a novel by Brian Caswell and David Phu An Chiem
Prologue – Waiting
1. “The future is a country on the far side of despair” – Chinese Proverb. What do you think this means?
2. Why do you think we are given the date and location at the start of the prologue (1986, Sydney)?
3. Why are children ‘drawn’ to things that are ‘forbidden’?
4. Why do you think Toan found it an ‘embarrassment’ that his relatives spoke loudly in Vietnamese?
5. Why was Toan at the airport?
6. “He stood silent and unmoving”(4). What does this tell us about Toan’s father?
7. What do you think the poen ‘Long Xuyen, 1976’ means? What is its message?
8. ‘re-education camp’ – What do you think happened in this place?
9. ‘I know it is’ – Why is ‘know’ in italics?
10. Based on Toan’s observations and comments in this chapter, what do you think has happened to Toan’s family in the past and how does Toan feel about the past and what happened?
Part One – Diamonds and Teardrops
Chapter 1 - Smoke on the Breeze
1. Why were the children in trouble?
2. Toan says he is six. Therefore, how old was he at the time of the Prologue?
3. ‘One thing we learned early was fear’ (13). How do you feel reading this?
4. “Communism … at a distance it appears as a diamond, but up close, it is a tear drop” (13) What does Grandfather mean by this?
5. How does Toan feel speaking to the two men (13-14)?
6. Why did Minh not leave on the boat (15)?
7. How did Toan and his family feel watching his father being taken away in the jeep?
8. Why do you think the ‘river (seemed to gleam) in the sun like liquid gold’ (18)?
9. Why was Thanh kept in the re-education camp for so long?
Chapter 2 – Ghost Stories
1. Why was Linh ‘excited’ about arriving in Saigon?
2. Why do you think Linh was fascinated by the soldiers?
3. “‘light my fire’. He smiles ironically” (22). Why ‘ironically’?
4. ‘She holds his gaze’ (22). What does this tell us about her?
5. ‘near the end of a useless, brutal war’ (23). How did you feel after reading the story of the soldier and Linh?
6. Describe Linh’s relationship with Toan. Refer to the text in your response.
7. Identify 2 similes in this chapter.
Chapter 3 – Prime Position
1. Why did Toan’s family decide to leave?
2. Why did Toan’s grandfather ‘(die) inside a little every time the speakers thundered into life’ (28)?
3. What words would best describe how grandfather felt about the speakers on the roof?
4. Why do you think the currency was changed by the government?
5. If you were faced with the same situation as Toan’s family, what would you have done?
Chapter 4 – Vuot Bien
1. What is Linh’s opinion about always having to have a chaperone?
2. ‘It’s already too late to worry about that’ (36). What does this imply?
3. What does ‘Vuot Bien’ mean? Why is it important?
4. Where have we heard these words used before in the novel?
5. Why did Linh go to Saigon for the first time after the war had ended?
6. ‘a cold breexe touches her’ (44) What might this symbolize?
7. Describe the boat trip (47-49)
Chapter 5 – Rising Tide
1. In what ways are Phuong and Linh different?
2. What is Toan’s last memory of Rach Gia? Is it a positive one?
3. What do you think Phuong’s mother was thinking about as she sat ‘staring at the sky through the open hatch’?
Chapter 6 – Fair Exchange
1. Put the following events/quotes from this chapter in the order in which they took place. Include page references
- ‘I think you are in no position to make deals’
- ‘Linh never trusted happiness’
- ‘For a moment the scene is frozen’
- ‘And all the time, her eyes were dry’
- ‘So I was never jealous of Linh’
- ‘Time stretches and the vessels drift closer’
- ‘Then, without even changing expression, he squeezed the trigger’
- ‘Toan was sick in the night’
- ‘But what could he have done?’
- ‘I watched my mother not crying, and I taught myself to do the same’
- ‘She follows the line of his gaze and in that instant she is staring into the eyes of death’
- ‘There is an urgency in his eyes that sends an icy chill through her’
- ‘Two words, traced out in blood’
- ‘The moment of truth’
- ‘Phuong had always been the most beautiful girl on the street’
Part Two – Heroes and Villains
Chapter 7 – Out of the Green
Fill in the blanks with words from the word list:
word list – saved, dropped, refugees, drowned, goddess, Omar, Miro, overboard, reminds, child, father, adults, destined, Isyah, truth, shot
Toan was __________ to be lucky. Grandmother is a medium for the _____________ Quan Yin. __________ suggested maybe she had ESP. Grandmother realized the _________ when officials lied to her about her family. __________ spotted a fishing vessel and his mother, _________, knew it must be carrying __________. A patrol boat fired a _________ at the refugee boat. Some of the _________ jumped __________ to swim to shore. Toan’s _______ ordered the men to damage the boat so it would sink. Toan was ___________ into the water. Isyah entered the water to search for a ___________ who was lost in the sea. Seventeen people had _____________, twelve adults and five children. Toan had nearly met the same fate until Isyah __________ him. The woman’s face ______________ Toan of Quan Yin.
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