Indochine

Nina is a rich, privileged girl until her house is bombed and her parents killed and she finds herself out on the streets with nothing left. Her struggle to survive, her connections with surprising people and the twists of the plot make this a great read. Atmospheric and haunting.

Vivid characters and a compelling story. Having grown up during the Vietnam War Era, this gave me a whole different perspective on the country, politics and history of Vietnam than I had before reading this book. I would highly recommend it.

The print is too smal to even be read with aid of magnifying glass. I sent it to Goodwill and bought hardcover.

The book and movie share almost nothing in common. The book is a gritty, accurate story about a young woman who struggles to win the approval of her father, although in a very illegal way. It has romance, violence, intrigue and suspense. My wife loved it. I thought it was too long at 581 hardback pages. Some of the violence scenes were hard to read. This book is a good sample of what it REALLY was like in 1950's and '60's Vietnam.

I think this is the most captivating story I've ever been lucky enough to stumble across. I can't believe some of the reviews I've read! Racist?? We're talking about French colonial Viet Nam. Those were racist times, but in no way does the author hint to French or American superiority. Anyway, I'd highly recommend this book to anyone, and I recommend that all you Philistines thicken up a bit and stop getting your feelings hurt so easily.

I bought this book in the used bookstore because I thought it was the written version of the movie "Indochine", starring Catherine Denevue, which I love. Instead, the only similarity was the Vietnam setting, although both are must read/ see. The book was written in beautiful detail. It was the story of Nina, a young woman of half French and half Viatnemese heritage in the era of the Vietnam war. Their family house was bombed by one of his father's enemies. Her mother died and her father vanished, leaving her to struggle to live by herself. She didn't know who her friends and enemies were. Her life was in a constant danger. It is a very lively book and one of my favorite books.

In order to make editorial comments on a piece of writing, one must be able to understand what one is reading. The passage about a 'copulating man getting murdered' is out of context. Raoul Costas was killed after he and Ariane had passed out from smoking opium. An Annamite mudered the French pedophile for self-preservation, and for the purpose of continuing his goal of fighting the occupiers, and reuniting the country. This is a vast and sweeping epic that never slows down, at the same time reminding us precisely if not painfully, what life was like in Indochina between 1954-1965. It's also about identity, justice, and transformation. Is it perfect? No, but is that really a standard by which to judge a great work?

LikeYance Freeman, I loved the book. I found Indochine to be a stirring, panoramic story of a cultural tragedy but a triumph of the human spirit.