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The Termite Queen
256 pages, Paperback
Published December 5, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 8, 2024
Tạ Duy Anh’s The Termite Queen was a “kafkaesque” look into hyper capitalist contemporary Vietnam and the layers of corruption and cronyism associated with “development”, urbanisation and private investment. The original book was banned in Việt Nam. Over simplistic at times but still worth a read - very rare to have books from the Global South like this, examining modern social-economic and political conditions translated into English and not the usual “diaspora memories of the homeland” kind of stories. Hope that Penguin Singapore continues to publish more translations of modern stories from Southeast Asia.
December 1, 2023
STORY TIME:
I somehow got this book before it was published. While backpacking in Vietnam I befriended a bookkeeper. He gave me multiple phenomenal recommendations right down my alley, as I was trying to educate myself more on Vietnamese history and culture through narratives.
At one point he looked left and right before disappearing into another room and returning with this book. He told me that he highly recommended this book, but that it was both banned by the government (with potentially serious consequences for those who buy/sell/read this book in Vietnam) and very hard to find even in western countries. I thanked him for the pleasant conversation and fantastic recommendations and walked back to my hostel.
Once inside and checking that the coast was clear, I pulled the book out of my bag, sat down, and opened it up. There on the title page was an autograph… He never told me it was autographed! I immediately started googling this book and came to learn that it doesn’t release by Penguin until December 5. With all this context you can imagine the exhilaration and satisfaction of reading a mysterious unreleased autographed banned book! It also was humbling to experience the fear people must have of being caught reading banned books in a communist country.
All that to say, this a great book whether or not you have a magical experience in how you obtain it or not. It is a captivating narrative that will educate you on and bring to light contemporary political & economic issues in the communistic hyper-capitalist country that is Vietnam. It brings to surface moral dilemmas that are important to consider regardless of what country you are in. Ta Duy Anh does a great job at telling the story in a unique way that will have you turning the pages to get answers until the end.
I somehow got this book before it was published. While backpacking in Vietnam I befriended a bookkeeper. He gave me multiple phenomenal recommendations right down my alley, as I was trying to educate myself more on Vietnamese history and culture through narratives.
At one point he looked left and right before disappearing into another room and returning with this book. He told me that he highly recommended this book, but that it was both banned by the government (with potentially serious consequences for those who buy/sell/read this book in Vietnam) and very hard to find even in western countries. I thanked him for the pleasant conversation and fantastic recommendations and walked back to my hostel.
Once inside and checking that the coast was clear, I pulled the book out of my bag, sat down, and opened it up. There on the title page was an autograph… He never told me it was autographed! I immediately started googling this book and came to learn that it doesn’t release by Penguin until December 5. With all this context you can imagine the exhilaration and satisfaction of reading a mysterious unreleased autographed banned book! It also was humbling to experience the fear people must have of being caught reading banned books in a communist country.
All that to say, this a great book whether or not you have a magical experience in how you obtain it or not. It is a captivating narrative that will educate you on and bring to light contemporary political & economic issues in the communistic hyper-capitalist country that is Vietnam. It brings to surface moral dilemmas that are important to consider regardless of what country you are in. Ta Duy Anh does a great job at telling the story in a unique way that will have you turning the pages to get answers until the end.
December 17, 2023
An incredibly powerful piece of fiction on modern Vietnamese politics. It’s even more special as it’s not easy to find such books translated into English. I’m grateful to have come across this excellent translation by chance when I was browsing in a bookstore in Hanoi. Not only is the story riveting and compelling; it provides such a needed insight into the contemporary issues within the country.
December 17, 2024
I bought this book at a small bookstore in an alley in Hoi An and was curious about it because it is banned in the country. Funny, satirical, and intriguing—the plot is like a labyrinth as it explores corruption in contemporary Vietnam. If you like Kaska, you'll like this novel.
February 6, 2024
We are fortunate to have access to this banned book written by one of the finest prose stylists in Vietnam. The prefatory materials grant excellent context to the story, which has idiosyncratic narratives layers that you might find in Borges, Kafka, or Hernan Diaz's recent novel Trust. While the subjects can feel particular and esoteric (government contracts, rural development, business meetings), the story has universal themes action, love, and some parts will make you laugh so hard that you'll wake your partner up in bed.
I came away with a deeper sense also of a unique Vietnamese voice, and I came away with a sense of commonality with the struggle to live meaningful and good lives in the contemporary world.
I came away with a deeper sense also of a unique Vietnamese voice, and I came away with a sense of commonality with the struggle to live meaningful and good lives in the contemporary world.
January 15, 2025
DNFed at page 100.
It pains me to have to write this review, as I wanted very badly to be able to wholeheartedly recommend this book. Its topic--a satire/critique of corporate land grabs in rapidly developing and modernizing contemporary Vietnam--is an important and relevant one, and there are just so few translated contemporary Vietnamese books out there. But reading this was, unfortunately, a slog.
My experience with contemporary Vietnamese writers has, so far, been that they either overly focus on style at the expense of substance, or, as with the case of THE TERMITE QUEEN, consist of 98% theme and 2% style. TTQ reads like one day Tạ Duy Anh woke up and declared, "I'm going to write a novel critiquing the corrupt practice of corporate land grabs in Vietnam" and then wrote about it.
The prose is inelegant, functional, stolid. The plot moves forward via endless conversations between different characters; it's not so much the circularity of the conversations themselves (because that is indeed how the more under-the-table business gets done here in Vietnam, everyone kind of talking around the point but all knowing what the point is), but rather the fact that Tạ simply didn't use any other literary devices to develop the story.
Character development is minimal; everyone talks and sounds the same, and all seem to serve as mouthpieces for the author's message. I don't really get a sense of the MC, Việt, as a character that can exist separate from the purpose he serves in the novel. In the first half of the book, the plot moves like semi-autonomous water droplets in a viscous puddle: occasionally a drop or two attempts to venture beyond what's already been told/done/written, but very quickly returns to the quagmiry loop of "conversation - travel to meet another person - conversation - travel back".
THE TERMITE QUEEN is maybe (?) a satire. Read that with a questioning tone because if it was meant to be a satire, then I didn't get that sense. There was a potentially intriguing meta-critique element in TTQ: within the world of Tạ's story, there actually exists another book called "The Termite Queen" that was written as an exposé of the shady business that our MC is trying to unravel. This "Termite Queen"-within-The Termite Queen purports to be a straightforward and factual account of what really happened, and Việt himself is actually a character in it. The cognitive dissonance between Việt-in-TTQ's critique of the way he is portrayed in "TTQ" is occasionally humorous, but unfortunately not sustained for me, particularly as the inclusion of chapter-long "excerpts" from "TTQ" only served to further slow down the pace of TTQ.
Translated contemporary Vietnamese literature, unfortunately, remains still a niche reading category that is lacking the vital literary mastery and flourish that would make it more palatable to a wider audience. You can still read THE TERMITE QUEEN if you're curious, but I think it will require some determination to persevere and your willingness to put up with clunky writing.
It pains me to have to write this review, as I wanted very badly to be able to wholeheartedly recommend this book. Its topic--a satire/critique of corporate land grabs in rapidly developing and modernizing contemporary Vietnam--is an important and relevant one, and there are just so few translated contemporary Vietnamese books out there. But reading this was, unfortunately, a slog.
My experience with contemporary Vietnamese writers has, so far, been that they either overly focus on style at the expense of substance, or, as with the case of THE TERMITE QUEEN, consist of 98% theme and 2% style. TTQ reads like one day Tạ Duy Anh woke up and declared, "I'm going to write a novel critiquing the corrupt practice of corporate land grabs in Vietnam" and then wrote about it.
The prose is inelegant, functional, stolid. The plot moves forward via endless conversations between different characters; it's not so much the circularity of the conversations themselves (because that is indeed how the more under-the-table business gets done here in Vietnam, everyone kind of talking around the point but all knowing what the point is), but rather the fact that Tạ simply didn't use any other literary devices to develop the story.
Character development is minimal; everyone talks and sounds the same, and all seem to serve as mouthpieces for the author's message. I don't really get a sense of the MC, Việt, as a character that can exist separate from the purpose he serves in the novel. In the first half of the book, the plot moves like semi-autonomous water droplets in a viscous puddle: occasionally a drop or two attempts to venture beyond what's already been told/done/written, but very quickly returns to the quagmiry loop of "conversation - travel to meet another person - conversation - travel back".
THE TERMITE QUEEN is maybe (?) a satire. Read that with a questioning tone because if it was meant to be a satire, then I didn't get that sense. There was a potentially intriguing meta-critique element in TTQ: within the world of Tạ's story, there actually exists another book called "The Termite Queen" that was written as an exposé of the shady business that our MC is trying to unravel. This "Termite Queen"-within-The Termite Queen purports to be a straightforward and factual account of what really happened, and Việt himself is actually a character in it. The cognitive dissonance between Việt-in-TTQ's critique of the way he is portrayed in "TTQ" is occasionally humorous, but unfortunately not sustained for me, particularly as the inclusion of chapter-long "excerpts" from "TTQ" only served to further slow down the pace of TTQ.
Translated contemporary Vietnamese literature, unfortunately, remains still a niche reading category that is lacking the vital literary mastery and flourish that would make it more palatable to a wider audience. You can still read THE TERMITE QUEEN if you're curious, but I think it will require some determination to persevere and your willingness to put up with clunky writing.
April 29, 2024
Banned in Vietnam in 2017 and translated into English in 2023, The Termite Queen exposes the crossroad of the Vietnamese communist government’s obsession with hyper-capitalism and tycoons’ moral corruption and avarice. For most Western readers, the country of Vietnam often invokes only memories of the Vietnam War. But this novel exposes a new reality of contemporary Vietnam: a new war being fought from within—the war between corrupt authorities and gullible farmers. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
February 24, 2024
An outrageous and unsettling exploration of greed, power and corruption in a unique setting.
Termite Queen's depiction of political abuses in concert with capitalist excesses, heightened by exaggerated violence and sex makes it easy to see why this book was banned in its original Vietnamese. This English translation not only gives readers a profound look into the modern-day nation, pushing back against stereotypes and cliches found in much translated Vietnamese literature but transcends to philosophical commentary on the potential for individual morality in an amoral society driven by economic opportunities. Ta Duy Anh's style is simultaneously complex and fast-paced, providing readers a page-turning tale worthy of careful appreciation of its crafting.
While the foreign scenarios and laws may at first seem difficult to approach, the story they support is a universal triumph of the human psyche by one of Vietnam's most important contemporary writers.
Termite Queen's depiction of political abuses in concert with capitalist excesses, heightened by exaggerated violence and sex makes it easy to see why this book was banned in its original Vietnamese. This English translation not only gives readers a profound look into the modern-day nation, pushing back against stereotypes and cliches found in much translated Vietnamese literature but transcends to philosophical commentary on the potential for individual morality in an amoral society driven by economic opportunities. Ta Duy Anh's style is simultaneously complex and fast-paced, providing readers a page-turning tale worthy of careful appreciation of its crafting.
While the foreign scenarios and laws may at first seem difficult to approach, the story they support is a universal triumph of the human psyche by one of Vietnam's most important contemporary writers.
January 3, 2025
Banned books always pique my curiosity. I read a review of this novel on World Literature Today and ordered a copy. It is an unusual novel but very fun to read, although it exposes bribery and corruption in communist Vietnam. But is the country really communist? I guess not, but it is highly capitalistic. The character Mr. Big is both real and unreal, and the exaggeration and satire make the book intriguing. I wish the author had toned down the toxic masculinity and the male gaze a bit. Glad to read a contemporary novel from Vietnam that doesn’t deal with the war, and I got to see what is concealed under the communist Party’s propaganda. The writing style is somewhat simple, but I guess it fits the message the book wanted to convey.
June 27, 2024
Through their translation, the translators breathe new life into a story that has been
banned in communist Vietnam, a country of tightly controlled media. This novel paints a
daring and unsettling portrait of the corruption lurking within land grabbing in the first
two decades of the 21 st century. Highly recommended to readers who want to know what is
going in Vietnam nowadays besides the Vietnam War and its long-lasting effects.
banned in communist Vietnam, a country of tightly controlled media. This novel paints a
daring and unsettling portrait of the corruption lurking within land grabbing in the first
two decades of the 21 st century. Highly recommended to readers who want to know what is
going in Vietnam nowadays besides the Vietnam War and its long-lasting effects.
November 27, 2024
While the setting of the novel may be grim, Ta shows hope in Vietnam’s future without glorifying his country to appease the communist government. Readers are introduced to a contemporary Vietnam with its opposing ambitions, and citizens caught between staunch capitalists and communist officials while navigating a technologically advanced but highly monitored and censored country.
February 18, 2024
Truly appreciate the translators for an amazing work. Your meticulous and flawless translation has mesmerised my experience of every single page, just the same impacts I had received from reading the original one by Tạ Duy Anh.
February 14, 2025
This was a particularly interesting book to me, partially because it exposes and is so frank about corruption in the country. I can’t imagine the writer feels secure about its publication – even though it’s only read in English. The most illuminating sections of the novel dealt with this corruption, with cronyism, and the systemic way it operates in Vietnam. The parts I most liked had to do with exposing this, from the descriptions of the narrator’s dream of the termite queen and infection, to the narrator's love interest’s depiction of what ails Vietnam in regards to these corrupt bosses and bureaucrats.
As a novel though, I didn’t feel that Ta Duy Anh’s book was as strong in terms of plotting or stylistically in its writing as it could have been. I wasn’t as invested in the narrator’s fate, for example. He had a directive to take over the family business, but he didn’t take any moral action against the firm even as what he clearly saw were some horrific practices by the company, not until he met his love much later on. I wanted him to at least have some sense of compassion or right and wrong. The plot also went too far into action film theatrics in the last third of the novel, imo. Just over the top, losing that honest appraisal of corruption in Vietnam.
The parts that I was moved by were the conversations with those affected by the company, the reflections on what ails such a corrupt system, etc… I wished those had been expanded upon more, and that the narrator was more of a figure I could root for as the story progressed. Nevertheless, The Termite Queen is an important, honest book about the issues plaguing Vietnam today.
As a novel though, I didn’t feel that Ta Duy Anh’s book was as strong in terms of plotting or stylistically in its writing as it could have been. I wasn’t as invested in the narrator’s fate, for example. He had a directive to take over the family business, but he didn’t take any moral action against the firm even as what he clearly saw were some horrific practices by the company, not until he met his love much later on. I wanted him to at least have some sense of compassion or right and wrong. The plot also went too far into action film theatrics in the last third of the novel, imo. Just over the top, losing that honest appraisal of corruption in Vietnam.
The parts that I was moved by were the conversations with those affected by the company, the reflections on what ails such a corrupt system, etc… I wished those had been expanded upon more, and that the narrator was more of a figure I could root for as the story progressed. Nevertheless, The Termite Queen is an important, honest book about the issues plaguing Vietnam today.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews