New American Library, September 2009
Dragon House marks John Shors' third novel, after Beneath a Marble Sky and Beside a Burning Sea. Each novel has moved forward in time from Moghul India to World War Two to the present. A fourth novel is due for release in September 2010, The Wishing Tree. All of his novels have been set in some corner of Asia. Each has deftly caught the milieu and language of its setting.
Iris Rhodes' father has just died. He fought in Vietnam and came home mind-injured and seldom present for his daughter. Now he has asked her to give up her life (Iris reviews books and writes articles for a living.) and move to Vietnam to open the Iris Rhodes Center for Street Children, which he founded in partial expiation for his actions during the war. She has come to Vietnam to get it underway and to try to come to terms with her father.
Dragon House marks John Shors' third novel, after Beneath a Marble Sky and Beside a Burning Sea. Each novel has moved forward in time from Moghul India to World War Two to the present. A fourth novel is due for release in September 2010, The Wishing Tree. All of his novels have been set in some corner of Asia. Each has deftly caught the milieu and language of its setting.
Iris Rhodes' father has just died. He fought in Vietnam and came home mind-injured and seldom present for his daughter. Now he has asked her to give up her life (Iris reviews books and writes articles for a living.) and move to Vietnam to open the Iris Rhodes Center for Street Children, which he founded in partial expiation for his actions during the war. She has come to Vietnam to get it underway and to try to come to terms with her father.
Noah, whose leg was amputated as a result of the war in Iraq, comes with her. He no longer feels whole and is fighting the demons of constant physical and psychological pain. His counterpoint is Sahn who fought against the Americans in Vietnam and, as a result of injuries, is slowly losing his sight. As a policeman who patrols the area that includes the center, he must hide his failing sight and come to terms with these Americans now in his midst. His lingering animosity reflects the feelings of many Americans toward the Japanese after World War II, proving once again that we share so many things across generations and cultures.
Thien is the manager of the center who knows how to get things done in the right way. Her quiet singing calms everyone. In many ways, she is the heart of the center, the angel around whom all the characters circle. She brings Qui and her granddaughter Tam into the center. Qui's daughter has gone to Thailand to earn money; at least that is what she tells Tam who is dying of leukemia.
Minh's hand was amputated as a young child. Seldom talking, he plays Connect Four for $1 per game, and his sister Mai sells fans. Their "conversations" are a highlight, both emblematic of the cruelty of life on the streets and the enduring power of the human spirit. Most of the money they earn goes to Loc, but they are holding some back to escape. Loc's amoral cruelty controls a number of children whose money allows him to visit opium dens every day for 8 years. Loc realizes that he must not allow these two children to ally with Dragon House.
Thien is the manager of the center who knows how to get things done in the right way. Her quiet singing calms everyone. In many ways, she is the heart of the center, the angel around whom all the characters circle. She brings Qui and her granddaughter Tam into the center. Qui's daughter has gone to Thailand to earn money; at least that is what she tells Tam who is dying of leukemia.
Minh's hand was amputated as a young child. Seldom talking, he plays Connect Four for $1 per game, and his sister Mai sells fans. Their "conversations" are a highlight, both emblematic of the cruelty of life on the streets and the enduring power of the human spirit. Most of the money they earn goes to Loc, but they are holding some back to escape. Loc's amoral cruelty controls a number of children whose money allows him to visit opium dens every day for 8 years. Loc realizes that he must not allow these two children to ally with Dragon House.
The dragon is an Asian symbol of good luck rather than the terrible lizard of western mythology. Monsters may rule the underworld, but dragons exist above. They come in many forms - sick children, street kids, even Americans and some crime bosses - but they are all loyal and pure in their particular way and will protect the world from darkness. Halong Bay (Bay of the Descending Dragons, near Hanoi) is where the Vietnamese believe dragons came down and spit out jade to form islands, thereby protecting Vietnam from the invading Chinese army in ancient days. Thien believes that Mai and Minh, who have been taken into the center, are somehow the dragons who will protect them.
This novel of redemption, reconciliation, and love is told in a more straightforward manner, the language less flowery than in his two previous novels. Shors' use of language in each novel has fit the situation. Here, the more direct presentation appropriately reveals the grimy underworld of those homeless kids who populate the streets of too many cities across the world. He has woven the many threads of this novel into a marvelous story that is not to be missed. His characterizations are richly drawn, never falling into the mundane. Within the many facets of this beautiful novel is an underlying question: What if countries invested more in children rather than in the elements of war? Shors does not preach and let the answer get in the way of the story; rather it quietly reinforces.
This novel of redemption, reconciliation, and love is told in a more straightforward manner, the language less flowery than in his two previous novels. Shors' use of language in each novel has fit the situation. Here, the more direct presentation appropriately reveals the grimy underworld of those homeless kids who populate the streets of too many cities across the world. He has woven the many threads of this novel into a marvelous story that is not to be missed. His characterizations are richly drawn, never falling into the mundane. Within the many facets of this beautiful novel is an underlying question: What if countries invested more in children rather than in the elements of war? Shors does not preach and let the answer get in the way of the story; rather it quietly reinforces.
An interview with Shors and a readers' guide conclude the book. Few authors have gone to the lengths that Shors has to connect with readers. He has spoken to more than 1,500 book clubs, generally by telephone. He will do the same with Dragon House. His first two novels have been translated into more than twenty languages. Continuing to travel extensively in Asia, he now lives in Colorado with his wife and two children.
