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Uyen Roland

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first registered 09.08.12

last online 21 days ago

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about me

I have written a lot of non-fiction before, but ‘Alcoholic Rice’ is my first novel.


I am finding my feet here at authonomy, and really appreciate those who have read and reviewed my first chapters. I will prioritise my comments on your books as follow:

- books written by those who have commented on my book.
- books suggested to me by their authors, via my messages.
- books that I browsed authonomy and like the look of.

I am a voracious reader and love literary fiction. I live 20 minutes by train from London, in Hertfordshire, and strictly adhere to Colm Tóibín’s last two in his 10 rules on writing fiction.

- No going to London.
- No going anywhere else either.

Just joking! (well, partly)

favourite books

- 'Les Miserables', Victor Hugo

- 'The Age of Innocence', Edith Wharton

- 'Down and Out in Paris and London', George Orwell

- 'Gone with the Wind', Margaret Mitchell

- 'London Observed', Doris Lessing

- 'The Wind in the Willows', Kenneth Grahame (I'm only half way through this one, but already knew it's a favourite)

my websites

    

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my books

Alcoholic Rice

Uyen Roland

A novel about London's Vietnamese boat people, the roles of the past in dreams of the future, and the search for the meanings of life.


Thuy Nguyen looks like ‘bright young things’, holding a high-flying job in marketing and living in an exclusive West London area with boyfriend Stephen Palmer, who is a reluctant banker, quiet, dreamy, sometimes naïve, with a rebellious streak.


What few people know is that Thuy is gripped by her past as one of the Vietnamese boat people in the early 1980s. Despite the trauma at an early age when she escaped Vietnam with her family on a rickety boat and lived at Chimawan refugee camp in Hong Kong, she is a happy, optimistic character. However, because of that rite of passage, Thuy is obsessed with food and reminiscence about a childhood friend, Quan, a nine-year-old Vietnamese boy she befriended at Chimawan, a microcosm of Vietnam’s boat people society.


Set in modern-day London but giving interwoven fictional and historical details of Hong Kong’s Chimawan refugee camp in the 1980s, ‘ALCOHOLIC RICE’ gives a glimpse into the life of Vietnamese immigrants in Britain, the roles of the past in dreams of the future, and the search for meanings of middle-class life. And lovers of Oriental food will be in for a real treat.

 

my friends

KMac23
KMac23
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gingerknucklehairs
gingerknucklehairs
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Kenneth Edward Lim
Kenneth Edward Lim
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Lenny Banks
Lenny Banks
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mdws77
mdws77
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Casimir Greenfield
Casimir Greenfield
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latest

Tod Schneider wrote 75 days ago

Greetings my friend, A brief note to my kind friends who said nice t....

Robert M. Starr wrote 105 days ago

Hi Uyen, I was drawn to your story, because my younger daughter's ....

gingerknucklehairs wrote 136 days ago

Sure will. I'm a little behind with things after the holiday time, bu....

KMac23 wrote 144 days ago

Hi Uyen, I've been keeping an eye on your book, as there are some on....

Software wrote 152 days ago

Hello Uyen, Hope you are well. Maybe you would like to try out my....

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my comments

latest

I wrote 161 days ago

I only intended to read the first few chapters but found myself completely hooked, and I finished all ten. You have a knack of surprising and enthralling readers through fast-paced scenes and extraordinary details. It was a real shock finding out that Marie was in her forties in the first chapters, ... view book

I wrote 175 days ago

I enjoyed reading the first chapters of your book. Your descriptions are rich, intense (in a good way) and lively, making readers imagine the scene vividly. Having grown up in the Far East myself, I identify with a lot of details and find them authentic. I found the historical note at the start ... view book

I wrote 225 days ago

I'm more a Literary Fiction than Crime Fiction reader, but I feel from 'Slow Poison' that you have combined the two exquisitely, with literary prose and a fast-paced, thrilling plot. There are quite a few characters in the first chapter and I struggle a little to keep up with all of them, but I gues... view book

I wrote 225 days ago

Hi Lenny, I read the first three chapters of 'Tide and Time: At the Rock' with interest. I think you've got a good idea and drawn some good experience working with youth in this book, e.g. knowledge of body language etc. I think you should describe how Rich looks (because I just realised I myself... view book

I wrote 272 days ago

Hi Jo, I really enjoyed reading your story. The opening is how I imagine what would happen to the family on John Watson Nicol's painting 'Lochaber No More' (they were Scottish but it didn't matter, still a bittersweet portrait of immigrants to the New World in the 1890s). 'Who Killed the Pres... view book

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