Dragonfish bookcover

Dragonfish

Vu Tran 

(Author)
4.9/5.0
21,000+ Reviews
Bookshop.org has the highest-rated customer service of any bookstore in the world

Description

Robert, an Oakland cop, still can't let go of Suzy, the mysterious Vietnamese wife who left him. Now she's disappeared from her new husband, Sonny, a violent smuggler who blackmails Robert into finding her. Searching for Suzy in the sleek and seamy gambling dens of Las Vegas, Robert finds himself also chasing the past that haunts her--one that extends back to Vietnam and a refugee camp in Malaysia, and forward to Suzy's estranged daughter, a poker shark now taking the future into her own hands.

Product Details

PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
Publish DateAugust 02, 2016
Pages320
LanguageEnglish
TypeBook iconPaperback / softback
EAN/UPC9780393352870
Dimensions8.2 X 5.4 X 0.8 inches | 0.6 pounds

About the Author

Vu Tran was born in Saigon, Vietnam, and raised in Oklahoma. He is the winner of a Whiting Award, and his short stories have appeared in many publications, including The O. Henry Prize Stories and The Best American Mystery Stories. He teaches creative writing at the University of Chicago.

Reviews

[A] hard-hitting debut novel.... [Suzy is] a mystery no one can solve, particularly the people turning all their efforts in the wrong direction. But while their efforts aren't fruitful, they're absorbing. And they speak to the way everyone is a bit of an enigma to other people, no matter how many words they put into the effort to be understood.-- "NPR Books"
A sophisticated mystery anchored in one woman's quest to make amends with the daughter she abandoned, Dragonfish delicately capsizes our notions of what it means to long for escape from the prisons of our own making.-- "Ploughshares"
A superb debut novel...that takes the noir basics and infuses them with the bitters of loss and isolation peculiar to the refugee and immigrant tale.--Maureen Corrigan "NPR's Fresh Air"
Everything is perfect there, those quiet little garnishes of idiosyncratic detail are gifts, both amusing and full of character. Tran's novel is filled with this sort of inspired meticulousness, and reading it is to enter its world.-- "Barnes & Noble Review"
Heartbreaking and haunting.-- "BuzzFeed"
Like Gatsby, the characters in Tran's novel yearn for something unattainable...This and the feeling that there will only be a tragic end are what elevate Dragonfish beyond its bookstore genre.-- "Los Angeles Review of Books"
Splendid...will quickly engage you with its suspenseful story of marital discord, told in duplicate, and set largely in Las Vegas...A dark and gripping story, Dragonfish will keep you reading, out of fear that if you stop, you will never truly surface.--Anne Morris "Dallas Morning News"
Transfixing...Like such writers as Caryl Phillips, Dinaw Mengestu and Edwidge Danticat, [Tran] is devoted to capturing the immigrant experience and widening everyone's understanding of its particular as well as universal truths.--Lloyd Sachs "Chicago Tribune"
Well-handled and tautly told...[A] strong first novel for its risk taking, for its collapsing of genre, for its elegant language and its mediation of a history that is integral to post-1960s American identity yet often ignored.--Chris Abani "New York Times Book Review"
Absolutely gripping. Vu Tran has written a terrific--and deceptively weird--novel that manages to make Vietnam and Las Vegas feel like old, familiar friends. Don't call him a writer to watch. Call him a writer to read.--Tom Bissell, author of The Father of All Things

Earn by promoting books

Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.sign up to affiliate program link
Become an affiliate