Comments on: Conjurer of Destinies: Review of Monique Truong’s BITTER IN THE MOUTH

By: Thuy Dinh

Thuy Dinh — Sat, 07 May 2011 19:37:05 +0000

Dear le0pard13, Shell Sherree and Naomi Johnson,

Thank you all so much for your comments on my review. It’s been awhile so I apologize for not responding sooner. Monique Truong’s novel isn’t an easy read, or something you would categorize as “escapism fiction,” so I appreciate the time that you all took to read my review.

Take care,

Thuy

By: Thuy Dinh

Thuy Dinh — Sat, 07 May 2011 19:28:36 +0000

Dear Patsy,

Thank you so much for your nice comments. I hope your Book Club discussion on Bitter in the Mouth was exciting and memorable to all involved (assuming it already happened). I think your description of Monique Truong’s novel as a “philosophical biography” is especially apt. Ms. Truong’s literary approach probably has more kinship with European authors and philosophers than American ones. I think our American literary tradition on the whole tends to be less introspective.

Best,

Thuy Dinh

By: Pop Culture Nerd

Pop Culture Nerd — Sat, 07 May 2011 17:45:56 +0000

Thanks so much for your comment, Patsy. I’ve forwarded it to Thuy.

By: Patsy

Patsy — Fri, 06 May 2011 02:41:33 +0000

Finished the book a few days ago and was wondering how to summarize it for book club. Thuy has done a beautiful job of that. Wanted to share a few of Truong’s novel reads like a philosophical biography of sorts. Reflecting on her mother’s hairdo of 1979, Linda states, “If it had happened now, I would have understood that when a woman changed her hairdo, it was a signal that something else has altered inside.” I’ve done this, but didn’t know everyone did. I also lived her memory and amazement about 7 year olds, tangerines and dads.
The funeral home based activities were colorful, comical and descriptive. Ex: “occasional bouts of coffin clinging (a performance of love enacted by widows, as men were socialized from birth to let go).” Linda says, “We all want a way to know were we should be in the world.” Then she mentions parking spaces, tea leaves, playing cards and the lines on our palms – to that I would add widespread interest in Ouija board games, seances, and horoscopes. Linda maintains a certain equilibrium in spite of a mindgame she cannot control that would have turned me, a people person, into an irritable isolate.

By: Naomi Johnson

Naomi Johnson — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 02:19:01 +0000

Sounds fascinating, especially the way the author uses the words to have different levels of meaning.

By: Shell Sherree

Shell Sherree — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:37:58 +0000

Thank you, Thuy ~ your review is as fascinating as this book looks to be.

By: le0pard13

le0pard13 — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:19:59 +0000

Wonderful review, Thuy. This sounds like an intriguing novel, and a gifted author in Monique Truong. Thank you for this.