The Eaves Of Heaven: A Life in Three Wars

Scenes of ethereal beauty alternate with violent upheavals in this atmospheric memoir. Andrew X. Pham tells the story of his father's life in small, dreamy sequences, skipping about through time masterfully. Once the scion of an old wealthy family, Thong Van Pham watched his fortune, his country, and his life disintegrate across a 30-year period of Vietnamese history. His son eulogizes this life with consummate artistry, capturing the intermittent joys--a toothsome meal, a nourishing book--that run through this life of loss and hardship, creating in the process a unique and moving chronicle of 20th-century Vietnam.

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