If I had not know otherwise, I would have thought the author was natively Vietnamese. Walmart # 558419960. $19.95. -- George Packer, The New York Times Book Review "Butler writes essentially, and in a bewitching translation of voice and sympathy, what it means to lose a country, to remember it, and to have the memory begin to grow old. This was something of a surprise to me, the first time I saw him beside my. Published The politics of the Vietnamese refugees continue after they have arrived in America, as their new home country looks to deal with the newly Communist united Vietnam. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain. Published: 5th May 2017 in English Literature. Yes, it is a collection of short stories. Titled after one of the stories, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, the collection won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. I had been transported to another world and I only realized this once those gigantic Southern bugs started to land on my page and I heard the faint whimper of my dog as she stared at me through the sliding glass doors—probably wondering what in the world I was doing sitting outdoors witho. I was excited to find a short story… I can hear him working on it. My oldest daughter leaves my shades open, I think so that I will not forget that the sun has … The narration is the best part of this book, narration by housewives, businessmen, soldiers, and grandchildren. In my lifetime I've read thousands of books, including many of the great classics of literature. It involves a grandfather, slowly dying, and seeing the vision of Ho Chi Minh , with whom he worked and lived. This was something of a surprise to me, the first time I saw him beside my. Despite its Pulitzer, this moving little collection of stories has sadly slipped beneath the average readers' radar. The Man I Killed is the focus of these two stories, there are people out there in these wars and when these two men focus on that. Now Grove Press is proud to reissue this contemporary classic by one of America's most important … It is known that this book A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain was a great success with the readers and even won the Pulitzer prize for fiction in 1993. New York: Henry Holt & Company. 249 pp. Some of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. Even before publication of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain,Butler had already established his reputation as a writer of Vietnam fiction. The author described the Vietnamese characters so gloomily. This is a unique short story anthology, as all the characters are connected, however tangentially, to the Vietnamese expatriate community near New Orleans. While a few of the stories read more like retellings of myths, they are still so unique and melodic that I give this a 5. When I heard it won the Pulitzer it gave me hope for the prizes, unlike some other selections. While most of the stories center around families who have resettled and rebuilt their lives in the United States after the war, there are also incredibly powerful stories from other perspectives--including the final, haunting story of an ex-American soldier, supposedly "MIA" for nearly twenty years, who has actually been buil. Such categorization displeased the author, who stated, “Artists get at deeper truths.” Some of Butler’s earlier works had also drawn criticism because he told the stories from a point of view that was not his own—that is, he took on the role of a Vietnamese person. They are the stories of Vietnamese refugees, written in first person by Robert Olen Butler, a white American. Includes two subsequently published stories that complete the collection's narrative journey, returning to the jungles of Vietnam. i went from story to story hoping for some level of interest to arise, but in succession, only disappoint was met, leaving a trail of wasted time. The writing felt like it was put through a strainer to become stiff and bland. A GOOD SCENT FROM A STRANGE MOUNTAIN By Robert Olen Butler. Poetic without being precious, sentimental without being maudlin, sensitive but far from enervated, these stories are a must-read landmark of literary humanity. Oddly, the story that had the strongest and most-likely-to-go-wrong voice (Fairy Tale) was the only one I liked. room for boredom in your life? Teaching A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Inside you'll find 30 Daily Lessons, 20 Fun Activities, 180 Multiple Choice Questions, 60 Short Essay Questions, 20 Essay Questions, Quizzes/Homework Assignments, Tests, and more. 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