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L'arazzo
Kien Nguyen racconta in chiave romanzesca le vicende della sua famiglia nel Vietnam dei primi anni del Novecento, quando il paese era ancora assoggettato ai francesi. Al centro del romanzo c'è la figura del nonno Dan, tessitore di arazzi alla corte imperiale di Hue. Sposatosi all'età di sette anni con la ventisettenne Ven, dopo l'assassinio del padre da parte del malvagio sindaco Toan, Dan viene ceduto come schiavo. Inizia così una emozionante saga in cui si intrecciano amore e sete di giustizia, scandali e vendette sullo sfondo di un paese dilaniato dalla guerra civile.
364 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
26 people are currently reading
746 people want to read
About the author
Kien Nguyen
9 books41 followersKien Nguyen was born to a Vietnamese mother from a once wealthy family and her American civil engineer lover. His mother's family, who had lost their wealth when the French left Vietnam, lived among neighbors who treated them as pariahs because of their colonialist background. Kien, a child of mixed race, was especially ostracized from the community.
He left Vietnam in 1985 through the United Nations "Orderly Departure Program." After spending time at a refugee camp in the Philippines, he arrived in the United States and became a dentist. He lives in New York City.
He left Vietnam in 1985 through the United Nations "Orderly Departure Program." After spending time at a refugee camp in the Philippines, he arrived in the United States and became a dentist. He lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 119 reviews
November 15, 2020
I enjoyed a lot this opportunity to learn about Vietnam, as it was at the beginning of the 19-hundreds.
The story is about family duty, about love and attachments, about greed and cruelty, and it is placed in the time when the centuries old customs and traditions are due to french influence, slowly being replaced by ‘modernity’.
The story is supposed to be based on what the author's grandfather told him about his life. It is brutal at times and perhaps a bit too melodramatic to be entirely believable but I did enjoy it and it kept me captivated all the way to the end.
The story is about family duty, about love and attachments, about greed and cruelty, and it is placed in the time when the centuries old customs and traditions are due to french influence, slowly being replaced by ‘modernity’.
The story is supposed to be based on what the author's grandfather told him about his life. It is brutal at times and perhaps a bit too melodramatic to be entirely believable but I did enjoy it and it kept me captivated all the way to the end.
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July 3, 2025Still working on my Encore List, where I need to re-read certain books in order to decide if Iwant to either keep or donate them. I am admittedly trying to be very cold-blooded with these books. I want to keep books because I loved the stories, not just because I have read the books.
Sometimes the re-reads are wonderful, sometimes I cannot get beyond the first chapter or two, and sometimes I end up not reading more than a few pages before the book goes into the give-away pile.
This is one of those that I read two chapters of and decided that was enough. A woman in 1916 Vietnam enters an arranged marriage, discovering on her wedding night that her new husband is only seven years old. She realizes she was brought into the family for nothing more than her ability to work. And work she will: the next morning she is taken to the kitchens and told that she is responsible for making breakfast for the household.
I got as far as the scene where she is to serve food to the wives of the master of the house, but I could not go any further. This book may be very uplifting later, I don't remember from my first reading of it years ago. All I know is that the beginning was too depressing for me to deal with at this point in time, and the book is being donated.
I don't think it is really fair of me to give a star rating here, since my decision is based more on my current mood than with the book itself. We simply do not match up right now.
Sometimes the re-reads are wonderful, sometimes I cannot get beyond the first chapter or two, and sometimes I end up not reading more than a few pages before the book goes into the give-away pile.
This is one of those that I read two chapters of and decided that was enough. A woman in 1916 Vietnam enters an arranged marriage, discovering on her wedding night that her new husband is only seven years old. She realizes she was brought into the family for nothing more than her ability to work. And work she will: the next morning she is taken to the kitchens and told that she is responsible for making breakfast for the household.
I got as far as the scene where she is to serve food to the wives of the master of the house, but I could not go any further. This book may be very uplifting later, I don't remember from my first reading of it years ago. All I know is that the beginning was too depressing for me to deal with at this point in time, and the book is being donated.
I don't think it is really fair of me to give a star rating here, since my decision is based more on my current mood than with the book itself. We simply do not match up right now.
April 30, 2020
A vivid, descriptive novel of Vietnam during the French colonial rule. The book brought alive the Hue citadel, bringing memories of my visit there a decade ago. Nyugen’s writing transported me to old Vietnam, bringing to light so many historical and cultural nuances of a beautiful country.
A lovely read. It’s a pity this book didn’t get the attention it deserved.
A lovely read. It’s a pity this book didn’t get the attention it deserved.
January 19, 2009
This was a heavy handed "romance" set in Vietnam of the early 20th c. I found myself skimming to be done with the characters who were flat, improbable, and spoke with clunky emotion. I'm not sure why I finished it, except that I was interested in the setting.
August 17, 2012
One star, yikes, I should have known better than to read this book. But I wanted to read something set in Vietnam and written by an actual Vietnamese person about Vietnamese characters--not by and about Americans who fought in the Vietnam War--and this fit the bill. Unfortunately that was the only bill it fit. (What does that mean, anyway, fitting a bill? What kind of bill are we talking? Anyway.)
This is a wannabe-epic tale, set in early-20th-century Vietnam, of a boy whose family is killed, and who seeks revenge but falls in love with the killer’s granddaughter. It starts interestingly enough, with the boy’s first wife; he’s 7 and she’s 24, and his family arranges the “marriage” for the free labor. Then it gets bogged down in cliché, and in long boring chapters from the perspectives of minor characters. The characters’ emotions are stereotypical, their interactions clunky and simplistic, and much of the dialogue consists of their spouting grandiose pronouncements at one another. The villain would surely be twirling his mustache, if he had one. And everyone constantly makes idiotic decisions, without realizing their idiocy even in retrospect. It would be funny--sometimes it almost is--if it weren’t so slow and didn’t take itself so seriously. Instead it's just boring.
The cultural and historical detail is usually the one redeeming quality of even bad world fiction, but I’m not inclined to be generous here; the descriptions are rather tired, as is the language (although mostly competent, the writing is never fresh or arresting), and I doubt the author’s credibility. For instance, there’s a woman with bound feet, and early in the book we see her in a room full of people resting her bare feet on an ottoman. Whoa now! Bound feet looked and smelled terrible; a woman wouldn’t display them unshod. Then later in the book, her feet “though small, were no longer bound.” Whoa again! Footbinding included literally breaking the bones and reshaping the feet; there’s no going back, and trying to do so would make them worse. So if the author can’t even get the stuff I know about right, how can I trust him on anything else?
Basically, this is a tiresome melodrama--rarely does a conversation pass without someone "screaming" at someone else--that’s neither fun nor enlightening. I’m not surprised that it’s based on stories the author’s grandfather told him as a boy; the storyline and characters seem like they would most appeal to young children, although the vocabulary, slow pacing and level of violence put this book in adult territory. Sadly, then, I just wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
This is a wannabe-epic tale, set in early-20th-century Vietnam, of a boy whose family is killed, and who seeks revenge but falls in love with the killer’s granddaughter. It starts interestingly enough, with the boy’s first wife; he’s 7 and she’s 24, and his family arranges the “marriage” for the free labor. Then it gets bogged down in cliché, and in long boring chapters from the perspectives of minor characters. The characters’ emotions are stereotypical, their interactions clunky and simplistic, and much of the dialogue consists of their spouting grandiose pronouncements at one another. The villain would surely be twirling his mustache, if he had one. And everyone constantly makes idiotic decisions, without realizing their idiocy even in retrospect. It would be funny--sometimes it almost is--if it weren’t so slow and didn’t take itself so seriously. Instead it's just boring.
The cultural and historical detail is usually the one redeeming quality of even bad world fiction, but I’m not inclined to be generous here; the descriptions are rather tired, as is the language (although mostly competent, the writing is never fresh or arresting), and I doubt the author’s credibility. For instance, there’s a woman with bound feet, and early in the book we see her in a room full of people resting her bare feet on an ottoman. Whoa now! Bound feet looked and smelled terrible; a woman wouldn’t display them unshod. Then later in the book, her feet “though small, were no longer bound.” Whoa again! Footbinding included literally breaking the bones and reshaping the feet; there’s no going back, and trying to do so would make them worse. So if the author can’t even get the stuff I know about right, how can I trust him on anything else?
Basically, this is a tiresome melodrama--rarely does a conversation pass without someone "screaming" at someone else--that’s neither fun nor enlightening. I’m not surprised that it’s based on stories the author’s grandfather told him as a boy; the storyline and characters seem like they would most appeal to young children, although the vocabulary, slow pacing and level of violence put this book in adult territory. Sadly, then, I just wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
May 19, 2009
I took this book as the author's presentation of the stories (possibly fables and fairytales) that his grandfather passed on to him.
Taken that way, it was a great book. The story was entertaining, historical, sad, and crazy all wrapped up together, and yet it worked.
The pre-arranged marriage, the history of Vietnam, the greed and betrayal and revenge, the desire to flee and the desire to love...all those were introduced into the story, and you'd think that it'd just be too much. Too much politics, strife, anger, and mistrust. Too much unrequited love, implied trust, and blind hope. But again, for some reason, it worked.
The characters were interesting in their own ways, although there didn't seem to be a whole lot of their personalities on display throughout the novel. Maybe that was by design, or maybe it was there and I just missed it. At any rate, that the book was a bit character-light is what kept me from giving this more stars.
Taken that way, it was a great book. The story was entertaining, historical, sad, and crazy all wrapped up together, and yet it worked.
The pre-arranged marriage, the history of Vietnam, the greed and betrayal and revenge, the desire to flee and the desire to love...all those were introduced into the story, and you'd think that it'd just be too much. Too much politics, strife, anger, and mistrust. Too much unrequited love, implied trust, and blind hope. But again, for some reason, it worked.
The characters were interesting in their own ways, although there didn't seem to be a whole lot of their personalities on display throughout the novel. Maybe that was by design, or maybe it was there and I just missed it. At any rate, that the book was a bit character-light is what kept me from giving this more stars.
February 17, 2021
Δεν ξέρω γιατί δεν έδωσα 4 αστέρια... Η υπόθεση είναι ενδιαφέρουσα, η κουλτούρα του Βιετναμ μου ήταν εντελώς άγνωστη, άρα όχι βαρετή, η γραφη τρέχει χωρίς δυσκολία στην ανάγνωση... Ίσως όμως φταίει το πλήθος στοιχείων, ίσως η βαρβαρότητα που καθρεφτίζει... Ωστόσο υπάρχουν αρκετά ενδιαφέροντα σημεία όσο και συγκινητικά.
Σίγουρα πάντως κάτι λείπει για να το απογειώσει...
Σίγουρα πάντως κάτι λείπει για να το απογειώσει...
September 27, 2025
Finire questo libro è stato davvero faticoso. Non mi dispiacciono gli autori che decidono di raccontare in modo romanzato la storia di qualche loro avo, a patto, però, che siano in grado di farlo senza premere troppo sulla parte romanzata. Nguyen, purtroppo, non rientra in questa categoria.
Protagonista de L'arazzo è il nonno dell'autore, Dan Nguyen. La storia segue circa sedici anni della sua vita, dalla distruzione della quiete e degli agi di famiglia alla rivalsa sui nemici e il destino avverso. Non c'è una trama particolarmente intricata e non ci sono personaggi di particolare spessore: la storia si legge come una favola, ma raccoglie una serie di scelte narrative che non ho apprezzato per niente: Nguyen shows, but doesn’t tell. I dialoghi, infatti, sono talmente pieni di ripetizioni di fatti già noti (a noi e ai personaggi stessi), di alcuni brevissimi cenni storici e di elementi che servono a mandar avanti la storia da risultare pesanti e poco naturali, addirittura pomposi. Raccontare in questo modo denota, a mio avviso, pigrizia o, forse, poca dimestichezza con la stesura di un romanzo. Nguyen appare molto acerbo come narratore, forse troppo preso dal racconto fantastico di rivincita per concentrarsi sul come renderlo su carta (e di questo ne risente moltissimo il finale, troppo sbrigativo, con “colpi di scena” che sembrano presi da un film Disney). Ho intravisto un po’ di potenziale solo nella sua nota finale che, guarda caso, ha un numero ridottissimo di dialoghi. Se avesse lasciato da parte la favoletta dei buoni che si rialzano dopo soprusi vari e dei cattivi da operetta, tutti con caratteristiche fisiche che li rendono sgradevoli al primo incontro, forse sarebbe venuto fuori un buon romanzo e non un racconto banale e con personaggi scialbi e piatti che sembra scritto da uno studente delle medie.
Concludo con una piccola nota sull’edizione italiana. Non so se questo romanzo sia ancora in vendita e se sia stato ristampato, ma in caso mi auguro che qualcuno abbia rivisto la traduzione perché cose come “prendere il bagno” non si possono sentire, così come i personaggi che si danno sempre e solo del tu in scioltezza anche se appartengono a ranghi diversi all’interno della corte e della comunità locale.
Protagonista de L'arazzo è il nonno dell'autore, Dan Nguyen. La storia segue circa sedici anni della sua vita, dalla distruzione della quiete e degli agi di famiglia alla rivalsa sui nemici e il destino avverso. Non c'è una trama particolarmente intricata e non ci sono personaggi di particolare spessore: la storia si legge come una favola, ma raccoglie una serie di scelte narrative che non ho apprezzato per niente: Nguyen shows, but doesn’t tell. I dialoghi, infatti, sono talmente pieni di ripetizioni di fatti già noti (a noi e ai personaggi stessi), di alcuni brevissimi cenni storici e di elementi che servono a mandar avanti la storia da risultare pesanti e poco naturali, addirittura pomposi. Raccontare in questo modo denota, a mio avviso, pigrizia o, forse, poca dimestichezza con la stesura di un romanzo. Nguyen appare molto acerbo come narratore, forse troppo preso dal racconto fantastico di rivincita per concentrarsi sul come renderlo su carta (e di questo ne risente moltissimo il finale, troppo sbrigativo, con “colpi di scena” che sembrano presi da un film Disney). Ho intravisto un po’ di potenziale solo nella sua nota finale che, guarda caso, ha un numero ridottissimo di dialoghi. Se avesse lasciato da parte la favoletta dei buoni che si rialzano dopo soprusi vari e dei cattivi da operetta, tutti con caratteristiche fisiche che li rendono sgradevoli al primo incontro, forse sarebbe venuto fuori un buon romanzo e non un racconto banale e con personaggi scialbi e piatti che sembra scritto da uno studente delle medie.
Concludo con una piccola nota sull’edizione italiana. Non so se questo romanzo sia ancora in vendita e se sia stato ristampato, ma in caso mi auguro che qualcuno abbia rivisto la traduzione perché cose come “prendere il bagno” non si possono sentire, così come i personaggi che si danno sempre e solo del tu in scioltezza anche se appartengono a ranghi diversi all’interno della corte e della comunità locale.
December 18, 2019
My husband got this book for me from an old bookshop in Bangkok and was pulled into the beautiful writing of Kien Nguyen, a Vietnamese American who left Vietnam in 1985 and is the author of the well-known memoir "the Unwanted". The book is about the life story of the embroiderer of the Hue Royal family. Dan Nguyen was married to a 27 years woman when he was just 7 years old. Then her mother left him as his father and his two mistresses were beheaded in front of their home - punishment for their involvement with some political activities. Ven, Dan's wife took care of him and sold him to the family of the man who killed Dan's father. He grew up as a servant in the enemy's home, with the intention of taking revenge, but he ended up falling in love with his enemy's beautiful daughter (Tai May). I enjoyed the book because of the rich, lyrical writing, the beautiful descriptions about Vietnamese ancient culture, rituals and architecture. However, I see some weaknesses dialogues (they were very formal and dry, not spoken language at all). The author tried to put too much information into the conversations, which made them forced and unnatural. The plot, while complicated and full of shocking events, could be entertaining to some readers, but I find them to be not too credible sometimes. However in general, this is the book I could go back to. The author is very talented and I hope to read more of his books.
June 12, 2009
This is a fascinating and spellbinding book. From the first page it captured me. The writing is smoothe and hypnotic, and the story is "told" as if you were sitting at your grandmother's feet by a fireside. I love this book.
November 4, 2025
Sheer melodrama. Improbable events, one-dimensional characters, grandiose without being terribly interesting. It read like an adventure story written by a thirteen-year-old…I got halfway through before I abandoned it but he lost me when the beautiful young couple is fleeing through the countryside and first of all, they’re running with his arm around her waist, which is incredibly inefficient if you’re trying to escape from people pursuing you in horse-drawn carriages, and then there was this: “although she was small and delicate, she was able to keep up with him.” And less than a page later he “could hear her delicate panting behind him.” How exactly does one pant delicately? Why does this character have no defining personality traits besides beauty and delicacy? It annoyed me enough that I decided it wasn’t going to get any better and I could move on to other things.
April 2, 2025
Gahhhh this book is everything! The writing is exquisite, the character development is perfection, and the story? It’s like the flawless love child of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ but set in Vietnam at the turn of the 20th century. I’ve been dragging around this book for years and I’m not even sure where I originally picked it up, but it was calling out from the shelf to have its turn and I am not disappointed. This book is a gem and will have a permanent place on my bookshelf.
February 23, 2023
The imagery was exquisite.
January 11, 2009
I definitely liked The Unwanted: A Memoir of Childhood, written by the same author, more than this book. This hbook seems more of a novel, more of a fairy tale, although the author says it is based on stories about their family told by his grandfather. If one likes a novel with more emphasis on plot rather than character analysis, this might be a better choice. Somehow I never quite got attached to the characters. Neither did I think the grandfather's belief that one should appreciate life, get the most out of it while you can, which was expressed so well in the memoir was ever an issue in this novel. As an afterthought, considering all the troubles the author's grandfather had in his lifetime, one could draw this conclusion. However shouldn't we all live this way. Isn't it more a way of looking at how one chooses to live one's life, rather than a result of what life has thrown at you? The love between his grandmother and grandfather wasn't explored, just stated. Complicated, interesting story - but in my eyes this book just doesn't really suceed in pulling the reader into the novel. Very little is learned about Vietnam's history through reading this novel. I would not call it a historical novel.
December 14, 2007
I LOVED this book! This book is a story about Kien Nguyen’s grandfather’s drama filled life. WOW, what a tale! It’s like a fable come to life! Revenge, betrayal, love, and loyalty is what this book is all about. There was so much sorrow in the book that at times I would read the book tightly in my hands. Some of the occurrences are so Shakespearian that I forget it is all set in Vietnam!
What I love about this book so much is that I am looking deep into a character I thought was minor. How many times do we look the elderly and think of them as beholders of extravagant, experiences, stories, and lessons? In their humble ways of life, they do not exhibit that aura. In the Unwanted, Kien’s grandpa plays such a minor role that you almost write him off as a simple old man who just wants to die in his own country. I always say that “Everyone has a story to tell” and again I was proved of this.
What I love about this book so much is that I am looking deep into a character I thought was minor. How many times do we look the elderly and think of them as beholders of extravagant, experiences, stories, and lessons? In their humble ways of life, they do not exhibit that aura. In the Unwanted, Kien’s grandpa plays such a minor role that you almost write him off as a simple old man who just wants to die in his own country. I always say that “Everyone has a story to tell” and again I was proved of this.
July 23, 2011
It took about 9 or 10 chapters for me to actually get fully into this book. While I understand the author's purpose of the first few chapters, it seemed to drag a bit. However, if you're willing to stick it out and give it a chance, it'll redeem itself and turn out to be a great read.
May 6, 2018
This is a tale of Vietnam in the early to mid- years of the twentieth century when the old ways were beginning to crumble under the influence of the French. Peasant woman Ven is sold to the Nguyen family of Cam Le village as a bride for their seven year-old son, Dan. She protects him when the family’s fortunes are ruined by the local magistrate Toan and the elders of the family are killed or flee. As their faces are both unknown to the outside world they can for a while take refuge in the Toan household where he and Toan’s granddaughter, Tai May, fall in love. During a visitation from an official of the Emperor’s court to betrothe Tai May to Bui, the official’s son, they reveal their identities. In the outcome Ven is accused of the murders of the official and Bui actually carried out by Toan.
Thinking Ven dead, Dan leaves for the Imperial city and due to his skill at embroidery eventually becomes chief embroiderer to the court. (It is this ability and Dan’s handiwork, of course, which lend the book its title.) Meanwhile, the disgraced Tai May has been sent away to join a dance troupe. Their paths cross at the court but they cannot meet due to their respective obligations to the Emperor. On the deathbed of the Lady Chin, still grieving wife of the murdered official, Dan gives her food to revive her and accompanies her to Cam Le to confront the source of both their woes and achieve resolution.
Perhaps because English is not Nguyen’s first language the writing isn’t quite as fluent or crisp as in the very best fiction. There is often a resort to cliché (“with all her might”) and dialogue too frequently tips over into the melodramatic. I also found the love story supposed to be at the novel’s heart so barely outlined as to be almost invisible. We are told of it but rarely experience any of the relevant emotion. Rather, it is the relationship between Dan and Ven which dominates the book. Therein lies its tragedy and pathos. Yet even there the withholding by Ven of a nugget of information from Dan till very late on, twists the arc of the narrative.
Thinking Ven dead, Dan leaves for the Imperial city and due to his skill at embroidery eventually becomes chief embroiderer to the court. (It is this ability and Dan’s handiwork, of course, which lend the book its title.) Meanwhile, the disgraced Tai May has been sent away to join a dance troupe. Their paths cross at the court but they cannot meet due to their respective obligations to the Emperor. On the deathbed of the Lady Chin, still grieving wife of the murdered official, Dan gives her food to revive her and accompanies her to Cam Le to confront the source of both their woes and achieve resolution.
Perhaps because English is not Nguyen’s first language the writing isn’t quite as fluent or crisp as in the very best fiction. There is often a resort to cliché (“with all her might”) and dialogue too frequently tips over into the melodramatic. I also found the love story supposed to be at the novel’s heart so barely outlined as to be almost invisible. We are told of it but rarely experience any of the relevant emotion. Rather, it is the relationship between Dan and Ven which dominates the book. Therein lies its tragedy and pathos. Yet even there the withholding by Ven of a nugget of information from Dan till very late on, twists the arc of the narrative.
October 9, 2023
I liked this more than my book club did, but, I acknowledge, there are issues. The writing, dialogue, and word choices are clumsy in several spots, and the characters are lacking in depth. What is not lacking is action. Every page is engaging with events—some gory with violence. We have several memorable settings too—haunted mansions and a nighttime masquerade on a lake. Oh, there’s a pirate treasure map too! The villain is extremely villainous and the hero and his lover are blank-slate bland. The most interesting character is the hero’s adoptive mother-wife Ven—who really ought to be our protagonist throughout. The melodrama of the story makes it take on a fantastical, tall-tale feeling—like the movie Big Fish or Secondhand Lions. I liked this fairy-tale feeling and was not put off by the author’s note at the end in which he claims to have based the lovers off of his grandparents. I found it, overall, refreshing to read a story set in Vietnam that wasn’t obsessed with the American war or centered on white colonials. Impressive, too, that the writer composed this in English, which he didn’t learn proficiently until his teens.
December 19, 2017
The Tapestries offers some promising characters and a few moments of delightful prose here and there that, unfortunately, fail to do much for the work as a whole because, well, it's painfully bad.
Kien Nguyen apparently based the story off of tales his grandfather told him in his youth. While a novel, the author's afterward makes it clear that key characters and portions of the story itself are based off of real people and events. That said, Nguyen's heavy nostalgia for his own grandfather's tales (and perhaps, the nostalgia that was already present when his grandfather was telling him the tales) interferes with any semblance of reality that this book could have portrayed. I admire Nguyen's attempt to reimagine his grandfather's life, but The Tapestries is heavily romanticized. Additionally, poor character development, cliché writing, and shoddily put together plot points make this book fall incredibly flat.
Even the Vietnamese culture, which I was looking forward to reading and learning more about, gets lost behind the haze of bad storytelling.
Kien Nguyen apparently based the story off of tales his grandfather told him in his youth. While a novel, the author's afterward makes it clear that key characters and portions of the story itself are based off of real people and events. That said, Nguyen's heavy nostalgia for his own grandfather's tales (and perhaps, the nostalgia that was already present when his grandfather was telling him the tales) interferes with any semblance of reality that this book could have portrayed. I admire Nguyen's attempt to reimagine his grandfather's life, but The Tapestries is heavily romanticized. Additionally, poor character development, cliché writing, and shoddily put together plot points make this book fall incredibly flat.
Even the Vietnamese culture, which I was looking forward to reading and learning more about, gets lost behind the haze of bad storytelling.
March 5, 2018
I read this book in 2004 when it first came out and was mesmerized by his lyrical prose and the forgotten yet beautiful landscapes of Hue from my childhood. As a Vietnamese American born in the 60's and a refugee to America in the 70's, this book stood out in the deft ways he spun the vignettes of the Emperor period and their daily lives. I'd like to re-read it now that I put his book The Unwanted on my TBR list. This was the first Vietnamese American's published work I read that showed our representation of Vietnamese in the mainstream literature landscape. It has encouraged me that, I too, another Vietnamese American, can tell my stories of a refugee in America. Thanks to Kien Nguyen, whose work I admired greatly and has inspired me to take steps to publish my own decades later. I look forward to reading his memoir, The Unwanted, knowing that it would be an emotionally challenging book to read.
August 4, 2022
Such a breath of fresh air to read a book set in turn-of-the-century Vietnam, a pretty overlooked setting in my experience. The novel's biggest strength is its gorgeous prose that details the creeping westernization brought on by colonization and how it slowly replaces age-old traditions. Although it's marketed as such, I don't consider the romantic-aspect of the book to be all that engaging or well-developed. Instead, I would classify "The Tapestries" as a coming-of-age period drama, since the novel's focal point is Dan's conflict surrounding his family duty. In addition to that, the book details moral lessons about love, revenge, and greed, caked in melodrama that rivals soap operas and folktales, which makes Nguyen's inspirations clear. When you approach the book from that angle, it's easier to get past some of the storytelling decisions (except for one that, for me, cheapened the ending of the book and prevents me from giving 5-stars).
March 8, 2025
Je suis embêtée d’avoir trouvé cette lecture un peu pénible, en raison d’une construction qui apporte assez peu de satisfaction tant la vie de beaucoup des personnages semblent vaines. C’est normal en fait car la "vraie" vie - on apprend en postface que c’est le récit de la vie du grand-père de l’auteur -manque de construction, et n’apporte pas si souvent les dénouements mérités. - Bizarrement, j’aurais voulu que tout soit raconté comme la postface : l’enfance de l’auteur, façonnée par les grands parents, vivants encore dans l’art et les traditions, et dans la transmission orale. Ce petit passage était enchanteur.
Cela dit, c’est un ouvrage qui permet de s’immerger dans la culture vietnamienne du début du XXème siècle sous la domination française, et de voir l’évolution que cela a engendré.
Cela dit, c’est un ouvrage qui permet de s’immerger dans la culture vietnamienne du début du XXème siècle sous la domination française, et de voir l’évolution que cela a engendré.
November 13, 2023
I was up and down with this book. Some of it is harrowing; some of it is a page turner; some of it has beautiful language. And then other parts were, for me, difficult to follow/visualize. Some parts seemed unrealistic, particularly toward the end. I was unsure how much was "based on a true story" vs. what read like magical realism. I liked learning about life in Vietnam in the early 1900s; I had never read anything about that culture. I guess my concern is that the characters didn't seem well-rounded, and some of the choices they made didn't ring quite true.
February 8, 2019
I read this a long time ago, in high school or early college, because my best friend gave it to me for Hanukkah. I remember it requiring patience, but by the end, I was totally enthralled. I'm not sure about all of the negative reviews; it's mostly true, about the author's grandfather's life. What a life! It's interesting and engaging (but slow at the beginning), and definitely more so than MY life, that's for sure!
April 24, 2020
This is a well-written and interesting story set in Vietnam just as Ho Chi Min is coming up and the French are leaving. Ven finds herself married to a 7 year-old boy because the family doesn't have to pay a wife to care for him. The story follows Ven and Dan and their strange relationship from 1916 to 1932. There are two terribly violent scenes that I did not enjoy reading and keep me for rating it higher.
December 9, 2022
I had to stop reading it. I honestly wasn’t a fan of the writing style and how dramatic every conversation was. I also didn’t feel like the way the characters spoke was realistic. Maybe this is because it was translated in the writers mind / that’s how Vietnamese people spoke at that time? I’m not sure but I didn’t like it. And the characters were neither memorable or dynamic.
I did like the descriptions of the land and people though.
I did like the descriptions of the land and people though.
April 13, 2022
Exceptional story about the author's grandparents; I couldn't put it down. A beautiful love story, full of sadness, betrayal, hatred, hope, and loyalty.
For those affected by physical violence, this would be a difficult book to read in places- I skipped the worst bits and still enjoyed and understood it all. Highly recommend
For those affected by physical violence, this would be a difficult book to read in places- I skipped the worst bits and still enjoyed and understood it all. Highly recommend
May 4, 2017
Although this book was really good and really interesting, I found that a lot of the parts sort of just drag along. There was a lot of unnecessary explanations and more description than was needed, and it made me not read the book nearly as fast. Overall though, I did really enjoy the book!
September 6, 2017
Ok, there are melodramatic moments. Several of them. It can cause an eyeroll or two. But I accepted it as a soap opera read and enjoyed it as such. There are several beautiful passages and the overall story is unique and fresh. And by buying the premise of the story, I found the rest of it plausible given its context. And I enjoyed the "ride."
A favorite passage:
She was terrified. Her pose was difficult to maintain, and her sweaty palms kept sliding off the metal handgrips. But her husband was valiant. He seemed to foresee her every movement, cradling her in his arms to ensure her safety. While the vehicle rolled along the dirt road, she could feel him edging closer from behind. His warm breath burned the nape of her neck, and she could feel his heart thumping against her spine, as though a wild sparrow, trapped inside his breast cage, were flapping its wings.
They reached an empty field outside the citadel. The late-afternoon sun burned a read hole in the blue sky. Before spread the hills, rolling and submissive, smooth as camel humps and covered with green grass. They were heading toward a mountain. Her husband's legs pedaled continuously as they climbed a soft path that seemed to lead them directly into the waiting sun. Then, before she could prepare herself, the ground dropped and she was looking down at a valley.
The wheels began to spin, slowly at first and then gaining speed. For second she believed she was falling through a crack in the earth. It seemed so undignified to scream, but she did not care. Her shout escaped in large invisible bubbles, instantly stolen by the rushing wind. When her husband reached out and closed his hands over hers, massaging each white knuckle, she started to relax. Motionless, she savored his presence and the way the bicycle was purring against her thighs. Everything else evaporated, the sky, the earth, the green slopes that reached out to infinity. She was soaring like a kite.
A favorite passage:
She was terrified. Her pose was difficult to maintain, and her sweaty palms kept sliding off the metal handgrips. But her husband was valiant. He seemed to foresee her every movement, cradling her in his arms to ensure her safety. While the vehicle rolled along the dirt road, she could feel him edging closer from behind. His warm breath burned the nape of her neck, and she could feel his heart thumping against her spine, as though a wild sparrow, trapped inside his breast cage, were flapping its wings.
They reached an empty field outside the citadel. The late-afternoon sun burned a read hole in the blue sky. Before spread the hills, rolling and submissive, smooth as camel humps and covered with green grass. They were heading toward a mountain. Her husband's legs pedaled continuously as they climbed a soft path that seemed to lead them directly into the waiting sun. Then, before she could prepare herself, the ground dropped and she was looking down at a valley.
The wheels began to spin, slowly at first and then gaining speed. For second she believed she was falling through a crack in the earth. It seemed so undignified to scream, but she did not care. Her shout escaped in large invisible bubbles, instantly stolen by the rushing wind. When her husband reached out and closed his hands over hers, massaging each white knuckle, she started to relax. Motionless, she savored his presence and the way the bicycle was purring against her thighs. Everything else evaporated, the sky, the earth, the green slopes that reached out to infinity. She was soaring like a kite.
August 10, 2019
I enjoyed the epic multi generational tale of The Rice Mother and happening upon this book at the fifty cent pile, I took a chance and found an epic tale written by English as a first person writer. I loved the main character and his travails
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