The poems of Drunkard Boxing growl, astound, chill. 26 of some of the most stunning and stirring short poems I have read to date, bending form to illustrate conflict in perfectly imprecise confrontational language. Foremost, however, it is clear that the poems in Drunkard Boxing possess what I felt I had otherwise been missing: subject matter that is interesting, revelatory, and difficult.

Drunkard Boxing is painfully gorgeous, a collection of small flowers with large thorns. Some of the flowers are fake; they are sometimes tacky and dirty. Some of them come from a clown's lapel and are filled with water, just waiting to squirt us. The collection is rife with evil, a sort of post-postmodern Les Fleurs Du Mal.

Linh Dinh's poems in Drunkard Boxing make me angry. They make me sad. They sometimes confuse me or make me loath. They confront me; they get in my face. Foremost, the poems in Drunkard Boxing remind me my body is filled with intangible memories and moving blood that is easily spilled.

I am sure there are readers that will enjoy, "Fake House", by Mr. Linh Dinh. To say that I enjoyed his work would be an exaggeration, but he had some thoughts that were cleverly expressed. However these were a very small portion of an otherwise tiresome collection of 21 stories that but for their subjects of deviant behavior detailed to a rather alarming degree would have been totally colorless.

The book's stories take place in two geographical locales just as the Author spent parts of his life in the United States and Vietnam. The Author has either chosen or has an eye for the more lurid aspects of human behavior; some would say the sicker side of life. This is all fine as far as it goes, and some pretty strange human behavior can be described in a manner that is interesting, or as with this book it can be written in a frat-house style that is meant for shock value.

I guess there must be an audience for this sort of writing, however unless you enjoy the bizarre to the point of being a touch nauseated, this is not for you.

These terse, brutal, elegant, witty, anarchic, and ultimately quite moving stories, which take place on the east coast of the U.S. and in modern Vietnam, merit a wide audience. Highly recommended. Want more adjectives? Urban, hip, frightening, delightful.

This collection of short stories by Vietnamese writers from within the country as well as abroad contains some original pieces that push the limits of Vietnamese fiction. Some stories, however, express the typical Vietnamese penchant for nostalgia such as Duong Thu Huong's "Reflections of Spring" and Bao Ninh's "A Marker on the Side of the Boat. Other stories are obviously wry social criticisms such as Le Minh Khue's "Scenes from an Alley." I found Tran Vu's story "Gunboat on the Yangtze" most original stylistically and very bold in its deft portrayal of the morally sensitive subject of incestuous love, pain, and guilt. The story is complex and forces one to question one's own morality when reading the sensuous passages that one is afraid to admit are stimulating. I also liked Do Kh.'s story "The Pre-War Atmosphere" with it's fresh pairing of a Vietnamese character, the husband, with a Lebanese one, the wife in a contemporary setting that is outside of Vietnam, Orange County in this case. In its closing lines the story offers, with a hint of self-critical irony, a criticism of the tiresome Vietnamese idealistic longing for the past: "Enough of soaking in that pre-war atmosphere. Let's not abuse it. Think about the past enough to amuse yourself, but don't retch over it. Home or exile, that sour vomit smell can't be made fragrant with mood music."

I have yet to read a short story anthology that doesnt have its forgettable entries but the standouts here make "Night, Again" a truly great read. Le Minh Khue's "Scenes From an Alley" is a short, matter-of-fact account of extreme poverty and child abuse that builds to a haunting finale and Nguyan Huy Thiep's miniature epic family drama "Without a King" manages to be both sprawling and finely detailed and at the same time clock in at under twenty pages. Thiep is a talented writer who deserves major attention and it's unfortunate that "The General Retires and Other Stories," an anthology of his shorter works translated into English, is currently out of print and difficult to locate. As mentioned in other reviews Tran Vu's erotically-charged incest story "Gunboat on the Yangtze" is a particular standout. Overall, well worth the time for anyone looking for a different perspective.