The Frangipani Hotel by Violet Kupersmith

 

In this anthology, the stories all have a connection to Vietnam and its rich history of folk tales and stories.  In one, a teenage girl working in an all night grocery finds an old man behind the dumpster, naked.  Both of them are Vietnamese immigrants, the girl's parents being the immigrants in her case.  He tells her a fantastic story that since he was a teenager, he periodically turns into a boa constrictor.  She doesn't really believe him but takes him home and discovers that his story may be true.

In the book's title story, the Frangipani Hotel is an older Vietnamese hotel that doesn't attract many tourists.  But the receptionist finds a fully clad woman in an overflowing bathtub and she remains in the hotel doing strange things until he finally learns her truth.

In another story, an American woman goes to Vietnam where she works in the embassy, verifying stories about children with American fathers whose mothers hope this means they can get passage to America.  She is torn between a Nordic lover and a Vietnamese one.  Another story has three men visiting and making art.  They are known as the Calligrapher, the Poet and the Guitarist.  The Calligrapher tells a story of his time in the war and why he is cursed ever since and the other two slowly start to believe him.

Violet Kupersmith is the child of an American father and a Vietnamese mother.  She was born here but her work explores her Vietnamese culture.  Kupersmith has lived in Vietnam at various times but mostly resides in the United States.  Her stories are dreamy then snap the reader into a horrifying reality.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those who prefer short stories.