The Lotus and the Storm

Praise for Monkey Bridge

"An impressive debut . . . Cao has joined writers like Salman Rushdie and Bharati Mukherjee in mapping the state of exile and its elusive geography of loss and hope."
--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"Western readers are fortunate to have Cao contribute to the modest body of work that goes beyond wartime and reaches for Vietnam's lush heart. . . . It is the splendid poetry of Monkey Bridge that provides an emotional and visual illustration of what it means to be human."
--Chicago Tribune

"Lyrical and subtle."
--Los Angeles Times

"Cao crafts a novel of eminent interest . . . evocative in detail and poignant in its portrayal of the plight of war refugees."
--The Boston Globe

"This powerful and insightful book is a bona fide first both for its author and for American publishing, the initial novel about the war and its aftermath written by a Vietnamese American."
--Seattle Post-Intelligencer

"Depicts generational angst worthy of an Amy Tan novel . . . Cao has a distinctive style that's subtle and engaging. . . . She excels at memorializing, conveying ironies in the simplest details."
--Salon

"Weaving modern Vietnamese history, cultural traditions, and folktales into a semiautobiographical novel of immigrant experience, this deeply felt novel marks a strong new voice in Asian-American fiction. . . . Cao evokes mother and daughter beautifully, yet obliquely, illuminating their guilt over having survived the war. Vietnam comes alive with a beauty and mystery rarely seen in novels published here."
--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"One of the finest dramatizations of the experiences of Vietnamese refugees in the U.S. Lan herself was airlifted out of Saigon in 1975, and she has transformed her prismatic memories into a stunning and powerful drama. . . . Much of Lan's tale evokes classic immigrant quandaries, but her vivid characters have the added burden of being perceived as the enemy in a shameful war, a twist Lan explores with exquisite sensitivity."
--Booklist (starred review)

"Heartfelt evocations of a different time and place . . . beautifully rendered."
--Kirkus Reviews

"With incredible lightness, balance, and elegance, Cao crosses over an abyss of pain, loss, separation, and exile, connecting on one level the opposite realities of Vietnam and North America, and on a deeper level the realities of the material world and the world of the spirits."
--Isabel Allende

"A memoir in the form of a novel, Monkey Bridge is a perceptive and poignant account of a young Vietnamese refugee's adjustment to America. Exquisitely written, it tells more about the tragic Vietnam War than most histories."
--Stanley Karnow, author of Vietnam: A History

"How wonderful to hear a voice from that remarkable generation of postwar Vietnamese immigrants who are encountering our culture in fresh and direct ways. Even more wonderful is this writer Lan Cao, a genuine literary talent. Monkey Bridge is a sad, wise, and provocative book."
--Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain and A Small Hotel


Praise for The Lotus and the Storm

"Written with acute psychological insight and poetic flair, this deeply moving novel illuminates the ravages of war as experienced by a South Vietnamese family. In a rewarding follow-up to her well-received debut, Monkey Bridge, the author returns to the conflict that shaped her own destiny before she was airlifted from her native Saigon to live in Virginia. Here, she shows what happens to a family of four--a South Vietnamese airborne commander, his beautiful wife and their two young daughters--as the war challenges loyalties with betrayals. . . . A novel that humanizes the war in a way that body counts and political analyses never will."
--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"For all that has been written about the Vietnam War, little has come from the perspective of the South Vietnamese whose lives were shattered in the conflict. Cao looks to rectify that imbalance in this complex tale of a father and daughter who fled to America, forever marked by the war and its aftermath. . . . Evocative and elegiac, The Lotus and the Storm is a stunning accomplishment."
--Booklist (starred review)

"It is when she describes moments of surprising intimacy that Cao shines. . . . She chronicles her characters' lives with clarity and suspense."
--Publishers Weekly

"The Lotus and the Storm is part beautiful family saga, part coming-of-age story, part love story, but above all a searing indictment of the American campaign in Vietnam and its incalculable toll on generations past and future. A powerful read from start to end."
--Khaled Hosseini, author of The Kite Runner

"A profoundly moving novel about the shattering effects of war on a young girl, her family, and her country. Lan Cao brings Saigon's past vividly to life through the eyes of Mai, following the girl and her father halfway around the world to a suburb in Virginia, where forty years later, Mai's trauma unravels. In this fractured world where old wars, loves, and losses live on, The Lotus and the Storm is a passionate testament to the truth that the past is the present--inseparable, inescapable, enduring."
--Ruth Ozeki, author of A Tale for the Time Being

"A heartwrenching and heartwarming epic about war and love, hurt and healing, losing and rediscovering homelands. Lan Cao dramatizes landmark battles in the Vietnam War and the toll such battles take on winners and losers. The Lotus and the Storm establishes Lan Cao as a world-class writer."
--Bharati Mukherjee, author of Jasmine

"Lan Cao is not only one of the finest of the American writers who sprang from and profoundly understand the war in Vietnam and the Vietnamese diaspora, but also one of our finest American writers, period. The Lotus and the Storm is a brilliant novel that illuminates the human condition shared by us all."
--Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain


Praise for Monkey Bridge

"An impressive debut . . . Cao has joined writers like Salman Rushdie and Bharati Mukherjee in mapping the state of exile and its elusive geography of loss and hope."
--Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

"With incredible lightness, balance, and elegance, Lan Cao crosses over an abyss of pain, loss, separation and exile, connecting on one level the opposite realities of Vietnam and North America, and on a deeper level the realities of the material world and the world of the spirits."
--Isabel Allende