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In the Fabled East by Adam Lewis Schroeder
From one of Canada’s best young voices comes a sweeping literary adventure set against the backdrop of French Indochina.Paris, 1909: Adélie Tremier, a young widow suffering the final stages of tuberculosis, flees for French-occupied Indochina, through the lush forests of Laos, to seek out a fabled spring of immortality that might allow her to return to her nine-year-old son.Laos, 1936: Pierre Lazarie, a young academic turned Saigon bureaucrat, is sent by Adélie’s son, now an Army captain, to find his longlost mother. Although his assigned quest fulfills Pierre’s fantasy to travel up the exotic Mekong, he is saddled with his colleague Henri LeDallic, an Indochina old-timer who would rather glory in his loutish past than hunt for ghosts in the jungle. Yet what this mismatched pair discovers forms the mysterious heart of Adam Lewis Schroeder’s brilliant and compelling new novel.Bridging history from 1890s Aix-en-Provence to American involvement in 1950s Vietnam, In the Fabled East is a rich and sensual depiction of Southeast Asia, charting the loss of innocence of both individuals and the world at large. Echoing Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad, this is historical fiction written with wisdom and panache.
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First published January 1, 2010
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About the author
Adam Lewis Schroeder
5 books23 followersAdam Lewis Schroeder grew up in Vernon BC and completed an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia in 1999. He has since traveled widely and published stories in more than a dozen journals and anthologies. In 2001 his short fiction collection Kingdom of Monkeys was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Award. His novel Empress of Asia was published by Raincoast in 2006 and Thomas Dunne in the US in 2008; a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize and Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, it was also selected by the Globe & Mail as one of the best books of the year. Douglas & McIntyre published his most recent novel, In the Fabled East, in Spring 2010; it was selected by Amazon.ca as one of the best books of the year and was a finalist for the Commonwealth Regional Writers Prize. In addition Adam is a columnist for CBC Radio One and a Creative Writing instructor at UBC Okanagan. He lives in Penticton BC with his wife and kids.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 27, 2023
{SPOILERS}
The first half of the book is really dry, and I nearly gave up on it exactly at the 204th page mark. I found myself frustrated with the despicable protagonist Pierre Lazarie, which was exacerbated by the lack of likeable characters that surround his side of the story. Lazarie is a white Frenchman with an inexplicable fascination for Eastern culture and a saviour complex whose primary participation in France's occupation of Indo-China is strictly "academic". Shortly after his arrival in Asia, he begins to obsess over a woman he's only seen in a photo when he is hired to find her by her son. Lazarie's repugnant behaviour itself isn't the problem, as morally complicated characters are meant to excite and push the tension forward and are therefore necessary in any well-rounded story. Instead the fault lies in the fact that he is obviously intended to be read as the "hero" of the novel -- one whose only "heroic" acts are limited to silently shunning the racist remarks of his colleagues and attempting to make himself stand out as unlike the "other" colonizers. In the end, his often questionable actions are rewarded as he is seen riding of into the sunset (or, in this case, escaping a cafe) with the woman he was hired to find after pining over her for eighteen joyless years. Regardless of the fact that she had, at this time, known him for less than 24 hours. That being said, there are definitely compelling plot points, most of which are in the excerpts of Adélie Tremier and her experiences regarding motherhood, her declining health due to her struggle with rapidly worsening tuberculosis, and her experience in a small village after finding an immortal river which cures her of her illness. Her son, Immanuel, is similarly sympathetic, and his experience in military service where he stumbles upon the same village his mother had disappeared in some fourty years before is the most gritty and immersive point in the book. Adélie and Manu's sections stand out as the most harrowing and genuine and reach a poignancy that is unfortunately just not well-balanced throughout the novel's entirety.
The writing itself is a strange beast to tackle; Schroeder utilizes certain writers tools in a way that often feels strained and artificial. References to small details and phrases are repeated in sections of the book in a way that often blurs the characters from their separate, individual experiences into one amorphous blob. The novel weaves through three different perspectives at time periods that are separated by great expanses of time in between, and switches from third-person to a first-person narrative somewhere near the end which comes off as a bit jarring for the more alert reader. However, while these unnatural obstacles tend to upset the novel's flow, Schroeder excels at quick-witted dialogue and consistently conjures up original metaphors that lend themselves astoundingly to the novel's atmosphere and setting.
Overall, my opinion is that it is not a great book (and nearly a bad one for the first half), but nonetheless is worth staying on for, if not for anything but to rejoice in the happy(-ish) ending for the enchanting Adélie Tremier.
The first half of the book is really dry, and I nearly gave up on it exactly at the 204th page mark. I found myself frustrated with the despicable protagonist Pierre Lazarie, which was exacerbated by the lack of likeable characters that surround his side of the story. Lazarie is a white Frenchman with an inexplicable fascination for Eastern culture and a saviour complex whose primary participation in France's occupation of Indo-China is strictly "academic". Shortly after his arrival in Asia, he begins to obsess over a woman he's only seen in a photo when he is hired to find her by her son. Lazarie's repugnant behaviour itself isn't the problem, as morally complicated characters are meant to excite and push the tension forward and are therefore necessary in any well-rounded story. Instead the fault lies in the fact that he is obviously intended to be read as the "hero" of the novel -- one whose only "heroic" acts are limited to silently shunning the racist remarks of his colleagues and attempting to make himself stand out as unlike the "other" colonizers. In the end, his often questionable actions are rewarded as he is seen riding of into the sunset (or, in this case, escaping a cafe) with the woman he was hired to find after pining over her for eighteen joyless years. Regardless of the fact that she had, at this time, known him for less than 24 hours. That being said, there are definitely compelling plot points, most of which are in the excerpts of Adélie Tremier and her experiences regarding motherhood, her declining health due to her struggle with rapidly worsening tuberculosis, and her experience in a small village after finding an immortal river which cures her of her illness. Her son, Immanuel, is similarly sympathetic, and his experience in military service where he stumbles upon the same village his mother had disappeared in some fourty years before is the most gritty and immersive point in the book. Adélie and Manu's sections stand out as the most harrowing and genuine and reach a poignancy that is unfortunately just not well-balanced throughout the novel's entirety.
The writing itself is a strange beast to tackle; Schroeder utilizes certain writers tools in a way that often feels strained and artificial. References to small details and phrases are repeated in sections of the book in a way that often blurs the characters from their separate, individual experiences into one amorphous blob. The novel weaves through three different perspectives at time periods that are separated by great expanses of time in between, and switches from third-person to a first-person narrative somewhere near the end which comes off as a bit jarring for the more alert reader. However, while these unnatural obstacles tend to upset the novel's flow, Schroeder excels at quick-witted dialogue and consistently conjures up original metaphors that lend themselves astoundingly to the novel's atmosphere and setting.
Overall, my opinion is that it is not a great book (and nearly a bad one for the first half), but nonetheless is worth staying on for, if not for anything but to rejoice in the happy(-ish) ending for the enchanting Adélie Tremier.
December 31, 2012
I gave up on this one after almost 180 pages. I really don't like giving up on a book, but I gave it my best shot..this one just felt like it was going nowhere, and I have a huge TBR pile!
My primary issue with this one is the matter-of-fact feel of the writing, which renders the characters very one-dimensional and practically impossible to get to know or like. This is particularly problematic because this novel is about one women's life and her son's attempt to find her years later in Vietnam, and because I didn't feel I really got to know the woman at all (or any of her relatives), I didn't feel invested in whatever happened to her, whether she would be found, etc. With sections taking place within Vietnam, and having recently read some really lush and wonderfully evocative novels set there, I expected far more in that department than I got here. Instead, this writing made me feel like the characters were just on a business trip in Vietnam or something...there was no connection between the characters and their (in reality) stunningly beautiful and exotic surroundings.
All in all, very disappointing.
My primary issue with this one is the matter-of-fact feel of the writing, which renders the characters very one-dimensional and practically impossible to get to know or like. This is particularly problematic because this novel is about one women's life and her son's attempt to find her years later in Vietnam, and because I didn't feel I really got to know the woman at all (or any of her relatives), I didn't feel invested in whatever happened to her, whether she would be found, etc. With sections taking place within Vietnam, and having recently read some really lush and wonderfully evocative novels set there, I expected far more in that department than I got here. Instead, this writing made me feel like the characters were just on a business trip in Vietnam or something...there was no connection between the characters and their (in reality) stunningly beautiful and exotic surroundings.
All in all, very disappointing.
November 7, 2011
A fantastic journey, in 3 different periods of colonial Indochina interwoven in a story of discovery and reunification. A dying mother seeks out a mythical spring of immortality hidden in the mountains of Laos, while her abandoned son tries in vain to locate her, only to stumble upon his long lost mother some 50 odd years later, while escaping from the French debacle at Dien Bien Phu as a foreign legionnaire! The writing is definitely more engaging and coherent than the author's first book 'Empress of Asia', and the plot way more interesting. Certain sections are difficult to follow, the costume party in Paris and Adelie's introduction to the rural village for eg, while others flow more smoothly, so overall this book is a mixed bag for me. For anyone interested in colonial Indochina though, it is good historical fiction with sufficient breadth, taking the reader from bustling Saigon and the languid pace of the Mekong to rural farms and remote hill villages outback hidden amongst lush forests.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 11, 2011
This novel has a distinct dream-like quality to it, based in part on the perspectives of the different characters being either delusional, incredibly naive or ignorant and to the way Schroeder brilliantly interweaves the fantastical and the real. It follows one character Pierre Lazarie as he searches through French Indochina for a woman who mysteriously disappeared in 1909 named Adelie Tremier. Schroeder is masterful in his ability to present all the Orientalisms of the different periods in all of their complexity... as a student of anthropology I am maybe more appreciative of this kind of thing than most.
Well I want to be careful not to spoil the story - the way it unfolds is such a pleasure to read that any expectation would spoil that experience I think. hopefully i haven't already said too much.
I suppose the style might be a pain for some who, unlike me, were not charmed right off the bat by the story... but stick with it because it is definitely worth it!
Well I want to be careful not to spoil the story - the way it unfolds is such a pleasure to read that any expectation would spoil that experience I think. hopefully i haven't already said too much.
I suppose the style might be a pain for some who, unlike me, were not charmed right off the bat by the story... but stick with it because it is definitely worth it!
January 25, 2014
In the Fabled East is awesome. It is a combination of an historical novel about Laos and surrounding environment, plus magical realism.
What can I tell you about the plot? I shouldn't.
There's a mother and son in the past, then there's someone more recently who get's stationed over there who begins looking into the past, and finds an interesting story that could not possibly have happened. The author goes into that story and it really gets interesting.
Reality is always part of reading. I am visiting London for the first time, as I finished this. Some of my ancestors presumably came from the region. I cannot understand the English that is spoken here, very well. I hear German, French, Spanish, and Middle Eastern languages every day. It's very different than where I live and that influences my reading and understanding of words.
What can I tell you about the plot? I shouldn't.
There's a mother and son in the past, then there's someone more recently who get's stationed over there who begins looking into the past, and finds an interesting story that could not possibly have happened. The author goes into that story and it really gets interesting.
Reality is always part of reading. I am visiting London for the first time, as I finished this. Some of my ancestors presumably came from the region. I cannot understand the English that is spoken here, very well. I hear German, French, Spanish, and Middle Eastern languages every day. It's very different than where I live and that influences my reading and understanding of words.
June 29, 2011
Not a book I would have picked to read by its subject, but I was at a reading by the author and his amazing voice, involvement in his story, the background made me buy it and read it all myself. I am so glad I did. The characters take you along and the story is of a place and time that I am glad I visited.
April 27, 2013
I couldn't push myself to finish this book. Made it a quarter of the way through. The story has potential; however, I found the writing to be long winded and I quickly lost interest each time I tried to restart.
August 14, 2011
I really enjoyed this.
Read
October 30, 2011Just can't get into this one - the writing style is totally throwing me off.
July 20, 2025
did not finish - boring!
December 1, 2011
Couldn't get it .
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews