In my opinion, this is a very fine book. I am very interested in the idea that parent-child relationships are very important (critical?) in shaping both our identity and our sense of self worth. This book explores this territory in a context in which I grew up - western society in the era of the war in Vietnam. I liked the way Maclear's characters and the situations in which they found themselves were portrayed in a way which showed their emotional responses and yet was not over-sentimental. They could see that things were wrong in their lives but couldn't really identify the exact nature of those failings. The only reason I didn't give five stars was that I found the child Iris to be a little to precocious for me to relate to. Just by the way, I prefer the Australian edition title: "A Thousand Tiny Truths" - it seems to embody more of the book content. And a big thank-you to Beth Powning, whose tweet about Maclear led me to track down this book. Unfortunately, thanks to publishing business practice, her books are pretty hard to get here in Australia. ( )

maclear is such a great writer. i feel like she really got into the head of this mature-before-his-years character. the idea of belonging - where one fits it? - and identity - what is their identity? how can you know yourself if you don't know your parents? - are expressed beautifully in this novel.

my only regret is that because of work commitments and lack of time, i could not read this book in a shorter amount of time. i think i would have been impacted even more strongly had i been able to read it over a couple of days, rather than more than a week.

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21-feb-13: this is a review in progress, sorry for the mess. :)

Where do we belong in this world? If we aren't even certain of our own origins, how can we possibly make our way in this world without a foundation of support and love? Especially "How?" if the person trying to figure this out is an eleven-year-old boy?

In a beautiful and poetic novel, Kyo Maclear looks at these questions and tries to help makes sense of a world that is determined to judge, label and put everyone in a tidy, little box. For a boy who is neither black nor white, someone who is without parents and just wants to belong, finding the answers to the important questions is a lifelong search. ( )

The first act in London drags a bit, but the story picks up once Marcel is in Saigon. ( )