Yes, you can judge some books by their covers, and this is one of them. The title on the cover, depicted in lower case with Vietnamese diacritics over the letters, exhibits a shocking insensitivity to Vietnamese language and culture. The novel is no better. Anyone with the slightest familiarity with Vietnamese people--particularly those who came to the United States--will not recognize the characters. Apparently, the author did not take advantage of her work as a refugee coordinator to get to know these people in any depth. Their depiction is so shallow as to be insulting.