Giller Prize winner this year. Mr. Bergen is a fellow Winnipegger, so for that alone he gets my attention. I had read The Case of Lena S and thought it great, but when his new book (this one) came out, the subject matter did not immediately appeal to me. I have to admit that being a "prize winner" is what made me change my mind to ask for it for Christmas. Lucky me, my Santa knows what pleases me and I found this under the tree.

Hmmm...This was a thoughtful and thought provoking read. Not a joyous book, but a book about being human and the effects of our actions; about cultural differences. My own personal recollections of the Vietnam war are about protest and draft dodgers. I've known draft dodgers but I don't think I know anyone who went to Vietnam. I enjoyed the movies, "The Deer Hunter" and "Apocalypse Now"; affected by their "sensationalism", I suppose. This book has affected me in a more intimate way evoking feelings of sadness (not boohoo sad but more a resigned acceptance of our human frailties).

I think it's time this book traveled; it's been sitting on my shelf for more than a year since I read it. Into Kimmi's Canadian Authors bookbox it goes.

I'm not familiar with David Bergen's work but hey, if you've won the Giller, that's enough of a recommendation for me. :) Looks very good. Thanks for including it in the box.

This book echoes with sorrow and tragedy. I felt that every character was in mourning for something, including those who weren't even sure what it was that was causing them pain. A sad but ultimately, I think, hopeful tale about loss and forgiveness. Thank you for sharing it.

Bringing this along to the Yellow Griffin today for HoserLauren.

Geisha brought this book just for me to the Toronto Meetup today. I've heard good things about this one so I'm interesting in reading it. Thanks Geisha!

Look, we all have maple leafs by our names!

Charles Boatman has carried around a secret with him about his time fighting in the Vietnam War his entire life and it has weighed heavily. During one of his missions, he shot and killed a Vietnamese boy. After reading a novel of a Vietnamese soldier, Charles decides to return to Vietnam, searching for closure. He soon goes missing and two of his children come to Vietnam to retrace his footsteps and try to find him.

Ada and Jon Boatman meet some of Charles friends. Ada grows close to Charles friends as she chases his shadow. Jon copes by delving into the gay urban nightlife. The authorities provide no help and both Ada and Jon feel like this is going to be a fruitless search.

This book won the Giller Prize and is follows the same formula that any prize winning book follows; authors trying to make themselves look smarter by using longer words, lots of similes, and being incredibly descriptive. This isn't my favourite kind of writing (if you couldn't tell). Unfortunately the past couple of Canadian books I've read I've found slow and hard to connect with the main characters. Is this a trend in Canadian literature of have I just picked up a series of wrong books?

I did enjoy the first half of the book. I felt like there was purpose and I could see where the book was going. However once the kids found their father, I didn't know how Bergen was going to make a story of the remaining 100 pages or so. That's where he lost me. Ada and Jon started behaving worse and worse and I started caring less and less. Then the book just ended. Not very fulfilling.

Mailed today to Ri from the Non Genre swap. Enjoy!

Thanks Lauren!

In an effort to pare down the massive TBR pile and be realistic about what I am going to read in the near future, this little book needs to get back on its traveling way!

To the lucky finder of this book...

Thank you for taking the time to visit us at Bookcrossing. If this is your first visit to our site...welcome & I'm sure you'll find it fun!

All over the world people are following their books travels through Book Crossing & by making an entry you will be helping keep this books unique traveling history up-to-date.

You can make your first journal entry about this book now! Just tell us where you found it....& don't worry about giving your name, you can remain anonymous.

When you’ve read it,why not come back here and let us know what you thought of it? Tell us what your plans for it are....is it being passed to someone else?...or maybe you're going to leave it for someone else to find - just like you did! Then, if you want to, you will be able to follow it's travels around the book loving world as well!

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Enjoy the book!