve Across
Barbara Delinsky
Manufacturer: Mira
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
 Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Delinsky, Barbara | ( D ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
Paperback | Delinsky, Barbara | ( D ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
General | Contemporary | Romance | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:
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First, Best And Only
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T.L.C.
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Through My Eyes
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Sweet Ember
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The Outsider
ASIN: 0778323854 |
Customer Reviews:
Not very good.......2006-07-22
I have enjoyed reading the more current Barbara Delinsky books (particularly "The Summer I Dared") and picked this one up recently. I thought the premise was fun since I love New England and rustic settings, but was very disappointed in the entire book. The story was unbelievable and improbable ... it was very amateurish and contrived. I had a hard time believing this was the same author of the other books I read. It was so bad, I'm not even passing it along to other friends to read; I don't want them wasting their time. My advice would be to stick with her more recent offerings which are very, very good !!
Best Book ever!/Fantastic.......2005-08-09
This book is about Garrick Rodenheiser and Leah Gates. Garrick,former Actor moves to New Hampshire to atart his life over after he had a car accident. Four years later Victoria Leahs's friend and Garrick's tells Leah to go to her cabin for a few weeks since Leahs landlord decides condo conversation which Leah can'6t afford.Leah taking her friends advice goes to New Hampshire only to find out that the cabin's been burned down. She goes looking for Gerrick, who Victoria tells her to look for if anything goes wrong.He takes her in and helps her.Though he's a little suspicious that Leah may work for the Newspaper and was out to find for a story. But then he finds out she's not a journalist, and discovers it was just a lovematch that Victoria had made so he go out with Leah.But as time passes he starts having feelings for Leah and doesn't know if he should tell her thae truth about his pass.This book was awsome! One of my favorites and emdividually different from any I have read. Irecomend it because it's romance,true love and about having courage.
Good Afternoon Read.......2001-10-16
This is a short book about two people seeking solitude who get thrown together in a remote cabin and try to make the best of the situation. They are weary of each other from the start and this makes for an interesting chemistry. He is the strong silent type and she tries to permeate his heart and his life. The ending was forseeable but was enjoyable nonetheless.
Twelve Across is a nice evening's read.......2000-04-28
Many of us who discovered Barbara Delinsky after she made the jump from romance to fiction/women's fiction are enjoying MIRA's re-issues of her earlier series romances. I know I'm one of them, and though I did have a couple of problems with Twelve Across, I enjoyed it well enough to recommend. If you are a fan of Cabin/Road romances, this one should suitly nicely. If you enjoy romances with less-than-gorgeous heroines, this one is a great one, and here's why. The hero is drop-dead handsome and when he first meets the heroine, he doesn't see much, but as they fall in love, she becomes more beautiful to him. What could be more romantic than that?
Another point to recommend this book is that, even though there is a Big Secret, it's resolved easily enough. However, what is behind the big secret, and how it affects the lifestyle of the hero goes on a bit too long. The book becomes slightly sappy by the end, but because of its strengths, this one is still a recommended read.
TTFN, Laurie Likes Books
Publisher, All About Romance.
( )
Twelve Across is a great read!.......2000-04-11
The heroine creates crossword puzzles for a living, hence the title "Twelve Across." The title concept also appropriately predicts the manner in which the two main characters lives cross and become intertwined in this great book! Seeking solitude and peace after a rough patch, she thinks she will find it at a friend's cabin. The hero is a recluse with a famous past, but with her love and understanding, is able to take his place in society once again. While the story lines and characters are completely different, "Twelve Across" is in the same caliber of Brown's other book "Adam's Fall" (Note: "Fanta C" should be read before "Adam's Fall" as the main characters are connected). I highly recommend these books. No romance reader would be disappointed!
Average customer rating:
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TWELVE ACROSS
Barbara Delinsky
Manufacturer: Harlequin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Paperback | Delinsky, Barbara | ( D ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OULXG6 |
Average customer rating:
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Twelve Across
Barbara Delinsky
Manufacturer: Harlequin Enterprises, Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Paperback | Delinsky, Barbara | ( D ) | Authors, A-Z | Romance | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000TYT5MG |
Product Description
Commitments: On her Manhattan rooftop terrace, elegant Sabrina Stone looks like a society wife, except for the handicapped child in her arms. She speaks with investigative reporter Derek McGill for only a few minutes; it is long enough to tell her all she needs to know about this caring man. Sabrinsa next meets Derek in a maximum security prison-after he is convicted of murder. She comes to tell him she believes in his innocence, and finds him a man hardened by experience yet one who still loves her and her son. But to commit herself Sabrina must finally end her marriage...and begin a fight for a man's freedom that holds no guarantees, only the promise of fulfilling all of their dreams.Twelve Across: Garrick Rodenheiser crashed, burned and found a second chance when he crawled away from the wreckage of his life four years ago. And while he hasn't exactly escaped his past, he's kept it far enough away. Until trouble in the form of a rain-soaked, bleeding woman comes banging on the door of his remote cabin. True, she doesn't look like a reporter. But the word trust simply isn't in Garrick's vocabulary anymore. Crossword puzzle creator Leah Gates has a few words of her own for her reluctaant savior; querulous, admantine, irresistible. She isn't sure if it's cabin fever, loneliness or just plain fate that drew them so magically together. But she does know that falling in love is the easy part. Trusting the future is a different challenge entirely.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education), published by T.H.E. Journal, LLC on February 1, 2001. The length of the article is 3100 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the supplier: Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA) is an Internet2-based program for distance collaboration in education organized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the National University of Singapore (NUS), and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). A description of SMA is provided together with an assessment of the program based on a survey of 61 of the 70 students enrolled in the program during the spring 2000 semester.
Citation Details
Title: Evaluating Distance Education Across Twelve Time Zones.(Technology Information)
Author: Melinda G. Cerny
Publication:
T H E Journal (Technological Horizons In Education) (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2001
Publisher: T.H.E. Journal, LLC
Volume: 28
Issue: 7
Page: 18
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Product Description
6 massmarket Titles By Barbara Delinsky - Secret of the Stone - First Best and Only - Fast Courting - Twelve Across - Cardinal Rules - Through My Eyes
Customer Reviews:
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-03
This is a change in style for Catwoman, for both the character and the comic. Gone is Balent's purple suited bodacious buxom action babe, and in is the blacker, darker gritty underworld in the shadows kind of woman.
A change in color scheme and costume to go along with this, of course, and to offer a bit more protection.
Very nice magazine........2007-05-14
Nicely made magazine, drawings are of a classic style. Good but not outstanding.
Good read.......2007-01-10
I find comics to be a visual art form and so, while good writing is obviously important, if the pictures aren't appealing, IMO there's little point to a comic book. That being said, while there have been many various incarnations of Catwoman over the years, I really like Darwyn Cooke's version, and bought this graphic novel to see more of his work. It's a decent enough read, but really, nothing they've done recently measures up to Selina's Big Score.
Outstanding!.......2005-06-07
This comicbook is a great read... I've been an on-again, off-again comicbook reader since about 1970, and recently fell into the graphic novel habit... A friend who's a diligent DC fan recommended this series to me, and I gotta say, he was totally right.
The first volume of this revamped Catwoman series is quite impressive -- the partnership of writer Ed Brubaker and artist Darwyn Cooke ripples with energy and inspiration, evoking the perfect moody noir atmosphere... Great to see a 1930s B-list star like Slam Bradley back in action as well...! All in all, a really fun series... Recommended!
Gritty and Intelligent Crime Noir and Pulpy Comics FUN!!!.......2003-09-06
This book picks up after the previous trade paperback book, "Selina's Big Score," (which is also well worth buying). Compared to that prior book, "The Dark End of the Street" is printed on cheaper, more pulpy paper, but it is less expensive and has 25% more pages than the glossy-papered "Selina's Big Score."
Where "Dark End" really beats "Big Score" is all in the cool, new Catwoman costume, which debuted here in these stories in "Dark End of the Street." This costume is probably the coolest looking costume that Catwoman has ever worn. It looks very practical and utilitarian for a cat burglar and social vigilante, that is the new and improved Selina (Catwoman) Kyle.
This book retains and continues the retro, private eye feel of "Selina's Big Score," and then this book improves upon that foundation by having lots of exhilarating costumed Catwoman action! She comes alive in her element of a rough & tumble, dog-eat-dog underworld! She swings around the rough parts of Gotham City like that is where she feels most at home in her life. She solves crimes like a rookie detective who has the skills of a master, crime fighting hero.
This book starts with a few short stories of private dick, Slam Bradley, trying to figure out the mystery of the missing Catwoman; which leads into the retelling of the first 4 issues of the new, monthly Catwoman comic book series, in which Catwoman hunts down a serial killer.
The final face-off with the killer is the only weak part of the book, it being amusing, but it does not live up to the previous 100 pages of gritty intrigue (it kind of gets less realistic at the very end of this book). But don't let that discourage you from getting this book. The trip is more fun than the final destination, but it's a really fun trip!
"The Dark End of the Street" is well worth buying! If you have any interest at all in the Catwoman comic book series, you will love this book.
Customer Reviews:
Wastelo, Grandpa...Pilamiya.......2007-03-11
Well, it took quite a bit of courage to write this book at a time when there was so very much opposition to sharing the knowledge of Creator with us Waisichus (white eyed folks). In the way that only Wallace could speak...here in these pages he comes back to life as the Genius he truly was. He loved to tell people; "I am only a dumb Indian"...and then he'd laugh that laugh "Hee hee hee hee", knowing that he really had one up on all of us. If you read behind the lines, you'll learn something, really learn about Creator and the way things work on this Canka Luta Waste and behind that Canunpa. Enjoy this book....as this is one elder who has passed on and can never be replaced.
Review of Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota.......2006-08-29
Being interested in the wonderful subject of Native American thought and "religion" (spirituality), and having enjoyed other books of this genre, I was a "shoo in" to purchase this book. The personal quality and warmth of Wallace Black Elk pervades each page. He writes in the same vein as "Black Elk Speaks" and "Fools Crow, Medicine Man" but with a more modern, present day approach and color. This book should awake understanding of both past and present conditions of life for Native Americans. It is written in a simple and sincere manner and I recommend it to anyone who would like to know more about Indian thought and spiritual practices.
Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of a Lakota.......2006-06-30
This book is a masterpiece of wisdom. It is a pattern for a way a life that can serve every human being upon their journey on this earth.
A wholesome approach to all life.......2005-11-12
I really enjoyed reading Wallace Black Elk's words because they pointed our many of the divisions we, especially of the Western cultures, make up. These divisions pull the world apart leaving the world a fragmented place in our senses. The world of this book is a little different than the world today, but it seems that Black Elk's words about the environment, the spirit, and the people of all nations (in which he includes all that is) are relevant to the fast-paced quasi-ignorant lives we live.
My first sweat lodge was with Wallace Black Elk.......2005-03-12
This was at Upland Hills Ecological Center deep in the woods northeast of the Detroit/Pontiac suburbs, sometime in the mid-80's. And I remember meeting there for the first time a wonderful fellow-traveler named Brooke Isberg.
Wallace gave a number of story-telling sessions/lectures, then at night was the sweat lodge. What was most notable - was that the effect of incredibly wholesome well-being and benign protection lasted well over a month - and something was planted that never ever left me. Numerous previous (and subsequent) weekend meditation, neo-pagan, medicine wheel and new-age retreats had the predictable outcome of making me feel incredibly good for 2-3 days afterwards, never much more than that (and then the 'work' would start). The same with various local ceremonies/rituals. And all that was fine, as cumulative effects did build up - obvious growth occurs - that's as it usually should be in the work.
I'm just saying that the work that week with Wallace was not in any sense the usual.
Over a period of many years, subsequent sweat lodge experiences with a variety of so-called 'leaders' (both native and Anglo-) paled in comparison. Wallace is truly the Grandfather; making each person feel thoroughly at home, more than even at your own home; well-mannered, humble and glowingly capable, he treated each of us as a valued and honored guest in his and the spirits' lodge, as it were. Without it being said as such, you felt you were being welcomed into the world. Wallace was/is thoroughly heart/breath, and is no way trapped inside his skin. So we felt less confined in yours.
Many of the other leaders I've met are so much into their own power and image, often twinged with too much machismo, exuding more politics than poetry. You just didn't feel much supported. Not so with Wallace. He is so strong to be able to be here in such a down-to-earth fashion, really buoyed by, and faultlessly representing Mother Earth, Great Spirit and the 4 Directions. With him we'd been given the inestimably fine opportunity to fall right in with it all.
Average customer rating:
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Black Elk: The Sacred Ways of the Lakota (Native American Studies)
Wallace H. Black Elk , and
William S. Lyons
Manufacturer: Harpercollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
United States
| Americas
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| 19th Century
| 20th Century
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| African Americans
| Civil War
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| General
| Revolution & Founding
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Plains
| Native American
| Americas
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General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
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Native American
| Earth-Based Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
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Shamanism
| Earth-Based Religions
| Religion & Spirituality
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General
| Religion & Spirituality
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General
| New Age
| Religion & Spirituality
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General
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ASIN: 0062505238 |
Customer Reviews:
wasicu beware.......2004-07-31
This is among many books and authors being cautioned against in the fight for protection of ceremonies. Beware exactly whom you are listening to or reading about. Their is a huge difference between the real elder and the "spiritual grandson".
Product Description
"An unprecedented account of the shaman's world and the way it is entered" Saybrook Institute
"This important narrative of a Lakota medicine man's life and initiation is a powerful evocation of the human spirit born from the esperience of suffering and wisdom. Grandfather Black Elk is a shaman who has bridged many worlds in the course of his long lifetime.....". President, Ojai Foundation
Books:
- The Green Age of Asher Witherow
- The Handyman: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)
- The Ice Storm: A Novel
- The Last Great Dance on Earth
- The Lemon Table
- The Money-Whipped Steer-Job Three-Jack Give-Up Artist: A Novel
- The Night In Question: Stories
- The Plague, The Fall, Exile and the Kingdom, and Selected Essays (Everyman's Library)
- The Poor Mouth: A Bad Story About the Hard Life
- The Ramage Touch (The Lord Ramage Novels)
Books Index
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