Huong believes that, of her grandmother's children, the youngest was the luckiest, and emerged from the war OK. Do you agree with her? Why or why not?

Huong believes that, of her grandmother's children, the youngest (her uncle Sáng) was the luckiest, and emerged from the war OK. Do you agree with her? Why or why not?

I do not agree. I think Sang had a very difficult life. He lost his baby to the affects of agent orange and he and his wife separated because of this. I felt he was very lonely and misunderstood.

I don't necessarily think he had a harder life, I think forsaking your family for a political position can have it's own dark places within the soul. I think all of the characters were heavily impacted by the war and he had his own demons to deal with. I do however think that out of all of them, he was the most blind to the suffering of those around him and that made him a more selfish character.
Boy, learning more about agent orange and it's ravaging effects sure hit me hard in this book.

I agree with previous comments about Sang and his life. Houng may feel that he is the luckiest of the Tan family children, but he has actually lost everything human for the sake of a political stance.
In order to maintain his status in the post-war Communist Party, Sang must disavow his family and surviving friends, hide his own personal history, and live a life dictated by the Party. He has given up his culture, the beliefs with which he was raised, and the freedom to come and go as he pleases. His life is a shell which contains nothing but sadness and deceit.

I agree with the others, I don’t feel that Sang was the luckiest. I don’t really understand why Huong believes this. She is certainly smart enough to see the impacts on him as a result of his choices.

i want not sure why Huong believed this either, but now I a wondering if it is because he always had his mother with him when he was young. I think Huong really regretted now having her mother around when she was growing up, even though she deeply loved and appreciated her grandmother.

Even though it may have seemed that Sang was the luckiest family member, his demons were very demanding.

I think the fact that he had to forsake his immediate relatives in order to conform to the Party was ghastly. He did not have the full picture in mind; he had no idea how the others had suffered in their aiming for success.

I feel he lost so much; he left the family circle: he left his basic reasons for feeling and living well.

I think as many of the others do. Sang led avery sad and lonely life for the sake of an ideal he did not understand. I to think he was a very unlucky and vulnerable person .

Sang was only the luckiest child when Grandma made her escape. As an adult, he chose a path that led to estrangement from his family. But, good luck is inside bad luck (Grandma said something like that) and after the loss of his wife and child, he found his good luck again with his Grandma and siblings.

I had never actually thought much about how the Communists of the last century had to choose between their ideals and family.

No one emerged unscathed by the war. The destruction affected everyone. The terrors of war and the aftermath of those terrors continue to be problems.

Sang was seemingly not affected by the war--he had seemed to exist in a separate entity. Yet, I believe a part of him recognizes that the war had made an impact. However, this feeling might never really surface.