Reviews

Dragonfish by Vu Tran

rouge_red's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

1.5

This book was dumb. The main character, despite being a policeman, acts like he doesn't understand what shady criminals will do like have cameras in their home, kill people, tail someone, etc, etc. And beyond that stupidity, there's a level of machismo, that paired with how unbelievably dumb he is, makes for a completely unsympathetic character. I also don't like that Hong is relegated to a being a strange woman who to everyone else does inexplicable things. Obviously this woman is troubled and all these guys can do is think about themselves and what they've lost or might lose. It's overall a very dumb book. I got nothing else to say.

random_shoes's review

emotional mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

declaun's review against another edition

3.0

I read this book to widen my experiences with Vietnamese-American literature. Although this is a story of refugee experiences, it is told from an unconventional perspective in an unconventional way. Although the book has some significant flaws, I enjoyed it. Soft 3 stars.

Likes:
+ emotionally vivid descriptions of Vietnamese boat refugees' post-war experiences
+ complicated characters

Dislikes:
- main female character is stereotypically overemotional and kind of insane
- rather disappointing conclusion

dianametzger's review against another edition

2.0

Maybe I missed something but I felt like the storyline of Mai's immigration to the US through Malaysia was so much more interesting than the mystery/thriller portion. Mai also felt like such a cipher and her story felt so diminished in order to promote this beef with a cop and criminals in Vegas. There just felt like massive holes in the story and painfully misogynistic in the guise of being feminist. Blah.

lavoiture's review against another edition

4.0

I love this review from the back of the book from Tom Perrotta: "Is this an immigrant saga disguised as a crime novel? Or a smart thriller that just happens to be set in the Vietnamese immigrant community in Las Vegas? It's both..." I mean, I couldn't say it any better than that. Good thriller/mystery with realistic characters who are both sympathetic and truly horrible.

naaytaashreads's review against another edition

“The lesson of my childhood was that if you anticipate misfortune, you make it hurt less. It’s a fool’s truth, but what truth isn”

This book just wasn't for me.
I was excited knowing it was a thriller but it didn't give me that vibe.

The story was messy. The thriller wasn't that suspenseful.
It had a flashback on history on Susan POV but the connection to the story just felt very forcefully trying to relate. The side character feel like it was trying to carry the main character.

I really didn't enjoy the story, sadly.

“The world is full of people who care but never quite care enough.”

debfreemantx's review against another edition

3.0

The pain of being separated from your homeland and your life and loved ones comes through in this story.
But having so much of the story driven by the white male cop is odd.

tasharobinson's review against another edition

4.0

Loved how this contemporary crime novel plays with a lot of noir conventions, but finds new twists on them, setting up expectations and then moving away from them.

Reviewed this one for NPR here.

pearloz's review against another edition

3.0

Huh. That was alright. It was pretty quick but, with the exception of the Vietnamese angle (and that's all it was...an angle; just Vietnamese names subbing in for American names), it all seemed so cliche. Cop, ex-wife, ex-wife's new husband is significantly older and rich, double-life, she disappears. New husband elicits the help of ex-husband cop. Would you believe our hero is getting close to the answer and he gets struck over the head and knocked unconscious? Would you believe there is an previously undisclosed adult daughter? Nothing new here, just...novel.

biblio_amy's review against another edition

1.0

This was a hard one to rate because I was really looking forward to this book based off the summary and I was really disappointed. I really hated the characters. There was not one likable character and I knew this from the beginning with the relationship between Robert and Suzy that I should just stop there, but I kept going because I thought maybe there would be some kind of ah ha! moment where it could possibly make any sense as to how they even lasted in an 8 year marriage. I understand the traumatic experience that Suzy had to go through which makes her such an unstable character, but it also doesn't mean you make all the characters and story line that way too. I kept reading because I thought that maybe something would help with her disappearance and also help to make characters more likable. I am surprised I even finished this book because I would have just stopped reading it if I would have known the ending would do nothing but leave me saying WTF just happened?!! Ahhhh!! Okay, maybe this may just not be my kind of book and I really hate giving one star ratings...so I can say this could be a two star rating, but I'm just a little disappointed at this time to give it that.