A review by mkesten
The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam

3.0

Many years ago I was chatting with an accountant friend who was of Chinese heritage but who grew up in Indonesia. We were discussing racial stereotypes in the east and in the west. I remember his comment that "The Chinese are the Jews of the East." His point was that outside of China, the Chinese are viewed with suspicion and resentment, and that anytime a society faces a major tragedy or challenge, the Chinese are the first to be blamed. I was reminded of this reading The Headmaster's Wager by Vincent Lam. Racism and racial stereotypes underlie much of the action in this serious novel. I emphasize serious because this is not a happy novel. Lam's protagonist, Percival Chen, is an ex patriot Chinese living outside of Saigon in the cruel years of WWII up until the American withdrawal in the 1970's. The Japanese invaders ruled with legendary brutality. Life in South Vietnam after the Japanese improved, but the regime's sponsors often looked the other way to corruption, violence, and cruelty. And political killings continued after the unification of Communist Vietnam. Chen is a great mirror for events of the time specifically because he is an outsider. Vietnamese usually show him the worst side of themselves, and people see him as just another money grubbing Chinese. He gambles. He whores. He eats sumptuous meals. I think the meals are probably the most appetizing part of the story, an offset to the gross beatings, and disembowelments, and suicide. I'm sure there was something nice about living in Vietnam during this period. The American occupation seems to have brought out the worst and sometimes the best in the very nationalistic Vietnamese. I recommend this story to readers. But be prepared for the worst...and sometimes the best in human ingenuity.