num_pages: 272
description: A stunningly inventive deeply moving fiction debut: stories that take us from the slums of Colombia to the streets of Tehran; from New York City to Iowa City; from a tiny fishing village in Australia to a foundering vessel in the South China Sea in a masterly display of literary virtuosity and feeling.In the magnificent opening story Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice a young writer is urged by his friends to mine his fathers experiences in Vietnamand what seems at first a satire of turning ones life into literary commerce becomes a transcendent exploration of homeland and the ties between father and son. Cartagena provides a visceral glimpse of life in Colombia as it enters the mind of a fourteen-year-old hit man facing the ultimate test. In Meeting Elise an aging New York painter mourns his bodys decline as he prepares to meet his daughter on the eve of her Carnegie Hall debut. And with graceful symmetry the final title story returns to Vietnam to a fishing trawler crowded with refugees where a young womans bond with a mother and her small son forces both women to a shattering decision.Brilliant daring and demonstrating a jaw-dropping versatility of voice and point of view The Boat is an extraordinary work of fiction that takes us to the heart of what it means to be human and announces a writer of astonishing gifts.
language: English
title: The Boat
publisher: Knopf