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There are currently 18 member reviews
for The Headmaster's Wager
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Jerry P. (Santa Rosa, CA)
The Transformation of a Self-centered Businessman
I enjoyed Vincent Lam's book and highly recommend it. His characters are complex people who are trying to survive in a hellish war-torn country where "man's inhumanity to man" is part of daily life. I should mention there were some violent scenes that were gut wrenching.
The main character- Percival Chen- is the Headmaster of a Chinese-run English school in Cholon, a suburb of Saigon, South Vietnam and is a wealthy businessman who is detached from Vietnamize culture and the conflict spreading between North and South Vietnam. He is very effective in obtaining favors from his political contacts through the skillful use of bribes. Additionally, he is a womanizer who is addicted to the thrill of gambling. His complacent life changes when his son angers officials by refusing to speak Vietnamize and is incarcerated. Chen's life then begins to change during his struggles to free his son.
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Eileen P. (Pittsford, NY)
Extraordinary debut
Vincent Lam’s masterful story about the Chinese experience in Vietnam from 1966 to 1975 is both an exploration of the dangers of nationalism and a testimony to the power of love. It captures how difficult it is to know how political/world events are going to end and what we can do to protect ourselves and those we love. I found it to be both captivating and heartbreaking. It would be an outstanding discussion book.
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chetyarbrough.com
Best Seller
Vincent Lam, the son of parents and grandparents that lived in an expatriate Chinese community in Vietnam, is especially suited to write “The Headmaster’s Wager”. Lam’s stories of a Chinese’ minority’s existence in Vietnam has bell ringing clarity and concrete believability in “The Headmaster’s Wager”.
Percival Chen is an entrepreneur who chooses to ignore political reality by following whatever political rules exist in the country in which he lives. Percival lives and prospers as a hedonistic owner of an English language company during the American occupation of Vietnam. He teaches in his own school and schemes to become a preferred language school at the time when Americans endeavor to win the hearts and minds of the indigenous population. (How similar that sounds to America’s efforts in Iraq.) Percival is also a problem gambler that risks everything for the thrill of winning. The main character of Lam’s novel makes anyone that has gambled recognize the thrill of wagering all one has--to change one’s luck. Percival copes with Vietnamese discrimination, Vietcong brutality, and American ineptitude to survive and prosper in his adopted county.
“The Headmaster’s Wager” is a journey of imagination, grounded by tales told to the author in his research of the Lam family’s fascinating history. This is a nicely written book that will entertain casual readers, gamblers, male chauvinists, war critics, and Maoist China haters; “The Headmaster’s Wager” should rise to the top of the “New York Times” best seller list.
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Linda G. (Walnut Creek, CA)
Thrilled to have the chance to read this!
I absolutely LOVED Vincent Lam's novel "The Headmaster's Wager"! I can honestly say it is the best book I've read so far this year! In reading the synopsis of it, it sounded right up my alley, and it did not disappoint.
The novel focuses mainly on a Chinese man living in Cholon, Vietnam during the 60's when he was headmaster of an English Academy. It also touches on the history of both China and Vietnam during that time period, in prose that is both vivid and exciting, giving the book a wonderful sense of place and culture. However, the thing that really pulled me into the story were its characters. So real, and so human, though somewhat flawed, I still found myself immensely involved in their worlds. Characters so well drawn that I missed them when away from the book. Headmaster Chen especially, since he learns so many difficult and life altering lessons, causing him to wager much over the course of his life. But it's the twist near the end of the story, where he is forced to learn what's most valuable to him, leading to the ultimate sacrifice that nearly took my breath away. There's several scenes in the book that, though disturbing, were so carefully wrought and beautifully portrayed that I had to read them over a second time, in spite of the gut punch feeling that left me breathless the first time!
A gorgeously written epic of a fathers' love for his son that haunts me still. I can't wait to recommend this book to friends and family!
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Jen W. (Denver, CO)
A Sure Bet for a Great Read
The Headmaster's Wager is a well-crafted, deeply engaging book - one that I read in only two sittings because it was that hard to put it down.
Reading a novel where the story is about an individual paying little attention to the war unless it served his business opportunities provided a whole new perspective on both the Vietnam War and how individuals deal with political events around them. Percival served as a striking metaphor for societies that ignore human events around them in service of their own interests. Lam makes Percival's character aptly complex, so it was easy to be drawn completely into his life and understand his motivations. His love for his son, coupled with his continued choices to ignore events around him, made him a character that I couldn't easily turn away from. Lam's coupling of Percival with the character Mak, who operated from totally different motivations, made the story far from superficial or trite.
This is my favorite book of the summer. It is one I will recommend to my picky reader friends. I also promptly ordered his other book because his writing is so terrific.
The writing is very strong: compelling, authentic and highly interesting.
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Susan B. (Sarasota, FL)
Reality in Vietnam
Perceval Chen has a story to tell of being Chinese in Vietnam. He arrives there to find his father and life takes him along a path of being headmaster in a school teaching English to students who then become translators for the Americans in Vietnam.
The book is well written and the characters well developed as the author brings us into this life, its reality and perceived reality. While I thought it started slowly by the end I couldn't put it down. A real tale of complexity and love, gain and loss, risk taking and rewards or lost wagers. Seen thru the eyes of those who experienced a war from the point of where they lived and made their lives is enriching reading for all.
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Daniel H. (Oak Lawn, IL)
A worthy read
It took me well into the middle of the book to come to care for Headmaster Chen. He is a very flawed, though not actually evil, character, whose bad life choices are instrumental in his undoing. That said, I came to like him more, when he fell unintentionally in love. As outside forces, in the form of Vietnam war sequelae, destroyed his status quo, the Headmaster became one of the many whose lives ware turned upside down, resulting in difficult choices in order to survive. Ultimately, I liked the book and story, though I would hardly call it a "must" read.
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