Grass Roof, Tin Roof - by Dao Strom (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In this stunning novel about a Vietnamese family resettling in the isolation of California gold country, Dao Strom investigates the myth of westward progress and the consequences of cultural displacement.

Told from multiple perspectives and interwoven with the intimate reflections of a middle child, Grass Roof, Tin Roof begins with the story of Tran, a Vietnamese writer facing government persecution, who flees her homeland during the exodus of 1975 and brings her two children to the West. Here she marries a Danish American man who has survived a different war. He promises understanding and guidance, but the psychic consequences of his past soon hinder his relationships with the family. The children, for whom the war is now a distant shadow, struggle to understand the world around them on their own terms.

In delicate, innovative prose, Strom's characters experience the collision of cultures and the spiritual aftermath of war on the most visceral level. Grass Roof, Tin Roof is a beautiful work of profundity and empathy, powerful emotion and rare insight.

Review Quotes

"Strom explores the mysteries of loss, culture and identity, with skill, poignancy and imagination." The Detroit Free Press

"A vigorous accomplishment - and a rewardinly complex one...It feels like the work of a major writer." The Seattle Times

"Fine debut novel..." The Miami Herald

"Impressionistic novel...an affecting study on the slippery nature of home." The Los Angeles Times

"Optimistic and inclusive..." The San Francisco Chronicle

"An aching sense of rootlessness and identity crisis make for an affecting and memorable debut." Kirkus Reviews

Strom's characters are all strong in their own way..." Library Journal --