Book Summary and Reviews of The Boat by Nam Le

The Boat by Nam Le

The Boat

by Nam Le

  • Critics' Consensus (1):
  • Published:
  • May 2008, 240 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

A stunningly inventive, deeply moving fiction debut: stories that take us from the slums of Colombia to the streets of Tehran; from New York City to Iowa City; from a tiny fishing village in Australia to a foundering vessel in the South China Sea, in a masterly display of literary virtuosity and feeling.

Brilliant, daring, and demonstrating a jaw-dropping versatility of voice and point of view, The Boat is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human, and announces a writer of astonishing gifts.

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Name three nonfiction books you absolutely loved and would recommend
Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown How We Learn to Be Brave by Bishop Mariann Budde Devil in the White City by Erik Larson Runners-Up: Notes From a Small Island & Walk in the Woods, both by Bill Bryson
-Carol_Ann_Robb

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Starred Review. Taken together, the stories cover a vast geographic territory and are filled with exquisitely painful and raw moments of revelation, captured in an economical style as deft as it is sure." - Publishers Weekly.

"Ironically, and slyly, with a nod to the opening story, the final piece, which gives the book its name, is an imaginative reconstruction of what it felt like to be a boat person, to launch into a 12-day journey with no foreseeable end. Consummately self-assured." - Kirkus Reviews.

"Le writes rawly rigorous stories that capture entire worlds; each character is distinctive and fully fleshed out, each plot eventful as a full-length novel but artfully compressed. Highly recommended." - Library Journal.

This information about The Boat was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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More Information

Le was born in Vietnam and immigrated to Australia

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