Book 12

Title: Tree of Smoke
Author: Denis Johnson
Pages: 702

Settings: Vietnam, The Philippines, Malaysia

Favorite Character: Tie. Dr. Mahathir: He was a entomologist that lived in the back woods of Malaysia and kept giant insects in jars of formaldehyde in his house. He was only featured in the last 50 pages of the book. Charles Blackman: He was one of the soldiers that fought in the Tet offensive with one of the main characters. He had a lot of spirit and funny things to say.

Favorite Reference: My birthday. The letter on page 495 is dated 1/30.

Favorite Quotes: "'We were just walking around. I had no idea he was gonna kill someone.' 'What'd you do?' 'Just about filled my britches with poop.'"
"He strolled into the red-light district - Angeles consisted of little else - the slop, the lurid stink, the thirsty, flatly human, open-mouthed stares of the women as he passed dank shacks beating with rock 'n' roll music, as hot and rich with corruption as vampire mausoleums."
"He would never top this feeling, he was sure of it: scared, proud, lost, hidden, alive."
"The colonel was part joke, part sinister mystery."
"'I'm a coward Pere Patrice.' 'Good. You'll live longer.'"

Recommend? For such a long book, it's somewhat hard to build a relationship with the characters. I would only recommend this book for someone who wants to learn more about Asian culture during the Vietnam War.

Misc: It told the myth of the aswang which is a vampire legend in the Philippines.