Linh Dinh weaves a dysfunctional family saga that doubles as a portrait of Vietnam in the last 50 years. Protagonists Kim Lan and Hoang Long marry in Saigon during the Vietnam War, uniting in a setting that allows Dinh’s dark, deadpan humour to flourish. Describing his mushrooming cast of characters in unsentimental and sometimes absurd ways, Dinh embraces contradictions with the surreal exuberance of Matthew Sharpe and the stylistic elan of Italo Calvino.