A review by house_of_hannah
Dragon Hunt by Trần Vũ

challenging dark reflective sad medium-paced

2.0

The stories start out rooted in reality, but each one is more surreal than the last until it just gets to where I have no idea what is happening anymore. After reading the first two stories I really had high hopes for this book, but then the last three stories felt quite similar to each other, and either fell flat, or I just straight up couldn't figure out what was going on. At the end of the book there are author explanations for each story, and I really thought this would give me some insight, but sadly that was not the case.

The Coral Reef - You can feel the desperation. 4 stars

Gunboat on the Yangtze - This one made me very uncomfortable, but I also found it to be fascinating. 4 stars

The Back Streets of Hoi An - I can't remember this story at all. I have absolutely no feelings towards it.

Nha Nam - This is where things started getting a bit too surreal. I am also neutral towards this story.

The Dragon Hunt - I didn't understand what was happening for a majority of this one. Where I could understand the purpose of the rape in the other story, this one felt out of the blue, and I hated every moment. 1 star.

As you can see the stories here range from being quite good to forgettable. I'd probably only recommend this to people who have read and enjoyed other works from this author. 
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