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Lucy's ability to kick-start our collective imagination isn't limited to envisaging people. We feel the humidity and almost smell the small claustrophobic hut Hahn shares with her invalid mother (a phrase that's culturally correct for the setting, if not sounding politically correct to us). Having said that, there are also vestiges of hope that serve to prevent our vicarious despair and encourage us to turn the pages avariciously.
The book blurb compares ''The Trader'' to Tea Obreht's award winning [[The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht|The Tiger's Wife]] but for me ''The Trader'' is more accessible. Effective in its apparent simplicity while creating a sense of shock as we watch the prey and the hunters. If you'd like a comparison it's more like [[Ru by Kim Thuy and Sheila Fischman (translator)|Ru by Kim Thuy]] which is another compliment to Lucy's empathy considering that ''Ru'' is written from personal experience.
The Vietnamese war may have been something that powers such as the Americans and Australians couldn't win but in this novel we're shown the peacetime fight of the indigenous people took part in on a daily basis once the war correspondents' cameras were turned off. Two different conflicts perhaps, but each, as Lucy shows us, equally as strewn with casualties.
If this appeals and you'd like to read more about life in Vietnam before and after the fighting, we just as heartily recommend [[Ru by Kim Thuyand Sheila Fischman (translator)|Ru]].
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[[Category:Literary Fiction]]
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