MYSTERIOUS FRAGRANCE OF THE YELLOW MOUNTAINS
Book ID/图书代码： 12760014B68636
English Summary/英文概要： A doctor brews a potion from the dartura flower with the aim of poisoning soldiers in the French garrison in Saigon. Based on the real-life Hanoi Poisoning Plot of 1908, this novel tells a story that crosses the landscape of Vietnam when the doctor is forced to flee. The characters include a fish-girl pulled from the Mekong River -- in a superstition-rich land, this is an omen; a poet with one green eye; a rich revolutionary who detests his inheritance money, and a pregnant wife who keeps a menagerie of pigeons, cats, and a boa constrictor.
The stories in this novel are Yasuko Thanh’s family’s stories. For political reasons, her grandfather was forced into hiding for two years during the Japanese occupation of Vietnam, after which time her grandmother and father set out to search for him. Falling somewhere between Kiran Desai’s Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard, Edith Wharton’s Ethan Fromme, and The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson, the novel promises a poetic, fantastic, darkly comic look at the cost of insurrection as well as the complications of falling in love at a time when historical conditions complicate it.
In Mysterious Fragrance, the desire for freedom from subjugation becomes a literal quest for survival. Deeply imbedded in the plot are historical events that do more than shape individual characters; the era itself becomes a metaphor for the characters’ journey of self-discovery. The doctor and his wife exemplify displacement, and their escape represents the alienation of an entire people. In exploring the ramifications of colonial domination, Yasuko Thanh’s primary focus is on characters caught in a political landscape; they are inextricable from their time and geography. The novel examines a marriage -- a doctor and his wife and others in their environment -- whose actions speak to what it means to be human at a time when desires are oppressed and idealism runs its course in back alleys. Mysterious Fragrance explores the way the nature of Viet Nam as a dominated nation mirrors the plight of its women, who have been abused and subdued.
Little has been written about this fascinating time period, in either fiction or nonfiction. It’s easy to paint a picture of the evils of colonial domination; but, as with intimate relationships between people in love, the realistic portrayal of an uneven power dynamic is often more convoluted than a simple dichotomy between good and evil. The aggressor and victim intertwine, depending upon each other for their identities, routines, and even small joys.
Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains is a novel for everyone who has asked: Is there anything you must believe in in order to be who you are? And at what cost? It will speak to those who have wanted to re-invent themselves, or who have struggled to live up to their own standards.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 一位医生从曼陀罗花中萃取一种解读药水，只为挽救西贡驻军中毒的法国士兵。这个故事源自1908年越南河内中毒的真实故事情节,这部小说讲述了一位医生被迫要逃离越南拟人风景的故事。故事中的人物来自湄公河的一位打渔妹 —— 在这片充斥这迷信的异国之地,这是一个征兆;一个有着绿色眼眸的诗人;对自己所继承的大笔财产充满厌恶的，有着丰富的革命经验的外乡人,和自己已经身怀六甲的妻子一同豢养着一群鸽子,猫,和蟒蛇。
这个小说故事也是作者Yasuko Thanh本人的家传故事。出于政治原因,她的祖父在日本侵占越南期间，被迫躲藏了两年,在那之后她的祖母和父亲出发前去寻找祖父。这个故事结构有点类似于印裔女作家基兰•德赛《石榴果园里的喧哗》,伊迪丝•华顿的《伊森•弗洛姆》和加拿大作家查•斯•理查森的《字母的尽头》,充满了诗意,奇妙的,黑色幽默为基调的故事，描述了在那段复杂历史环境下的一段爱情故事。(Sandy)
Awards/获奖情况：The universal legacies of colonialism: guilt, revenge, violence, ghosts.
Yasuko Thanh captures Viet Nam’s historical intrigues in story-telling that is compelling, vivid, tragic, passionate.--Kim Echlin, author of The Disappeared
The Disappeared was published in 21 territories, including Little, Brown in the UK.
Yasuko Thanh: ‘This world will never run out of people who have cool stories’ http://fw.to/wcQHiFh
MYSTERIOUS FRAGRANCE is out this week in Canada.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/review-yasuko-thanhs-mysterious-fragrance-of-the-yellow-mountains-is-a-compelling-and-devastating-debut/article29798055/
"Yasuko Thanh’s Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains is a compelling and devastating debut." – THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Yasuko Thanh on filling the gaps of her father’s memory | CBC Books | CBC Radio
Just shortlisted for the Rogers Writers Trust Prize!
• Attached: a slightly bent short story by Yasuko Thanh in Maisonneuve, illustrated with delightful photos of … Yasuko Thanh
Winner of the Writers Trust Prize for Best Novel of 2016
http://www.iheartradio.ca/cfax-1070/yasuko-than-city-of-victoria-butler-book-prize-winner-1.3366498
BUKOWSKI AGENCY 2017 CANADIAN BESTSELLER LIST: Based on BookNet Canada sales figures
We have now received the new edition of Yasuko Thanh’s MYSTERIOUS FRAGRANCE OF THE YELLOW MOUNTAINS, which has a lovely new cover. For further information about the book, please refer to our website: http://www.bukowskiagency.com/Fragrance.htm
That first novel, The Mysterious Fragrance of the Yellow Mountains, had a starred PW review, and a glorious one in our natonal newspaper, the Globe and Mail.
About the Author/作者介绍： Yasuko Thanh是在加拿大出版的短篇小說，最近榮獲2009年度的Journey Prize（加拿大旅行獎）。Yasuko的小說曾普遍發行，她遍遊歐洲和北美各地。她和丈夫和兩個女兒住在不列顛哥倫比亞省(加拿大西部省份)的維多利亞州。《Teddy’s Blow-Off Attraction/泰迪釋放的吸引力》是她的首部小說。
Yasuko Thanh is most recently the 2009 winner of the annual Journey Prize for the best short story published in Canada. Yasuko has published her stories widely and travelled all over Europe and North America. She lives with her husband and two daughters in Victoria, British Columbia. Teddy’s Blow-Off Attraction is her first novel.
Format:PROOF
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：Canada: Hamish Hamilton/Penguin, Apr 5, 2016
Romania: Editura RAO
CANADA
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