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Laos, 1975. The Communist Pathet Lao has taken over this former French colony. Dr. Siri Paiboun, a seventy-two-year-old Paris-trained doctor, is appointed national coroner. Although he has no training for the job, there is no one else: the rest of the educated class have fled.He is expected to come up with the answers the party wants, but crafty and charming Dr. Siri is immune to bureaucratic pressure. At his age, he reasons, what can they do to him? And he knows he cannot fail the dead who show more come into his care without risk of incurring their boundless displeasure. Eternity could be a long time to have the spirits mad at you.
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Littlemissbashful Eccentric characters, mystical goings on, wily old folk and wry humour with intriguing plot points.
Member Reviews
Now here I was, ladies and gents, just snuggling down with a perfect cosy mystery, The Coroner's Lunch, and thinking there would be a few twists and turns, a little mayhem, and voila -- comfort delivered. But before I reached page 10, I was laughing out loud in sheer delicious enjoyment, and I knew that although I had come to the right place for a cosy feeling, I was going to get far more than I bargained for. In a good way.
Dr. Siri Paiboun is a brilliant anti-revolutionary revolutionary-cum-coroner who learned his physician's trade in Paris and his autopsy skills from a DIY textbook. (Having been given no other option in communist Laos, Dr. Siri is not without innate resourcefulness.) He is a dreamer, both literally and figuratively: show more he dreams of peace and equanimity as he struggles within the corruption rampant in his country; at night, he is visited by the spirits of the dead who help him solve mysteries, and re-balance his life.
He is sweet and sentimental -- if slightly misanthropic. (Yes, the contradictions do not escape me.) He is irreverent and a-social, and yet kind, funny, and warm. He sounds like a real human being, hmm?? Go figure! In this context, there is special enjoyment of all the characters: there is actual character growth and development, so often ignored in cosy mysteries where all the characters remain flat, stagnant. Each of Cotteril's recurring characters is endowed with spirit, humour and development.
As I relished Dr. Siri's witticisms and his cynical bent, (he being one of the founding fathers of cynicism, apparently) I wondered out loud ... Dr. Siri, where have you been all my life?
What a delightful read! I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. show less
Dr. Siri Paiboun is a brilliant anti-revolutionary revolutionary-cum-coroner who learned his physician's trade in Paris and his autopsy skills from a DIY textbook. (Having been given no other option in communist Laos, Dr. Siri is not without innate resourcefulness.) He is a dreamer, both literally and figuratively: show more he dreams of peace and equanimity as he struggles within the corruption rampant in his country; at night, he is visited by the spirits of the dead who help him solve mysteries, and re-balance his life.
He is sweet and sentimental -- if slightly misanthropic. (Yes, the contradictions do not escape me.) He is irreverent and a-social, and yet kind, funny, and warm. He sounds like a real human being, hmm?? Go figure! In this context, there is special enjoyment of all the characters: there is actual character growth and development, so often ignored in cosy mysteries where all the characters remain flat, stagnant. Each of Cotteril's recurring characters is endowed with spirit, humour and development.
As I relished Dr. Siri's witticisms and his cynical bent, (he being one of the founding fathers of cynicism, apparently) I wondered out loud ... Dr. Siri, where have you been all my life?
What a delightful read! I'm looking forward to the rest of the series. show less
"What torture is this? Leave me alone."
"I will not. You deliberately missed the community painting of the youth center last month. I'm certainly not going to let you miss out on the chance to dig the overflow canal."
"Community service in the city of Vientiane wasn't a punishment; it was a reward for being a good citizen. It was the authorities' gift to the people. They didn't want a single man, woman or child to miss out on the heart-swelling pride that comes from resurfacing a road or dredging a stream. The government knew the people would gladly give up their only day off for such a treat."
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill is a mystery set in Laos during the 1970s, featuring reluctant coroner Dr. Siri. Once a successful show more physician, his outspokenness caused his new assignment, despite his support for the victorious Communist Party. At 72 years old, he's in no mood to rein in his strong views. As he tells the inexperienced young man installed as the judge in charge of him, "I'm twenty-two years beyond the national life expectancy. I've exceeded. I'm on overtime. In my natural life, I've already experienced any form of punishment you could come up with. Basically there's nothing you can do to me to fill me with even a smidgen of dread."
This creates a potent mix. In a system dependent on subservience and scarce on resources, he has allies and an ability to find what he needs. When a high-up military man's wife apparently is killed by his mistress who then commits suicide, Dr. Siri sees signs that all is not as it appears. As he probes with the assistance of a chemistry professor who has testing materials he needs, he learns that there's far more at stake than anyone realized. He is unusual for other reasons: he is visited by spirits of the dead, and in the eyes of the indigenous Hmong he may be an ancient shaman, more than a thousand years old. While this may sound somewhat over the top, the author makes it fit in smoothly, so that it only adds to the intrigue. Is it real or not?
Another appeal of this book is his team and his allies, including his ambitious young assistant Dtui, who likes to read her illicit Thai fan magazines when not busy, and Mr. Greung, afflicted with mild Downs Syndrome, but also possessing a formidable memory. There is a lot of good dry humor in the book, e.g. when an explosion intended to kill Dr. Siri leaves behind remnants of his illegal transistor radio that allows him to hear Thai broadcasts, Siri comments, "The bastards must have thrown it in with the mortar shells." The deadpan response: "That is what we suspected."
This book is an enjoyable read for any number of reasons - armchair travel to a part of the world I knew little about, an inside view of a Communist life, appealing characters, an interesting mystery, a thought-provoking central character, and a gestalt well beyond standard mystery fare. Kudos to Mark for recommending this. I look forward to reading more of the adventures of Dr. Siri and his team. show less
"I will not. You deliberately missed the community painting of the youth center last month. I'm certainly not going to let you miss out on the chance to dig the overflow canal."
"Community service in the city of Vientiane wasn't a punishment; it was a reward for being a good citizen. It was the authorities' gift to the people. They didn't want a single man, woman or child to miss out on the heart-swelling pride that comes from resurfacing a road or dredging a stream. The government knew the people would gladly give up their only day off for such a treat."
The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill is a mystery set in Laos during the 1970s, featuring reluctant coroner Dr. Siri. Once a successful show more physician, his outspokenness caused his new assignment, despite his support for the victorious Communist Party. At 72 years old, he's in no mood to rein in his strong views. As he tells the inexperienced young man installed as the judge in charge of him, "I'm twenty-two years beyond the national life expectancy. I've exceeded. I'm on overtime. In my natural life, I've already experienced any form of punishment you could come up with. Basically there's nothing you can do to me to fill me with even a smidgen of dread."
This creates a potent mix. In a system dependent on subservience and scarce on resources, he has allies and an ability to find what he needs. When a high-up military man's wife apparently is killed by his mistress who then commits suicide, Dr. Siri sees signs that all is not as it appears. As he probes with the assistance of a chemistry professor who has testing materials he needs, he learns that there's far more at stake than anyone realized. He is unusual for other reasons: he is visited by spirits of the dead, and in the eyes of the indigenous Hmong he may be an ancient shaman, more than a thousand years old. While this may sound somewhat over the top, the author makes it fit in smoothly, so that it only adds to the intrigue. Is it real or not?
Another appeal of this book is his team and his allies, including his ambitious young assistant Dtui, who likes to read her illicit Thai fan magazines when not busy, and Mr. Greung, afflicted with mild Downs Syndrome, but also possessing a formidable memory. There is a lot of good dry humor in the book, e.g. when an explosion intended to kill Dr. Siri leaves behind remnants of his illegal transistor radio that allows him to hear Thai broadcasts, Siri comments, "The bastards must have thrown it in with the mortar shells." The deadpan response: "That is what we suspected."
This book is an enjoyable read for any number of reasons - armchair travel to a part of the world I knew little about, an inside view of a Communist life, appealing characters, an interesting mystery, a thought-provoking central character, and a gestalt well beyond standard mystery fare. Kudos to Mark for recommending this. I look forward to reading more of the adventures of Dr. Siri and his team. show less
Dr. Siri is Laos' only coroner, not through choice, but being the only doctor around, his "promotion" was unchallenged. To say he has reluctantly taken up the position would be an understatement, at the grand age of 70-odd and after years of patching up communists soldiers in the jungle, he had thought he could retire.
Most of the autopsies present no great mystery, and with the aid of his assistant Mr. Geung, with Down's Syndrome, a generously built nurse, Dtui, and some crusty textbooks, Siri manages to muddle through. That is, until two strange cases arrive in quick succession.
The wife of a party official dies suddenly at a meal, and it soon becomes clear that, despite the official's desire to put it down to natural circumstances, show more foul play is involved. The second case has international implications as two bodies rise to the surface of a lake, clearly men from Laos' neighbour and ally, Vietnam. As there is evidence of torture, Siri must find out what happened before a diplomatic relations broke down.
Another dimension of the book is the supernatural, Siri dreams of the dead, who sometimes give him insight into their own deaths. As he heads north, he is given answers as to why he has this gift.
I have seen this compared, prehaps inevitably, with Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies' Detective Agency Series. Both detectives are rather unusual, but Cotterill puts the political situation in a more prominant position. Through Siri's set-to's with his superiors, we get an insight into Laos in the 1970s: a fledging communist state, a lack of resources, a carefully monitored population, Laos' French and American influence as well as its stormy relationship with its larger neighbour, Vietnam.
Siri and his band of misfits add a great deal of charm to the book, setting the backdrop for what I believe will be a good series of crime books. show less
Most of the autopsies present no great mystery, and with the aid of his assistant Mr. Geung, with Down's Syndrome, a generously built nurse, Dtui, and some crusty textbooks, Siri manages to muddle through. That is, until two strange cases arrive in quick succession.
The wife of a party official dies suddenly at a meal, and it soon becomes clear that, despite the official's desire to put it down to natural circumstances, show more foul play is involved. The second case has international implications as two bodies rise to the surface of a lake, clearly men from Laos' neighbour and ally, Vietnam. As there is evidence of torture, Siri must find out what happened before a diplomatic relations broke down.
Another dimension of the book is the supernatural, Siri dreams of the dead, who sometimes give him insight into their own deaths. As he heads north, he is given answers as to why he has this gift.
I have seen this compared, prehaps inevitably, with Alexander McCall Smith's Ladies' Detective Agency Series. Both detectives are rather unusual, but Cotterill puts the political situation in a more prominant position. Through Siri's set-to's with his superiors, we get an insight into Laos in the 1970s: a fledging communist state, a lack of resources, a carefully monitored population, Laos' French and American influence as well as its stormy relationship with its larger neighbour, Vietnam.
Siri and his band of misfits add a great deal of charm to the book, setting the backdrop for what I believe will be a good series of crime books. show less
What a concept--an aging doctor is appointed coroner by the new Communist regime in Laos, c. 1976. He has no experience, no resources, and a devoted but fairly useless staff. Furthermore, his superiors would prefer his reports not to raise any uncomfortable questions. Dr. Siri, however, isn't too concerned with what his superiors would prefer, and sets about to do his job as well as possible under the circumstances. Well, you know he's going to get himself in trouble. But you can't imagine the KIND of trouble...administrators and bureaucrats are the least of his problems. Dogs hate him, spirits of the dead visit him, and an entire village takes him for a thousand year shaman come back to exorcise the evil spirt, the Phibob. This book show more was great sport; I love Siri's irreverence, his wit and his compassion. The supernatural element works just fine for me here. And Siri is no slouch as a detective. This is the first in a series, and I warn you, the author has made it impossible to stop with the first one.
Review written in 2010 show less
Review written in 2010 show less
I am so glad I stumbled across this series in the course of a search on Scribd. I loved this book. I found it charming and quirky, with an unexpected supernatural subplot to it. It is set in Laos in late 1976, less than a year after the Communist takeover, which is a time and place that I know very little about, so I also found the descriptions of daily life and culture fascinating. The main character, Dr. Siri Paiboun, is an elderly doctor (in his 70s) who finds himself drafted to be the country's official coroner, despite no previous experience in pathology. Despite having worked for the Communist rebels in the jungle for many years, he is not what you would call a committed Communist, and of course this causes all kinds of show more interesting encounters in his professional and personal life. Dr. Siri is humorous, intelligent, complex, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading his story. In the course of this book, he solves several murders which are not all related, but all turn out to be more complicated than the new regime wants to disclose. I am already starting on the next book in the series! show less
The book opens Laos in 1976. A fledgling Communist regime is in power for the first time and Dr Siri Paiboun, a 72-year-old doctor and former warrior, has been appointed the country’s sole Coroner. He has no training for the role, most of the available books on the subject are in a language he doesn’t speak and he has little of the necessary equipment. Despite all this he’s required to investigate an assortment of peculiar deaths, including the wife of a Party Leader and what appear to be tortured Vietnamese soldiers. Helping Dr Siri are nurse (and wannabe trainee Coroner) Dtui, morgue assistant Mr Geung and the spirits of dead people who inhabit Dr Siri's dreams.
The highlight of the book for me was the humour which has the same show more witty, haphazardly surreal quality as Douglas Adams’ writing. In the past I have lamented the lack of books with this kind of sensibility but I now realise it’s a terribly difficult thing to achieve and am simply grateful whenever I stumble across an example. I don’t re-read books very often but books like this, that offer something wonderful quite independent of their narrative, tend to make it to the shelf of books I re-acquaint myself with from time to time.
The characters are delightful too. Dr Siri is reluctant in his roles as communist and coroner though he performs the latter with increasing diligence. He treats the people he meets with the amount of respect and compassion each deserves and his struggle to cope with the supernatural aspect to his life is handled well (it's a theme normally guaranteed to turn me off). There are a myriad of other players, major and minor, alive and not, good and evil, who are all equally well depicted and credible.
The book also offers a marvellous sense of time and place although I’m so woefully ignorant of this particular part of the world and its history that I’ve no clue if it’s a realistic depiction. For all I know it could be as much a production of Cotterill’s imagination as his protagonist’s corpse-inhabited dreams but, realistic or not, it’s a glimpse into a fascinating world.
For once the prominent blurb on my copy of The Coroner’s Lunch, which likens it to Alexander McCall Smith’s African series, isn't wildly inaccurate. Dr Siri certainly shares characteristics with Mme Ramotswe of Smith’s series although I think the plot of this book is far more intricate and it tackles weightier social issues, albeit with a delicate touch and wry humour. I found myself wanting more of this writing and these people almost before I'd even finished and, happily for me, there are already five more books in the series. What joy I have to look forward to. show less
The highlight of the book for me was the humour which has the same show more witty, haphazardly surreal quality as Douglas Adams’ writing. In the past I have lamented the lack of books with this kind of sensibility but I now realise it’s a terribly difficult thing to achieve and am simply grateful whenever I stumble across an example. I don’t re-read books very often but books like this, that offer something wonderful quite independent of their narrative, tend to make it to the shelf of books I re-acquaint myself with from time to time.
The characters are delightful too. Dr Siri is reluctant in his roles as communist and coroner though he performs the latter with increasing diligence. He treats the people he meets with the amount of respect and compassion each deserves and his struggle to cope with the supernatural aspect to his life is handled well (it's a theme normally guaranteed to turn me off). There are a myriad of other players, major and minor, alive and not, good and evil, who are all equally well depicted and credible.
The book also offers a marvellous sense of time and place although I’m so woefully ignorant of this particular part of the world and its history that I’ve no clue if it’s a realistic depiction. For all I know it could be as much a production of Cotterill’s imagination as his protagonist’s corpse-inhabited dreams but, realistic or not, it’s a glimpse into a fascinating world.
For once the prominent blurb on my copy of The Coroner’s Lunch, which likens it to Alexander McCall Smith’s African series, isn't wildly inaccurate. Dr Siri certainly shares characteristics with Mme Ramotswe of Smith’s series although I think the plot of this book is far more intricate and it tackles weightier social issues, albeit with a delicate touch and wry humour. I found myself wanting more of this writing and these people almost before I'd even finished and, happily for me, there are already five more books in the series. What joy I have to look forward to. show less
Rating: 3.875* of five
The Book Report: In the Vientiane, Laos, of November 1976, green-eyed Dr. Siri Paiboun is the seventy-two-year-old coroner...the only one in the newly liberated by communism country...charged with discovering why Mrs. Nitnoy, powerful leader of the Laos Women's Union and wife of Member of Parliament Kham, suddenly keeled over dead. Her husband insists it was her peasant taste for raw pork. The judge Dr. Siri works for thinks that sounds reasonable, and also unnecessary to investigate.
Dr. Siri knows otherwise. Not because he's that good a coroner, since he's only had the job for ten reluctant months...he knows because Mrs. Nitnoy told him so.
After she was dead.
So begins a fascinating look into the chaotic world of show more Southeast Asia in the wake of the Vietnam War, told from the out-of-the-Anglophone-ordinary viewpoint of the Southeast Asians left to pick up the pieces. The story follows Dr. Siri as he is manipulated from behind the scenes in someone's quest to hide truths from the doctor, someone who clearly doesn't know...heck, even the good doctor doesn't know!...that Dr. Siri is the latest incarnation of legendary thousand-plus-year-old shaman Yeh Ming, and so has the ability to see spirits and call on ancient energies intrinsic to Laos's beautiful forested mountains.
Dr. Siri is called upon to use his increasing skills as a coroner to look into the deaths of three Vietnamese nationals, in Laos for purposes both secret and unknown to anyone Siri knows; then is sent to the ethnically Hmong south to deal with the sudden and unexpected deaths of Army officers in charge of an economic revitalization program that doesn't seem to be revitalizing anything so much as devitalizing the men in charge; and while among the Hmong, who worryingly seem to know him better than he knows himself, Siri finally gets to know Yeh Ming, his fellow traveler in this green-eyed body in a country of brown-eyed people.
With a combination of mundane detective skills, spirit guidance, and help from a formidable nurse, an eidetic Down's syndrome laborer, an old friend in high places, and a new friend in clandestine ones, Siri ties all the malefactors in knots and delivers them to the proper authorities (whether spiritual or mundane) with ribbons on.
My Review: This book is such a welcome addition to my series-mystery-loving world. Dr. Siri is a delight. He's too old, and too weary, and too smart to be scared by petty bureaucratic thuggery. He values his comfort...oh yeah baby, the older we get, the more we do!...but his idea of comfort includes doing the real right thing, not the easy right thing.
Cotterill gives Dr. Siri a deep and rich backstory reaching into Laos's colonial French past, extending into the jungles of Pathet Lao communist resistance, and through to the time of victory and the inevitable Animal Farm-esque disillusion that accompanies regime change. "Throw the crooks out!" the cry goes up, but the unsaid and often unrealized second part of that cry is, "and let our crooks have a turn!" Dr. Siri sees this, knows it, and frankly doesn't care. He's got no children, so no grandchildren, and so no, or a very small, stake in this Brave New World. Except, well, you know, there IS justice in the world, imperfect and piecemeal though it may be, but justice demands a good man's best be given and a heavy price be paid both for administering and evading it.
He might only have one (metaphorical) eye, but Siri is honor bound to use it among the blind he lives with. It's this quality that makes him irresistible, and gives Cotterill's creation a semblance of life that brings him out of the pages of the book and into the imagination of the reader who lives in a world where ideals of fairness and decency and selflessness have degenerated into "don't tread on me" selfishness and mock-"liberty" that curiously resembles "don't tell me what I can do with what's mine" greed. It's these very things that Siri grimaces at.
Just like me. show less
The Book Report: In the Vientiane, Laos, of November 1976, green-eyed Dr. Siri Paiboun is the seventy-two-year-old coroner...the only one in the newly liberated by communism country...charged with discovering why Mrs. Nitnoy, powerful leader of the Laos Women's Union and wife of Member of Parliament Kham, suddenly keeled over dead. Her husband insists it was her peasant taste for raw pork. The judge Dr. Siri works for thinks that sounds reasonable, and also unnecessary to investigate.
Dr. Siri knows otherwise. Not because he's that good a coroner, since he's only had the job for ten reluctant months...he knows because Mrs. Nitnoy told him so.
After she was dead.
So begins a fascinating look into the chaotic world of show more Southeast Asia in the wake of the Vietnam War, told from the out-of-the-Anglophone-ordinary viewpoint of the Southeast Asians left to pick up the pieces. The story follows Dr. Siri as he is manipulated from behind the scenes in someone's quest to hide truths from the doctor, someone who clearly doesn't know...heck, even the good doctor doesn't know!...that Dr. Siri is the latest incarnation of legendary thousand-plus-year-old shaman Yeh Ming, and so has the ability to see spirits and call on ancient energies intrinsic to Laos's beautiful forested mountains.
Dr. Siri is called upon to use his increasing skills as a coroner to look into the deaths of three Vietnamese nationals, in Laos for purposes both secret and unknown to anyone Siri knows; then is sent to the ethnically Hmong south to deal with the sudden and unexpected deaths of Army officers in charge of an economic revitalization program that doesn't seem to be revitalizing anything so much as devitalizing the men in charge; and while among the Hmong, who worryingly seem to know him better than he knows himself, Siri finally gets to know Yeh Ming, his fellow traveler in this green-eyed body in a country of brown-eyed people.
With a combination of mundane detective skills, spirit guidance, and help from a formidable nurse, an eidetic Down's syndrome laborer, an old friend in high places, and a new friend in clandestine ones, Siri ties all the malefactors in knots and delivers them to the proper authorities (whether spiritual or mundane) with ribbons on.
My Review: This book is such a welcome addition to my series-mystery-loving world. Dr. Siri is a delight. He's too old, and too weary, and too smart to be scared by petty bureaucratic thuggery. He values his comfort...oh yeah baby, the older we get, the more we do!...but his idea of comfort includes doing the real right thing, not the easy right thing.
Cotterill gives Dr. Siri a deep and rich backstory reaching into Laos's colonial French past, extending into the jungles of Pathet Lao communist resistance, and through to the time of victory and the inevitable Animal Farm-esque disillusion that accompanies regime change. "Throw the crooks out!" the cry goes up, but the unsaid and often unrealized second part of that cry is, "and let our crooks have a turn!" Dr. Siri sees this, knows it, and frankly doesn't care. He's got no children, so no grandchildren, and so no, or a very small, stake in this Brave New World. Except, well, you know, there IS justice in the world, imperfect and piecemeal though it may be, but justice demands a good man's best be given and a heavy price be paid both for administering and evading it.
He might only have one (metaphorical) eye, but Siri is honor bound to use it among the blind he lives with. It's this quality that makes him irresistible, and gives Cotterill's creation a semblance of life that brings him out of the pages of the book and into the imagination of the reader who lives in a world where ideals of fairness and decency and selflessness have degenerated into "don't tread on me" selfishness and mock-"liberty" that curiously resembles "don't tell me what I can do with what's mine" greed. It's these very things that Siri grimaces at.
Just like me. show less
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Colin Cotterill is an author and cartoonist. He was born in London in 1952, and trained as a Physical Education teacher, before setting off on a world tour that hasn't ended yet. Along the way, he has held various teaching positions in Israel, Australia, the U. S., Japan, and Southeast Asia. He would eventually become involved in child protection, show more and it was his work with trafficked children that motivated him to write his first novel, The Night Bastard. The reaction was so positive that he decided to take time off and write full-time. Two of his subsequent novels are child-protection based: Evil in the Land Without, and Pool and its role in Asian Communism. Cotterill may be best known as the author of the Dr. Siri Paiboun series, set in the People's Democratic Republic of Laos. Titles in the series include: Six and a Half Deadly Sins, the Woman Who Wouldn't Die, Love Songs from a Shallow Grave, The Merry Misogynist, Thirty-Three Teeth and The Coroner's Lunch. He also pens the Jim Jurree series, set in southern Thailand. Titles in this series include: The Axe Factor, Grandad, There's a Head on the Beach and Killed at the Whim of a Hat. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Coroner's Lunch
- Original title
- The Coroner's Lunch
- Original publication date
- 2004-12-15
- People/Characters
- Dr Siri Paiboun; Nurse Dtui; Geung Watajak; Civilai Songsawat; Inspector Phosy; Judge Haeng Somboun (show all 11); Tshaj; Auntie Suab; Yeh Ming; Lah; Nguyen Hong (Vietnamese coroner)
- Important places
- Vientiane, Laos; Laos; Vietnam
- Dedication
- With the kindest thanks and lots of love
to the following folks:
Pornsawan, Bouasawan, Chantavone, Sounieng, Ketkaew, Dr Pongruk, Bounlan, Don, Souk, Soun, Michael and his secretary, Somdee, David L., Nok, Dtee... (show all), Siri, Yayoi and Steph. - First words
- Tran, Tran, and Hok broke through the heavy end-of-wet-season clouds.
- Quotations
- Most of the results from Siri’s morgue relied on archaic color tests: combinations of chemicals or litmus samples. These were more suitable for telling what wasn’t, rather than what was.
We, my children, are no longer common coroners. We are investigators of death.
He couldn’t imagine why old men would chase new-hatched chicks when there were pretty hens in the yard.
Nguyen Hong changed, Siri put together his carbon copy of the autopsy report. Then the two set off for a real coroner's lunch in the canteen. Given the topic of their conversation, they were guaranteed a table to themselves. ... (show all)(p. 94)
They looked out at the sleek white tern flying a foot from the surface of the river. It swooped down for a fish, thrust its beak in too deep, and crashed, somersaulting with the current.
I bet that hurt.
The bat... (show all)tered tern, its feathers flustered, broke triumphantly through the surface of the water with the fish in its beak. The two old friends put down their plastic cups and applauded. (p. 95)
"When we cut down a tree for our huts, or to make space to plant crops, we ask for permission from the tree spirits. We make offerings, sacrifices sometimes, as our own shaman sees fit. Usually, the spirits will move on witho... (show all)ut blaming us. After all, we have to live together, share what resources we have. That's the way it has always been.
"Some of the trees in these parts are as old as the land itself. The spirits have become powerful here. When the soldiers came, they didn't ask permission. They didn't show any respect. They didn't sacrifice a buffalo or consult a shaman. They just started cutting. And they cut and cut and hauled the timber away in trucks. They cut hundreds, thousands of trees.
"Can you imagine? Even the most benevolent spirits have become evil. They all seek revenge." [Tshaj, Hmong headman] (p. 140)
Socialism is a great cosmos, but trust is the atmosphere that holds the stars together.
"I'm sneaking in to the embassy this afternoon when all the dignitaries are at the reception. You people are never short of receptions, are you?"
"That's why it's called the Communist 'Party', and not the Communist 'si... (show all)t down and get some work done'." - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)As soon as he opened the lid, his smile faded. Whatever joy that had surrounded them vanished like incense smoke. Lying in the box, like a charred corpse in a coffin, was the black prism on its leather thong. Not some other black prism, the one worn smooth from years of hands. The one that had been destroyed and scattered on the land in Khamuan.
"Given the bad luck you've been having lately, I figured you could use a lucky charm. Like it?" - Blurbers
- Rozan, S. J.; Pawel, Rebecca
- Original language
- English
- Canonical DDC/MDS
- 823.92
- Canonical LCC
- PR6053.O778
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- 48
- ASINs
- 17