Behind the Red Mist: FictionBehind the Red Mist gives us for the first time in English a wide range of stories from the most important writer of the post-war generation in Vietnam. The characters range from a party official who turns into a goat while watching porno movies, to an Indian who carries his mother's bones in his knapsack, to a war widow trying desperately to piece together her life through the fragments of debris she collects from her back yard. The title novella "Behind the Red Mist" is a Vietnamese "Back To the Future", a social satire in which a young man in the Hanoi of the eighties receives an electric shock and is transported back to his same apartment block in 1967 wartime Vietnam during the American bombing. He not only witnesses the war with the eyes of someone who knows its outcome, but participates in his parents' courtship and discovers some truths about the generation held up to his own as a role model. |
Contents
The Indian | 24 |
A Sigh Through the Laburnums | 45 |
The Chase | 60 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Amar American Ananda Anh Thai asked began bicycle Bien boat bombs brother building bunker clothes cold dance daughter Do's Doi Moi door Duyen everything eyes face factory father feel felt front girl goat goodbye Govinda grandmother Hai Phong hand Hanoi Hanoian head heard Ho Chi Minh Hong husband Indian inside jumped Kitty knew laburnum leave live look married Meadow Housing Minh morning Neelam Nguyen Nguyen Qui Duc night once parents pulled quickly Ravi Red Mist red-banner river rupees Sabana scream seemed Shiva silent sitting someone staring stood stopped story street suddenly Tan's temple Thach thought Tinh told took tree Trinh turned Uncle Dang venomous snake Vietnam Vietnamese village Virgin Goddess voice waiting walked wanted watching Wayne Karlin wife woman worried Yen's mother young