10.10.2014

Book Review | The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith

STATS:
Author, Violet Kupersmith
Published, April 1, 2014
Publisher, Spiegel & Grau
Kindle edition, 256 pages

DESCRIPTION FROM GOODREADS:
Violet wrote these unusually accomplished stories as an undergraduate at Mt. Holyoke College in an attempt to update the traditional Vietnamese ghost stories her grandmother had told her to incorporate the more relevant ghosts of the aftermath of the Vietnam War on a generation of displaced Vietnamese immigrants as well as those who remained in Vietnam. From the story about a beautiful young woman who shows up thirsty in the bathtub of the Frangipani Hotel in Saigon many years after her first sighting there to a young woman in Houston who befriends an old Vietnamese man she discovers naked behind a dumpster to a truck driver asked to drive a young man with an unnamed ailment home to die, to the story of two American sisters sent to Vietnam to visit their elderly grandmother who is not what she appears to be, these stories blend the old world with the new while providing a new angle of insight into the after-effects of the war.

MY THOUGHTS:
I am not Vietnamese, so I have no idea what a traditional Vietnamese ghost story is supposed to be.  But I love a good ghost story and also books with the Vietnam War as a back drop.  So - I decided to give this book a try.
I have to say that I really enjoyed it.  Not all of the stories were set in Vietnam but they all were written about Vietnamese characters.  Some of the stories are very scary.  More than I thought they would be.
I usually read novels, but it was great to read a collection of short stories.  The stories were well written, interesting, and completely enjoyable.  I am impressed that this is a first novel or a very young woman.
If you are looking for short stories, ghost stories, or just an interesting vacation from novels and love stories, pick this book up.



I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.  All thoughts and opinions are mine.

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