Reviews
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From the longest-lived literary magazine and belonging to the heavyweight trinity that includes The New Yorker and The Atlantic:
“Throughout Threadbare Jester, Ha maintains a daredevil of a high-wire act: balancing the hypocrisy of the communist regime with the basic needs of human beings. . . .
The past creeps in and settles like a chill mist upon the reader while experiencing Khanh Ha’s The Afterlife of a Threadbare Jester. Yet a sharp little ringing, a tiny bell, can be heard just over the sand dunes in the distance.”
“The novel opens with a depiction of torture that immediately establishes its dark tone, as Khang recounts, 'I was hung butterfly style on a barbed-wire pole.' Readers definitely need to be prepared to endure haunting depictions of hopelessness and alienation.
“In a novel written with so much painstaking detail, I felt the ghosts of the people and places of postwar Vietnam brought back to life, taking shape in my imagination as Ha’s finely wrought cast of prisoners, priests, and prison cadres, as the wives and children marooned in the violence. Reading such a work feels like more than reading; it feels like bearing witness.”— Megan Peck Shub, Emmy and Peabody-winning producer and writer
“For readers drawn to literary historical fiction that privileges psychological depth over pace, The Afterlife of a Threadbare Jester sits alongside works such as The Sympathizer and The Things They Carried in its interrogation of memory, war, and identity, while its stark depiction of imprisonment and endurance recalls One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. But in its restraint, its clarity, and the authority of the research that underpins it, the novel achieves something more lasting—a stark, intelligent, and deeply human portrait of endurance in the face of ideological and physical annihilation. It is a deeply immersive and rewarding read, offering both intellectual depth and lasting emotional resonance.”—BookViral Reviews
“Khanh Ha’s new novel, The Afterlife of a Threadbare Jester, is a tale of postwar Vietnamese labor camps that is both utterly harrowing and utterly necessary in these current parlous times. Through Ha’s arresting prose, we inhabit an inmate whose experience of great cruelty speaks not only of the past but resonates into the enduring dark complexities of the human soul. This is an important book from an important writer.”
— Robert Olen Butler, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
The historical authenticity of the narrative is simply extraordinary—Khanh’s command of the facts is magisterial, and he brings them to vivid life with a kind of literary sorcery. This is a mesmerizing novel, one that transports the reader to another time and place—one ravaged by war where love continues to thrive.
A moving love story embedded within an engrossing work of historical fiction.—KIRKUS REVIEW (on An Artist's Legacy)
“Ha is a writer of rare talent able to plumb the depth of the human heart in the smooth rhythm of a meandering river. For Ha, the setting plays the part of an ever-present character dictating the tone and mood of the stories. Ha’s work always put me in mind of Faulker in that it has a mythic quality that only the best writers are able to capture. At the same time, it is—at times brutally—realistic.”
— John Gist, author of The Yewberry Way: Book I Prayer, Lizard Dreaming of Birds, and CrowHeart
“Ha’s prose has been compared to that of William Faulkner for its mythic quality and intricate layering of time and memory. Indeed, there is a dreamlike quality to The Eunuch’s Daughter & Stories, where past and present blur, where memories emerge like ghosts, demanding to be reckoned with. Yet, for all its lyricism, the collection is also unflinchingly realistic. Ha does not shy away from the harsher realities of life—loss, betrayal, exile—but rather, he finds in them a quiet dignity, a sense of redemption that lingers beneath the surface.”—BookViral (3/2025)
“For a deeply moving and historically rich novel about art, war, and the forgotten soldiers of Điện Biên Phủ, An Artist’s Legacy by Khanh Ha is a masterpiece that will change the way you see war fiction forever.”—BookViral (3/2025)
“No two stories are the same and yet the human condition is universal. In the minutiae of life can be found the most profound sadness and the most buoyant life. Such are the writings of this author. That's what makes him such an astounding writer. You can only stand in awe of such masterful prose.”—Goodreads (starred review)
“A whirlwind of a book that will leave you breathless, 'All the Rivers Flow Into the Sea,' by Khanh Ha is the kind of collection that short story lovers dream about. . . . This is an absolutely beautiful piece of literature that should be thought of as a modern classic.”—Goodreads (starred review)
“. . . reality at its best. A truly magnificent piece of work with a deserving five-stars!”—Goodreads (starred review)
Ha’s writing seamlessly blends reality with metaphor in a way that makes the reader feel as though they are passing through a dream. Her: The Flame Tree is an unmissable novel for lovers of literary fiction and historical fiction alike.—Goodreads
A captivating novel that I simply could not put down. Her: The Flame Tree is another stunning look at the Vietnamese people and their culture from the brilliant author Khanh Ha.—Goodreads
A spellbinding novel from one of the greatest authors of our time–Her: The Flame Tree by Khanh Ha—is a one-of-a-kind story that allows the reader to travel deep into the heart of Vietnamese history.—Goodreads
In his latest offering, master story teller, Khanh Ha, immerses us in the lush, exotic world of Vietnam, tainted with a dark side. His sensuous descriptions draw us into the world of the concubines and eunuchs in the last days of the Imperial court. But with each book, the author tells more and more about the history of his ancient homeland and its people.—Goodreads
“Ha’s prose is so clear and vivid, whether describing a dying soldier’s wounds or local flora and fauna, and his message is so powerfully understated that this beautifully written novel should have a place alongside the best fiction of the Vietnam War.”—Booklist (starred review)
“All the Rivers Flow into the Sea is an extraordinary collection. The stories are fully rendered and finely nuanced, populated with vibrant characters shaped by war or haunted by tragedy. Their voices are as vivid as the landscapes the author conjured, at once exotic yet intimately familiar, all bound by threads of love and compassion. This is one of those rare collections I would keep and read again.”—Andrew X. Pham, winner of Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize and finalist of the The National Book Critics Circle Awards
“Lush with natural detail and alive with crisp dialogue, in an unforgettable journey where cultures clash in affairs of the heart.”—John Balaban, recipient of The Academy of American Poets’ Lamont Prize and William Carlos Williams Award
“This book was finely written, evoking the feeling of sitting in a library full of old, old books, thumbing through the crinkly pages of a treasure you hadn’t hoped to find. . . . The highlight of this collection is the writing itself. The writing is intriguing and at times haunting, each story bringing its own little morsel of flavor to the plate that is this collection.”—Reedsy Discovery
“Mrs. Rossi’s Dream shows the power of literary expression over even memorable cinema such as Francis Ford Coppola’s bloody Apocalypse Now (1979), a Vietnam update of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, or the blistering interview-based documentary series by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, The Vietnam War. Khanh Ha’s novel triumphs in doing what film cannot: creating scenes that rely on all the senses.”—Joan Baum (The Independent)
“Khanh Ha’s writing is breathtaking, and his grasp of metaphor and plot are masterful. Although these stories are dark at times, there is, just like in life, an overall notion of joy that brings it into the light. ”—Bookgirl86
“Author Khanh Ha brings both the beauty and tragedy of Vietnam to life in this sensitive and realistic portrayal of what goes on in wartime. . . . Character development is the hinge on which this highly emotive plot rests. . . . a must-read for fans of emotive drama and personal narrative fiction.”—Readers’s Favorite (starred review)
“Evocative, mysterious, and lovely, this is a remarkable book, for the beauty of the writing, the compassion for all the characters on any side.”—Judith Shepard, co-publisher and editor-in-chief of The Permanent Press
“Narrators Feodor Chin and Andrew Eiden are the perfect counterpoints for this Vietnam-era historical novel . . . Chin creates a raspy, Asian-accented English voice for Giang, which helps us picture the aged man he has become. Eiden makes the most of the mystery surrounding Nicola’s death and disappearance. Those who follow this period of history will enjoy learning about the personal nature of the conflict from these well-delivered performances.”—AudioFile
“Because through author Khanh Ha’s superb writing and excellence with the sense of environment, the sense of spirit(s), the listener is transported into a couple of living hells. . . . The details are mesmerizing, adding so much to the narrative, to the experiences of our characters. One is transported to a different country with new foods and smells. And one is most certainly transported to hellholes that seethe with fire and slaughter which, however senseless through the lens of history, is actually oh so necessary at the time.
"Feodor Chin and Andrew Eiden, along with Ha’s deliberate pacing and marvelous development of characters as they grow and come together, and with an ending that’ll leave you stunned and weeping.”—Audiobook Accomplice
“I read Mrs. Rossi’s Dream with a sense of awe, that one novel could answer so many lingering questions we’ve had about the tragedy of the Vietnam war and the men and women who suffered so greatly on both sides.”—Dan Pope, author of Housebreaking, Simon and Schuster
“Khanh Ha’s Mrs. Rossi’s Dream is an elegiac, yet totally involving tale of retrieving one’s soul from the chaos of the past. The writing is crisply compelling, the story embracing, and the moral principles at the heart of the novel life-affirming.”—Chris Knopf, award winning novelist
“Richly sensory, gorgeously descriptive, harrowingly disturbing, and beautifully told, Khanh Ha’s Mrs. Rossi’s Dream brings to life a different side of Vietnam—not just the war (though this should surely be a must-read for anyone wanting to see the different sides of conflict), but also the aftermath of peace. . . . Khanh Ha’s novel is hauntingly real, embracing the reader with vivid detail and refusing to let go.”—Sheila’s Reviews
“Gritty and believable . . . Difficult to put down.”—Moon City Review
“A beautiful story about a mother’s love for her son and the lengths that she will go to in order to find him. . . . Khanh Ha’s descriptions of the Vietnam countryside were so achingly beautiful that I felt myself being swept away by this book. His realistic depictions of the war are heartbreaking and gut-wrenching. . . . I have to recommend this to anyone reading this review but make sure to clear time in your schedule as you won’t be able to put it down!”—Goodreads (starred review)
“A spectacular story with an incredibly haunting narrative. . . . What a phenomenal novel. The use of setting and atmosphere made it seem almost other-worldly. There was a very peaceful and almost romantic sense of calm when the author was describing the landscape that made me feel really compelled to keep reading.”—Christine’s Book Corner
“The characters were all so fully realized and fleshed out that I felt as though I was having a real conversation with them as I read along. At times it was like I’d stepped into the book and was having tea or traveling through the dense jungle with them. . . . What a moving and thrilling novel this turned out to be! Definitely a five-star novel.”—Toot’s Book Reviews
“It is a book about a group of characters who are tortured and influenced by the past in many ways. . . . I found this book to be a worthwhile and fascinating read and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a well written novel. . . . I don’t give out a 5-star review very often, but this book deserves that plus so much more.”—Bound4Escape Book Reviews
“Poignant . . . I believe that this is the best he’s written so far and I will certainly look forward to reading his next book.”—Nancy Oakes (Reading Avidly)
“A book I cannot put down and I loved how the author invites us to the lives of the two main characters of the book, coupled with the love of a mother who relentlessly searches for the remains of her dead son. A five star for this book.”—International Book Promotion
“Never in my life have I read such a stunning portrayal of Vietnam. The countryside, the cities, the people, the culture, everything was so exquisitely portrayed in this novel that I found myself gasping at some of the descriptions.
Khanh Ha’s version of 1980’s and 1960’s Vietnam was a place that was both naturally beautiful and mercilessly gritty.
This novel is the kind of book that only comes around every once in a long while and the kind that you find yourself thinking about for years to come.”—Mythical Books
“You cannot understand the IndoChina War by reading American authors. You need to read Vietnamese authors who were there; and first and foremost: Mrs. Rossi’s Dream by Khanh Ha.
This novel—Mrs. Rossi’s Dream—is painful in its beauty and coverage. The reader is there, on the ground with the life and death of not just the Americans, but their Vietnamese allies and the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong troops. This is the most realistic and close to the bone recounting that I’ve read about the ground war in Vietnam.
Please, read it. We are farther away in time from the end of the Vietnam war than was the time from the beginning of WWI and the end of WWII.
Please do not forget us. Mrs. Rossi hasn’t.”—D. F. Shafer
“Mrs. Rossi’s Dream is filled with images of beauty and horror.
. . . The landscape and its inhabitants seem to inhabit a space beyond time, a space claimed by loss. The devastation wrecked on culture and individuals, rivers and sentient creatures of all kinds: it creates a density and tactility that connects present-day survivors with those lost in the past.
If pressed to suppose one motivation on the part of the author, in telling not only this story but those in his earlier novels, I would guess it is compassion which drives these words onto the page. In turn, these words on the page can incite compassion in attentive readers.”—Marcie McCauley (Buried in Print)
“Khanh Ha has a literary style that is fresh and so nuanced. He takes a deep dive into his characters and subject. A Vietnamese American, he was a child in Vietnam when the war broke out. I think this experience adds to his style. He has a dreamylike quality that most likely comes from being a young child when he lived in Nam. There are common themes of loneliness, love, longing, compassion, and brutality in his books.
His writing is beautiful even when writing about brutality. . . . The characters haunt me and I just can’t stop thinking about them. . . . Mrs. Rossi’s Dream is a must read for both literary fiction lovers and readers who enjoy books that take place in Vietnam.”—Teddy Rose Book Reviews
“A multi-layered story that leaves a lasting impression . . . Ha is one of the best writers in this genre and his novels always leave the reader with a great deal to think about—especially when it comes to American preconceptions about the Vietnam War. I never say “no” to reading Ha’s books, and this, his third, is the best yet.”—Savvy Verse & Wit
