A great book! I loved his descriptive writing and the allusions. At first I was underlining all the wonderful phrases, but there were so many that I stopped. The intertwining of the characters really added to the suspense of this story. The characters were so well defined that I felt that one could have been my neighbor. Loved the story and I will recommend this book to my friends.

This is a fascinating story of three generations of strong Tibetan women and how their Buddhist religion and outside forces shaped their lives. It is a remarkable story about triumph over adversities beyond their control. I was particularly fascinated by Tibetan life and the Buddhist religion which dominated everyday activities. Tibet was a country that the twentieth century bypassed. People lived life as in the Middle ages with extreme hardships and none of the modern comforts such as electricity and indoor plumbing. The Buddhist religion both helped and hindered them in their daily lives. For the women in this memoir, Buddhism was of the utmost importance and guided them. When the Chinese invaded Tibet, they brought the twentieth century to Tibet but at the same time they destroyed a beautiful country along with the culture and religion. This memoir relates how these women coped with all the dramatic and terrible changes in their lives. A great story and I believe book clubs will love it.

When I started reading this book, I really enjoyed it. I liked the date and location where it took place. The use of historical figures in the story and the superstitious thinking at the time was interesting. But about 1/3 of the way through, I began to lose interest. The plots, subplots, intrigues and questions got tedious and I found that I really didn't care about the outcome. Maybe if I had read the prequel book, I may have found it more interesting. I wouldn't really recommend it to book clubs.

This book was a page turner because I found the lives of the characters extremely interesting and , of course, the suspense of wanting to know what would happen to Ki-Yong and his family. Even though there were similarities to life in the U.S, there was so much more that was different. I felt that the conversations about religion, politics and their thoughts were unusual and I kept asking myself if people in the U.S spoke to each other in that way - at least none of my acquaintances do. Although this book is about a North Korean man who was sent to spy on S. Korea, it is really about a family's values, mores and life in Korea. It is also about choices that can determine the direction a life takes and at the same time, how little control we really we have over our lives. The author really made the characters come to life showing their personalities and the events that shaped their lives. One negative comment I have is that I found the Korean names very confusing. I had to write the names on a piece of paper to keep track of the characters. All in all, it is an exciting book and very different because of the Korean culture. It's also very relevant to what is in happening recently. I would recommend this book to my friends and book club.

What a story!! This book is a page turner. Because it is a fictionalized account of an actual incident, the story and characters become real to the reader. I particularly liked that the events were told from the viewpoint of the wives. Their emotions, actions and story made this book come alive. I'm certain that the author researched not only the history of the incident, but also all aspects of the time and place where it all occurred. This, to me, made the book extremely interesting. I loved the way she portrayed the wives as opposite personalities - one strong, the other weak. All the characters were portrayed well - from the children to the minor characters. I really loved this book. It will make a great selection for book clubs.

This is an astonishing book. From the very beginning, I could not put it down. I found myself holding my breath as I read it. The characters are so startlingly real, that at times I felt as though I were one of them. As I was caught up in the wonderful, mysterious story, this book made me think about life and existence as it asks the question 'Do we really know those around us?' I recommend this book to all who want to read a great book.

This book was interesting in that it gives an intimate picture about the culture and history of Malaysia, a country of which I know little. Her descriptions of everyday life are beautiful and really capture the moment in time. However, I found that there was too much detail which was unnecessary and somewhat boring. I was also put off by use of foreign words that were not explained. Also I couldn't relate with the characters and didn't really care what happened to them.

William Trevor is a master of the short story. Within a few paragraphs I felt as if I knew the characters intimately. In each story there was always a feeling of anticipation - I never knew where the story would lead and in the end there was always a mystery of something undone or unexplained. I wanted the story to go on and on. This book would be great for book clubs because each story would create many discussions.