the deep green sea

In the midst of moving all our belongings to the Chung's garage and trying to efficiently pack one carry-on bag for three weeks in two completely different climates, I forgot to bring a book. So, on the long bicoastal flights, I turned to airline magazines (more for the crosswords than the articles) and Bejeweled (well, actually the free knock-off, Jewels). When I got home, however, I found some books purchased in college that still remain unread. I must have bought this one, The Deep Green Sea by Robert Olen, during my "Asian" literature phase, because on the shelf next to this one sits Memoirs of a Geisha, Snow Falling on Cedars, the Joy Luck Club and the Bonesetter's Daughter. Anyway, I never got around to reading it until now, and boy was it some adult stuff.

And by that I mean adult relations. And also maybe some child relations. And by saying that I am not giving away anything because the book is quite predictable. The book is told by Thien, the daughter of a Vietnamese prostitute, and Ben, a GI returning to Vietnam after several years of unhappiness in America. Both first-person narratives are poetic, but half the book takes place in Thien's bedroom, you know, where the adult relations happen. So yeah, it's basically a book about adult relations. And apparently, adult relations can get into some crazy stuff.