Rating: 
Summary: Amazing writing
Review: I just loved the stories in this book. The characters are so convincing and distinct -- I was convinced that the author was a Vietnamese woman. Incredible, beautiful writing.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled by Butler's lesser works: this is a marvel
Review: I once lived in Southeast Asia and Butler comes closer than any author I've known(including me) to conveying the essence of my experience there. He's not telling my stories, but he crafts tales that are so *true* they could be mine. Yet he also manages to keep me exhilarated as a reader, not knowing where the author is leading me until I get there. The story "The Trip Back" is one of the most moving pieces of literature on earth. It is so finely written and emotionally detailed that I have searched unsuccessfully for years to find its match.I can't keep this book in the house because I keep giving it away to everyone I love. So, I'm off to buy another copy....
Rating: 
Summary: Depressing and Unsatisfying
Review: I read the first three stories, and since these were so unsatisfying, I read the title story as well. I still had hope. Thus, this review is deficient as I left the majority of stories in the book unread. I found the four stories I read depressing and unpleasant. Even considering only these stories, similar themes were repeated and one could anticipate that story endings would be quite disheartening. The author may well capture the feelings of Vietnamese immigrants to the US, but can these feelings be as depressing as they were presented? It is hard to understand the reason this won a Pulitzer, perhaps the committee was impressed with the description on a unique minority culture in the US. None-the-less this was a very disappointing book for me, one I would not recommend. In fairness, and considering the positive reviews, perhaps my experience, although I lived in Asia for a number of years, was not in resonance with the author's goals.
Rating:
Summary: extaordinary
Review: I want to respond the reviewer who complained that the writing was too subtle. That's an interesting complaint! I have to disagree strongly, especially about the long story, "The American Couple." This is long, too long to read when sleepy. But the effect accumulates nicely and is very moving. Butler's writing is often dead-on and creative. He has his lapses. Some of the shorter stories are not great, but the great ones (Mr. Green, Love, and the American Couple) are truly great.
Rating:
Summary: extaordinary
Review: I want to respond the reviewer who complained that the writing was too subtle. That's an interesting complaint! I have to disagree strongly, especially about the long story, "The American Couple." This is long, too long to read when sleepy. But the effect accumulates nicely and is very moving. Butler's writing is often dead-on and creative. He has his lapses. Some of the shorter stories are not great, but the great ones (Mr. Green, Love, and the American Couple) are truly great.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting in storytelling, with an amazing sense of actuality
Review: I was browsing through Pulitzer Prize winning books when I came upon this book. Admittedly, being a Vietnamese immigrant, I was very skeptical that a white man can ever capture the true experiences of the hardships of coming to America. I was quickly stunned at how some of the stories jumped right out of the pages and poured back into the back of my memories. It didn't seem like I was reading a fictional account of Vietnamese assimilation; it was more than that, it was as if I was reading into the history of my time in America. Most notably of all the stories in the collection is the story of the American soldier trying furiously to bring his Vietnamese wife and daughter to America. As you read through his letters and realize his intentions, you can't help but feel frustrated for this man. It is no surprise that this book was a Pulitzer winner. It is that good.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning & thought provoking
Review: I would give this wonderful collection of short stories more than 5 if I could. A stunning book made even more stunning by the fact that the writer is non-Vietnamese. You would not think as such; so much does Robert Olen Butler totally immerse himself into the trials and tribulations of a Vietnamese living, loving and suffering on the US shores. The highlight? 'Mr Green'. I never thought I would shed tears after a story about a cantankerous old parrot, but this one did it for me. Wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Superb story collection on the essence of the Vietnamese
Review: In 1993, this book won the Pulitzer - and somehow I'd never heard of it till recently. With great sensitivity, Robert Olen Butler introduces us to the colorful lives of Vietnamese immigrants in Louisiana. This collection of inter-related short stories are told in many different voices: housewives, pregnant woman, a lonely businessman - and we grow to care about each one as a unique individual. Butler's writing in the voice of people of another culture feels so authentic because he served with army intelligence in Vietnam in 1971 and worked as an interpreter to Saigon's mayor.
Terrific collection.
Rating: 
Summary: An amazing peek into the lives of Other People
Review: In this collection of somewhat similar stories, Butler ranges from the comic to the tragic. All the characters are Vietnamese Americans living in Louisiana, and Butler did his homework. He's so conversant with the customs and histories of his characters the book reads, in places, like an anthropological study. Highly recommended collection of short stories. A nice break if you've been gorging on Carver or one of the other American blacklung writers.
Rating:
Summary: A bird's eye, Anglo's view of exiled Vietnamese-Americans.
Review: Interesting vignettes of the exiled Vietnamese experience in Louisiana. Centered on refugees with living memory of Vietnam but who have adapted fairly well to life in the US. Obviously Mr. Butler knows the Vietnamese outlook and psyche and I would bet spent time in Vietnam before the fall. Some of the stories border on strange and some are delightful. Worth reading.P
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