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jeo224's review against another edition
emotional
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
4.5
Not a Chee and Leaphorn mystery, but still a good read and very different locations. Good characters and story.
gmvader's review against another edition
4.0
I picked this book up thinking that it was another of Hillerman’s Chee/Leaphorn books that I have enjoyed a number of times. It is very much not that. I still liked it a lot, maybe more.
This is the story of Moon Mathias who must travel to Vietnam right at the end of the Vietnam War to bring home the daughter of his deceased brother. The story is about the problems he faces as he struggles through a war-torn country to find the niece that he didn’t even know he had. Yet, as the title implies, this story isn’t about finding the little girl that he feels obligated to find. This story is about finding Moon.
Moon is a troubled man who has been living a life of poor decisions and shallow relationships for a long time and this story is a journey of how he finds himself and learns to be the person he always wanted to be.
There are times in our lives when trials make us into something different. We are forged through the fires of diversity into something new. Sometimes we come out something better.
Hillerman has written something special in this book, a story that explores what it means to be a person and how we gain compassion and maturity.
It’s kind of shockingly brutal and raw for a Tony Hillerman book which usually have an air of PG-rated murder mystery that avoids most of the gory details. This book isn’t overly violent but it does take place in a just barely post-war Vietnam and features a protagonist who is trying to come to terms with his own shallow life decisions up to that point.
Because of that it feels like something different and new and powerful. I really liked this book, it is possibly the best thing Hillerman ever wrote.
This is the story of Moon Mathias who must travel to Vietnam right at the end of the Vietnam War to bring home the daughter of his deceased brother. The story is about the problems he faces as he struggles through a war-torn country to find the niece that he didn’t even know he had. Yet, as the title implies, this story isn’t about finding the little girl that he feels obligated to find. This story is about finding Moon.
Moon is a troubled man who has been living a life of poor decisions and shallow relationships for a long time and this story is a journey of how he finds himself and learns to be the person he always wanted to be.
There are times in our lives when trials make us into something different. We are forged through the fires of diversity into something new. Sometimes we come out something better.
Hillerman has written something special in this book, a story that explores what it means to be a person and how we gain compassion and maturity.
It’s kind of shockingly brutal and raw for a Tony Hillerman book which usually have an air of PG-rated murder mystery that avoids most of the gory details. This book isn’t overly violent but it does take place in a just barely post-war Vietnam and features a protagonist who is trying to come to terms with his own shallow life decisions up to that point.
Because of that it feels like something different and new and powerful. I really liked this book, it is possibly the best thing Hillerman ever wrote.
judyward's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't even realize that Tony Hillerman wrote novels that didn't involve the Navajo Tribal Police. But since I'm planning a trip to New Mexico this summer, I decided to run by the library and get another Tony Hillerman book that would transport me to the sacred lands of the Navajo. To my surprise, this book takes place in Southeast Asia during the last days of American military involvement in that area while American personnel are in the chaos of leaving. Moon Mathias's brother was killed in Vietnam and Moon is stunned when he receives a phone call telling him that his brother left behind an infant daughter. So off Moon goes to Vietnam and then into Cambodia. As the story unfolds, Mathias find that he is looking for himself as well as his brother's child.
linda48's review against another edition
3.0
Tony Hillerman takes the reader out of the Southwest and into the Far East. After his mother suffers a heart attack in the Los Angeles airport on her way to Manila, Moon Mathias is sent on a far ranging search for his late brother's daughter. Taking place during the last days of the Viet Nam War, Mathias travels from Manila, to the prison in Puerto Princesa, into the Mekong Delta, through Viet Nam as the Viet Cong are moving Southward and into the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. This is not only an adventure tale, but also the story of forgiveness and acceptance.
It's a little tough to get started into this book. Although Hillerman is an expert at creating the personalities of the Navajo and Hopi Indians that inhabit the majority of his books, these characters lay a little flat and never seem to reach their full potential. Also, as masterfully as he creates the scenery of the stark desert, these lush landscapes leave the reader wanting more to aid in visualizing the countries where the characters travel.
It's a little tough to get started into this book. Although Hillerman is an expert at creating the personalities of the Navajo and Hopi Indians that inhabit the majority of his books, these characters lay a little flat and never seem to reach their full potential. Also, as masterfully as he creates the scenery of the stark desert, these lush landscapes leave the reader wanting more to aid in visualizing the countries where the characters travel.
ncrabb's review against another edition
4.0
Think Tony Hillerman, and your head goes to New Mexico or Arizona—back to the Navajo reservation. When I downloaded this in 2016, I assumed this was just another part of that series. I was in for a major surprise because this time, Hillerman expertly and memorably escorted me to first Manila and from there to Vietnam and Cambodia. Let me try to encapsulate this whirlwind journey while I hope managing to hold your interest in reading this.
Moon Mathias has grown up in the shadow of his brother, Ricky. Worse for Moon is the fact that their mother clearly chose Ricky as the favored son. As a result, Moon grew up believing he was an also-ran—a kind of failure.
Moon is working at a Denver newspaper when the call comes in. It seems his mom has had a heart attack at the Los Angeles airport. Moon had no idea the old woman was even going to the airport, so the news came as doubly concerning. Arranging to take the necessary time off, Moon flies first to Los Angeles where his barely surviving mother drops yet another bombshell. It seems his brother has been operating an air freight business in Vietnam, and he has sired a Eurasian child. Ricky had died recently, so the news of the child came as a real slammer to both Moon and his mother. She was en route to the Philippines to claim the child and bring it to the United States. Now, it’s up to the failure son to go to the war-torn regions of Cambodia and Vietnam and tie up his brother’s loose ends, including the little girl. All this takes place in April 1975 when Saigon was falling to the North Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge was sweeping through Cambodia in its deadly slaughter.
So, if you’ve been even a casual Hillerman fan, you’re used to his vivid memorable descriptions of the deserts of the American southwest. He carries that talent into this book in grand ways. You’ll travel with Moon, first to Manila, then to Vietnam. On the way, you’ll get acquainted with some of Ricky’s friends, including a tall slender Dutch woman who more than sparks Moon’s interest. A highly decorated World War II veteran, Hillerman describes the impact of war as you might expect he can. This is historical fiction, but the former newspaper man draws heavily from actual wire service accounts of wartime atrocities as Vietnam fell and the Khmer Rouge paralyzed Cambodia.
This is also a wonderful look at family and its impact on whether an individual feels like a success or a failure. It is a lovely demonstration of the immense value of family support and the kind of confidence a family member can transmit—confidence that will change lives under the right circumstances.
Moon Mathias has grown up in the shadow of his brother, Ricky. Worse for Moon is the fact that their mother clearly chose Ricky as the favored son. As a result, Moon grew up believing he was an also-ran—a kind of failure.
Moon is working at a Denver newspaper when the call comes in. It seems his mom has had a heart attack at the Los Angeles airport. Moon had no idea the old woman was even going to the airport, so the news came as doubly concerning. Arranging to take the necessary time off, Moon flies first to Los Angeles where his barely surviving mother drops yet another bombshell. It seems his brother has been operating an air freight business in Vietnam, and he has sired a Eurasian child. Ricky had died recently, so the news of the child came as a real slammer to both Moon and his mother. She was en route to the Philippines to claim the child and bring it to the United States. Now, it’s up to the failure son to go to the war-torn regions of Cambodia and Vietnam and tie up his brother’s loose ends, including the little girl. All this takes place in April 1975 when Saigon was falling to the North Vietnamese and the Khmer Rouge was sweeping through Cambodia in its deadly slaughter.
So, if you’ve been even a casual Hillerman fan, you’re used to his vivid memorable descriptions of the deserts of the American southwest. He carries that talent into this book in grand ways. You’ll travel with Moon, first to Manila, then to Vietnam. On the way, you’ll get acquainted with some of Ricky’s friends, including a tall slender Dutch woman who more than sparks Moon’s interest. A highly decorated World War II veteran, Hillerman describes the impact of war as you might expect he can. This is historical fiction, but the former newspaper man draws heavily from actual wire service accounts of wartime atrocities as Vietnam fell and the Khmer Rouge paralyzed Cambodia.
This is also a wonderful look at family and its impact on whether an individual feels like a success or a failure. It is a lovely demonstration of the immense value of family support and the kind of confidence a family member can transmit—confidence that will change lives under the right circumstances.
tim_worldofsleuths's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
5.0
ajlewis2's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
This is a very different kind of story from the Navaho mysteries by Hillerman. It takes place mainly in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Cambodia and gives a picture of life there in 1975 when the U.S. withdrew from the area. The story is exciting and the characters and dialogue are engaging.
mandym's review against another edition
3.0
I had resolved this year to read every book on the bookshelf including ones the previous ocuppier left behind. This is an inherited book,and I wasn't looking forward to it. I was pleasantly suprised to find it easy to read and quite entertaining, though predictable for the most part.
roastmayo's review against another edition
2.0
Tony Hillerman departed from the Navajo Nation setting and mystery genre to do a Southeast Asia adventure/drama piece. I have enjoyed his other novels much more.
mariopteris's review
4.0
Původně jsem čekala něco jiného, ale stejně (jako vše od Tonyho Hillermana) skvělé.
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