So Nam Le's short story collection "The Boat" comes out today, and after reading it over the past month, it seems he's going to give Chris Adrian competition for best debut of 2008 (yes, I know Adrian's published before, but "A Better Angel" is his first collection). Le's got geographical range, that's for sure, both personally -- born in Vietnam, grew up in Australia, studied in the U.S. -- and in his fiction, which takes place in Iowa, Japan, Iran, Columbia, Vietnam. Aside from geography, there's also a wide range of genre. The first story, "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice," is a self-referential story with a character named Nam Le trying to write a story at Iowa, and deals with the nature and responsibilities of storytelling, while "Cartagena," involving child-assassins and grenades, takes on the mantle of an action tale, and the third story, "Meeting Elise," transitions into more of a domestic tale of an estranged father's relationship with his musical prodigy daughter.
The only place where the collection falters a bit is in the center, in the near-novella "Halflead Bay." The pace slows down in this story as Le addresses the domestic realm, of small-time exchanges against bullies and a teenage love interest, and this pales against the more ambitious stories surrounding it. But the collection as a whole has this big-hearted, adventurous spirit that isn't afraid to foray into territory with geopolitical repercussions.
There's a New York Times dinner-interview with him, and Luna Park also has a interview, more Q & A style.
Stumble It!
I read The Boat a couple weeks ago, and I can agree with what you said about the slowing down of Halfhead Bay. But I think it is a quieter story than the others. My take on Halfhead is that it's a boy who finally decides to take a stand instead of being the half-assed kid he'd been so far. People could discount the game-winning goal, but no one could say he backed down.
My review of The Boat and an interview with Nam Le is on my blog. :-D
Posted by: The Kool-Aid Mom | July 22, 2008 at 11:50 PM