Jonathan ChamberlainRecensioni

I knew two brothers who both fought in the Canadian armed forces in World War II. One had a gentler personality in peace time than the other. Two individuals with unique personalities. Not surprising.
I am sure they were already different from each other before the war and during the war. Obviously.

What happens when one brother stays at home during war (in this case the Vietnam War) and the other one goes? After the death of the soldier(by suicide) the surviving brother receives the suicide note with instructions to go to his forest hideaway to visit his war buddy. there is a task to fulfill. The girl that both returning vets have sharing as a sex slave in captivity for quite some time (the girl and her girlfriend initially came out to the forest for what they expected was to be a one night party after which the would be free to go back home, but the one ended up being murdered within a very short time) has given birth to a son.
The task is to rescue this boy and get him to civilization. The main character, the non-soldier will be curious, as is the reader, about who is the biological father of the boy.

It is no mystery to us now when we read about post-traumatic stress disorder to see that the violence of war does not evaporate from a returning veteran. But it is still shocking to read about it in this book. We who stayed home must offer our support and resources.

Not very engagingly-written with a lot of supposition and speculation.

This is not an A, B, C of a concept, a war, or a time of American history. This is a hard as nails, jagged as broken mirror of the evil we avoid, live with, and sometimes willingingly/unwillingly participate. Presented in several voices, I occasionally faltered as to whose time and experience I was reading, but I could not stop reading. No matter how insanely harsh or sublimely sweet, I had to know where we would all wind up. Jack has inherited his brother Joe’s personal box of war rantings, letters and self loathing and is compelled to upset every principle he has ever previously understood as good and true to seek an ultimate understanding that can never be obtained but will jumpstart his stalled out life.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this from the Goodreads First Reads program.

Synopsis: Circumstances collide to set Rowan Jones (a Welsh poet) as the spokesperson for a previously unconnected group of athletes choosing to compete in the London 2012 Olympics. A little political, a little sporty and a lot funny, Dreams of Gold pits together a cast of characters who, individually posses varying degrees of sanity, but together make a formidable team of athlete-cum-detective-cum spies to save the Olympics from themselves and an enigmatic dictator.

One must read this book as though they are watching a sporting event with an extremely knowledgeable, yet unidentified presenter/broadcaster. Considering this is a book about the Olympics (sort of), I think it really helped to set the tone. I did wonder if perhaps this broadcaster-cum narrator would turn into a Hercule Poirot as it became more of a detective story, but alas no Belgian accent popped up.

For the most part, Chamberlain sticks to the Martin Millar approach of writing chapters in fewer than 5 pages, with a Jasper Fforde-ish quirkiness of prose. Add to this a dash of information about Olympic regulations and a host city's neurotic need to produce the best event...evaaaah, Chamberlain successfully navigates the planet and the diverse reasons athletes have for wanting to compete on the world stage.

We are given just enough detail about each character to understand what each has at stake and why their individuality improves the whole of the group. We also learn how pinning one's hopes on a singular decision can derail an entire concept while simultaneously exposing everyone to relatively esoteric ideas. Not to mention a dose of unique poetry from time to time.

I don't know that this writing style would appeal to all, but I do believe it is a story that everyone should read. The work is riddled with lessons in tolerance, reading the fine lines, doing research, having faith in one another and that differences between people make for a very spherical world. Plus, it's just simply a fun read.

I gave this book 3 stars not because I thought it was a terrific book but for the simple fact that I enjoyed reading it.

The story's premise is simple, underdogs basically saving the world, however, I did find that the story line itself 'which could have had so much potential did not quite meet its' mark.

The characters (and there are many) as well as the story should have been developed more. There was no one character that evoked any sort of commiseration on my part.

But I did enjoy it....especially when Tom Jones showed up singing 'It's Not Unusual'

Through the first person narrator and the story, the author discusses the Vietnam War, its dire consequences to both the Vietnamese people and to the American soldiers who were there. The book mentions the atrocities in My Lai and the guilt and despair of some returning soldiers because of what they might have witnessed and perhaps even done during the war.The book is told from an American's point of view. The story is also a story of love as well as of the war and it brings up a lot of questions about the past.

In a Monty Python-type with a bit of Spy vs Spy tale there are many issues to be dealt with in a timely story of Olympic Gold from the British Empire. Rowan Jones, solitary poet from Wales, is absolutely thrilled when chosen by the Committee to be the Poet Laureate of the Olympics. He is “hijacked” on the way to his presentation by a number of Olympics hopefuls who will NOT, for reasons various and sundry, be representing their countries. However….When Rowan makes his appearance, he spouts off thoughts which have not been run by the Olympic group. No one told him they had first approval!
In a place much removed from Wales a beautiful young lady (?) is escaping her guards and making for the border. She’s been kept locked up as the one to win her country’s medals in London and the dictator is not about to let her go quietly.
You have to read this book! I read it in one sitting and laughed my way through it happily. A group of mis-matched heroes coming together in many languages to do what seems right, not just politically right. You’ll love it!

I don't know exactly why I requested this book. I don't feel a lot about Asia and even less about the war that was in Vietnam. Most likely I've seen more than enough movies about it when I was younger.

Still I was curious for this book. It is about Jacks brother Joe. Joe died and although it looked like an accident, it is not the case as Jack receives a package with Joes dairies. Based on what he read he leaves to find the cabin where Joe stayed the last couple of years, together with Wash. Hes has to save a pregnant woman there. Jack also visits Vietnam, hoping to find and feel the spot where Joe suffered during the war.
All the story lines are bunched together and it took me some time to understand which story I was reading about. But thas was only at the beginning of the book.

The events in the book and its language are quite coarse. Not everyone will appreciate this. On the other hand, it makes clear how devastating that war can be for the soldiers who must fight it.

Eventually I found it an impressive story, although sometimes I just could bear a few pages. The variation in storyline however makes that there's something funny in there as well at times.
This book is really not for everyone but I gave me some insights in world where I might prefer not to know that also exists.

http://boekenwijs.blogspot.com/2012/05/alpabet-of-vietnam.html½

*Full disclosure: The author sent me a copy of his novel in the hope that I would review it.*

It's 2012 and the Olympic Games are only six weeks away. Lord Coe however is rather disgruntled to see Tibetan monks caught up in demonstrations outside Westminster- wanting their countrymen to be allowed to compete in the games. As it turns out, they aren't the only disgruntled nation- there's a lot of discontent over the way the games are handled and who is allowed to participate. It is decided (on a complete whim) that a poet laureate will be appointed to keep the peace- to write inspirational poems about pain, glory and victory... but is a poet really enough to save the Olympic Games from impending disaster, or is he going to incite even more problems?

This comic novel is a topical, humorous look at the actual Olympics as well as a somewhat `fringe' Olympics unintentionally instigated, with funny stereotyped characterisations, apt cameos, nods to popular culture and a wacky plot-line.

From the immediate outset readers meet Welshman Rowan Jones (the poet) who is more than a bit melodramatic. The immediate impression is that he is full of delusions of grandeur about his `gift', but are his delusions actually going to be justified in the long term? In contrast we have Rowan Jones the Police Officer (no relation) who is most certainly not blessed with Rowan Jones (the poets) literary way of thinking, a Transcaucasian president with a grudge against the Olympics that he is *determined* to act upon and a whole host of other madcap, calamitous characters from an ex-Gulag jailbird to an Italian playboy swimmer.

I'm not a fan of sports (at all!) so approached this novel with a bit of caution at first, hoping that it wouldn't go into too much athletic detail but thankfully I needn't have worried about that- this is definitely more of a character driven book that I found myself getting involved in pretty quickly. Despite all the characters (and there are a lot of them) it is never confusing and it is obvious who is who.

Firstly, one of the most appealing aspects of this novel for me was the writing style. The plot flows very well and there's no unnecessary waffle, everything is straight to the point which I liked and is what you would expect in a book of this style. Despite this though, characters are still well developed and you immediately understand their little quirks and character traits. Some of their back stories are very witty and made me want to learn more about them.

This novel is also firmly tongue in cheek and not afraid to poke fun at itself or events in the text. I found myself smiling a lot as I read this book! One of my favourite lines was a description of Rowan Jones (The Poets) home in Wales; "the farmhouse is set in a green and stunningly beautiful section of countryside not too far from cliffs and sandy coves and one of those warm, cuddly and cosy little fishing villages that does not exist outside a work of fiction." There was also an amusing encounter between the president of Transcaucasia and a male/female athlete; "You will get new hormones Anna, believe me, Professor Bogdanovich is working on it. You will be a new man!" Also, the same President managing to constantly change his clothes in the same scene and the little side references to it is funny. I actually think the Transcaucasian president (Osman) was one of my favourite characters in the book.

I did notice a few minor grammatical errors/misused words within the text, (e.g. wondering instead of wandering, retail instead of retell) but they were few and far between and did not detract from my enjoyment of the novel in any way. If I had to criticise anything at all then I would concede that at some point during the start of part four of the novel (around page 155ish), the plot started to lag just a tiny bit and I found my attention wandering. I think this is because the action finally settles in Wales, rather than globe-hopping from character to character like it did previously and the pace of the novel changes. Then the pace of the novel sped up again towards the end and it felt rushed by contrast.

Overall, this isn't my usual genre of novel (it's actually more along the lines of what my boyfriend would read, him being a fan of comic novels and writers like Pratchett, Brookmyre and Rankin), but I found myself pleasantly surprised by it. I will most certainly be passing it over to my partner to give a go next. It kept me entertained for a pleasant few hours and I would read more by Mr Chamberlain in future (I have to wonder if infact Lord Coe has read this book yet!). If you want a topical, humorous read, whether you're a fan of sport or not then give this a go.

*This review also appears on Amazon.co.uk*

This was a fairly depressing story. The overall premise of a letter from a recently deceased brother leading the central character to attempt to rescue a girl from a remote back woods cabin sounded entertaining. However, and as many of the other reviewers mentioned, this book has far too much graphic violence to fall into the 'entertaining' category.

The author does a good job of weaving several different strands of the story: the present; a recent trip to Vietnam; the rescue itself; and Joe's writings from his journal. As a result the story unfolds in an interesting way and the violence that has its roots in the Vietnam war is juxtaposed neatly with the modern Vietnam of Jack's travels and a Vietnam very few Westerners would recognise from the poetry that Jack discovers while he is there.

If you are not bothered by the violence then this is an interesting read, but not for the squeamish.

I won this book on Early Reviewers and its taken me a little while to actually start, but once I did, I was done in a matter of a few days. Very interesting, quick pace read. Very violent, some parts made me a bit squeamish, but not necessarily a turn off. The book was well written, and I have already let a friend of mine borrow my copy.

The story of two brothers, Jack and Joe.
Jack is an ordinary teacher with an ordinary life, whereas Joe is a perturbed ex-soldier who went wild in Vietnam and who became a vicious man with a tormented soul until he couldn't take it anymore and committed suicide.
In a last attempt to save his sense of honour, Joe writes to his brother, telling him about a girl who is kept in a cabin in the middle of nowhere by his war buddy, Wash, a cold blooded murderer. He asks Jack to go and rescue her, enclosing a diary of his days in Vietnam and his thoughts once he came back home, so that Jack can understand the way Joe's mind worked, the way his brother became a monster, and somehow, atone for his sins.
Jack has also a chance to overcome his own fears and try to find what's missing in his dull life.

I can't say I enjoyed this novel. Gratuitous violence, never ending descriptions of rapes and murders of all kind: men, women, little babies; the further you read, the grosser the accounts of the killings became, until I wasn't affected anymore, only disgusted by them.
I understand what Chamberlain tries to do with this story, he exposes unjustifiable acts as objectively as possible, leaving the reader to decide if it's men's nature or the way society uses them which makes them kill unabashedly and without remorse. War, justice and morality become entangled along with Vietnamese philosophy in this strange thriller. But I don't like the way he does it, I don't know why it didn't work for me. I couldn't have cared less about the characters, and I think there wasn't any need to detail the grotesque and morbid sexual scenes or the rapes and endless tortures the way the author did. For what end? To shock? To impress? To make the point? I think there are infinite much more elegant and subtle ways to do that, you only need to read any of Mr. Hosseini's novels to understand what I mean.
Sorry, but I won't be reading anything else by this author.

I have attempted to read this book on 3 different occasions and I just can't make it past the first 50 pages.

It is well written and the book cover is beautiful. I just found the story to very dark and depressing. I am sure there will be many that love this book, but I tend to read for enjoyment and I just couldn't enjoy this book. It made me sad.

The Alphabet of Vietnam by Jonathan Chamberlain is a difficult book for me to review. It definitely stirred mixed feelings in me. It is by turns philosophical and brutally violent. The tale is complex and is presented in a series of "snapshots" that sometimes make it difficult to piece together the time frame, but all-in-all it is a very interesting story and well worth reading. Thanks to LibraryThing's Early Reviewers for a chance to read this book.

In this oddly thought out book, Jonathan Chamberlain tells us many stories. There are brothers Joe and Jack; Joe’s friend Wash; several women who die sadly; a Vietnamese poetess named Ho Xoan Houng who wrote beautiful poems for us; Maddie, Benjy and Alice.
Joe dies purposefully. He did it himself. Dove under a train. It usually works well and did this time, too. Jack is delivered a set of notes that completely changes his hum-drum existence. “Go find Maddie and my baby and get them away from Wash before they die.” Pretty straight forward.
Well, Jack found Wash, Maddie and barely more than a zygote Benjy in the hills of the Eastern Mountains. Maddie was a slave to Wash and to Joe. She wanted to escape and it was up to Jack to make that happen. However – it didn’t quite work that way. Jack wants to learn what Vietnam did to his brother but doesn’t particularly want to know what Joe did in Vietnam. He learns anyhow.
He travels there – sees what Joe saw and thinks on that. He drank bad beer, crawled in caves and learned lessons of poverty and pain. He learned what Joe forgot.
There are people I know who absolutely should not read this book. The people we loved and saw return home changed are among them. Then there are us – the ones who stayed. We need to read this book. We may not want to, but we need to.

This novel's aspirations far outreach its grasp. If we are to take the jacket blurbs at face value that is. We certainly never sit down to tea with Clausewitz and de Sade in the abattoir. Too often I found the author's inventions flimsy, his methods hackish and his style pathetic at best. The only way I could possibly defend "The Alphabet of Vietnam" would be as a grim burlesque, a parody or pastiche of its genre. Certainly, if Joe experienced an epiphany that granted him some sort of redemption in death, delivering him from Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness', he would have seen it as a mercy to cap Wash first, freeing him as well, rather than transferring the karmic load to poor Jack who's thrashing about in another sort of darkness which generates nothing but a bit of smoke and little light to speak of. Jeeez!!!!! quote, unquote. I'm absolutely certain that I've already spent far too much time thinking about it.

Jack ,a teacher in his fifties receives a parcel from his brother Joe after his "accidental death" detailing his military service and evil deeds during the Vietnam war and afterwards on his return to civilian life , incurred with his "blood-brother Wash. Jack who was too young to serve in the war tries to retrace Joe's steps by visiting Vietnam during a holiday.There is also a map of a cabin in the Appalachian mountains included in the parcel of letters and diaries , where Wash is hiding out with a girl he has kidnapped- just the latest in a long line of such events. Joe wants Jack as a brotherly favour to visit the cabin and release the girl who is pregnant and if necessary kill Wash to achieve that end. This is a dark journey undertaken by Jack where the "Art of War" meets the evil philosophy of De Sade. Throw-in the complications of love mixed with innocence and you have a riveting page turner. The author makes acute observations and creates an atmospheric Vietnam during the war and in the present time.

Een tegenvaller op verschillende punten: een ietwat moeizame lektuur, drie verhaallijnen die niet echt organies samenvloeien, weinig fraaie konversaties en vrij brutale toon in de omgang man-vrouw. Het verhaal speelt zich af aan de rand van de samenleving, met individuen, gekwetst door het leven, tegenvallende relaties, met op de achtergrond barbaarse herinneringen aan de Vietnamtijd. Dit met verve geschetse beeld van de gruwelijkheid van oorlog, is mogelijk de enige verdienste van het boek. Niet echt een boek met een meerwaarde.½

Rather a difficult read, Jonathan Chamberlain’s book, The Alphabet of Vietnam explores the inherent evil that war releases in men.. The main character, Jack, has been left to clean up his brother Joe’s mess after the Joe commits suicide. And what a mess he has left. In a cabin deep in the mountainous Virginia woods a woman, possibly carrying Joe’s baby, is being held hostage. Jack is being asked to help this woman, one in a series of women who have been kidnapped, repeatedly raped and disposed of. What stands in the way is Wash, Joe’s army buddy. They experienced the war in Vietnam together, and brought it’s horrors home with them.

An extremely introspective book, Jack ponders the way of men, the intricacies of male-female relationships, and the ever lasting effects of war. Are these men evil, or did the war bring this about? We follow three main plotlines: Jack’s trip to the cabin, Jack’s present life of raising a young boy while getting to know a woman who may or may not have killed her husband, and, interlaced throughout the book, an alphabet of Vietnam that describes vividly the Vietnam of today.

My problem with the book is the extreme violence, mostly toward women, that is depicted. Relentless, repetitive and very difficult to read. The three plotlines were confusing at times as the story jumps from one to another with very little explanation. At the same time, parts of this book are beautifully written and the questions it raises are thought provoking and important. I would have liked more closure at the end of the book, but I know The Alphabet of Vietnam is one that will linger in my mind.½

In The Alphabet of Vietnam Jonathan Chamberlain explores the parameters of evil – both in war and in its aftermath. Two brothers, Joe the Vietnam vet, and Jack the younger professor, are disparate personalities. Before Joe kills himself by running in front of a train, he mails Jack a package of letters and a note asking him to save to what he thinks is his unborn son and the child’s mother from a cabin in the woods of North Carolina, where she’s being held by Joe’s crazed Vietnam partner, Wash.

The story shifts between Joe’s Vietnam - as written in the letters, a three week trip Jack takes to Vietnam, Jack’s time at the cabin with Wash, and later when he’s raising Jack’s son and has met a woman that may or may not have killed her abusive husband. Jack has become the protector of Joe’s legacy and also is burdened with the evil his brother has done and has passed to him in the letters.

The Alphabet of Vietnam takes a hard look at the atrocities of war and the men that have brought the evil home with them.

The book looks very un-academic, but actually it offers quite good generalizations on a topic I knew nothing of. Last autumn I visited several Chinese temples in Hong Kong and Macau and I had absolutely no idea what to say about them (well, I work as a tour guide, I'm supposed to say something) - they weren't Buddhist, they weren't Taoist, they were absolutely different. It was as if there was a secret religion noone speaks of. And then I found this great book that opened the door of secrecy. I'm glad. Next time I'm better prepared.
3,5 stars is because at times it gets very confusing (the Daoism part for ex)... And well, in a way because of the design of the book too. It looks and feels cheap, the sources aren't mentioned and the book doesn't evoke trust at all, so whereas I LIKE the useful content of it, I just can't be entirely sure I can rely on this. It is good enough for explaining background to tourists and all, but I wouldn't dare to repeat the facts to a professor of mine, because I wouldn't hold them to be reliable enough. So...

A list and description of Chinese Gods

Interesting and fairly balanced look at conventional and non-conventional options with a cancer diagnosis. One of the more reassuring of the bunch.

"Wordjazz for Stevie" is Jonathan Chamberlain's deep and moving tribute to his late eight-year-old daughter, a candid and beautifully written soliloquy born out of the pain of loss but conveying hope, love, happiness and insight.

Stevie arrives in the world when expat Jonathan and his Chinese wife are living on a quiet island off Hong Kong. Although shocked to learn Stevie has Down syndrome, Jonathan and Bern immediately accept the additional challenges this presents, challenges that increase significantly when an operation to close a hole in Stevie's heart goes horribly wrong, starving her of oxygen and resulting in severe disability. Towards the end of Stevie's short-but-delight-giving years, little does Jonathan know her failing health is not the only major life-changing event on the horizon.

"Wordjazz for Stevie" is a remarkable testament to the human spirit, friendship and integrity. Penned with fondness and gratitude, it will appeal to anyone who has faced hardship or prejudice, love and loss, or can relate to bureaucracy and social/cultural difference whether at home or abroad. But putting the textbooks aside, it's simply a touching and enlightening story that should inspire all who read it.

And if you're wondering why I choose this title for my review, I opened the book at random and this is what I saw.

Chris Thrall is author of: 'Eating Smoke: One Man's Descent into Drug Psychosis in Hong Kong's Triad Heartland' - a best-selling memoir

This is a very surreally funny take on the Olympics - yet at the same time there is a serious underbelly to the humour. Rowan Jones, a minor Welsh poet, briefly (about 5 minutes) appointed Poet Laureate of the London Olympics finds himself a magnet for disaffected athletes from around the world - and then 'Anna' arrives with news of a bomb threat (planned by the crazed dictator Osmanakhian) which they defuse. All ends happily - particularly for 'Anna'. A great read - this is an adult book that will appeal to young adults too - and make them ore aware of some of the issues underlying the Olympics movement.