The Boat is a collection of seven short stories set around the globe. Le takes us from Iowa to the slums of Medellín; from New York City to a fishing town in Australia; from Hiroshima to Tehran; ending the collection in the South China Sea. The stories span from the Second World War to the early 21st century. Each story offers a different character with a unique voice meeting an existential challenge. Two of the stories focus on Nam Le's country of birth, and Le has commented that his complex relationship with Vietnam caused him to have a complex relationship with the text itself and the material with which it dealt.
Previous to this collection, Le’s primary experience was with writing...
