The Headmaster's Wager

The Headmaster's Wager is an enthralling and outstanding read written by Vincent Lam. This is Lam's first novel and i can safely say I am now a fan. This epic story from Vincent's own background and heritage has everything you could ask from a book. From bloody and horrific tales of war and torture, to a budding love story, heart aching and the traditional values.

Percival Chen is the headmaster of the most respected English school in Saigon. He is also a compulsive gambler, womanizer and strict father. Fiercely proud of his Chinese heritage, he is quick to spot the business opportunities rife in a divided country and manipulates government policies wherever possible. When his only son gets into trouble with the Vietnamese authorities, Percival begins to understand the heights of any wager made.

Percival sends his son away and finds comfort with the beautiful Jacqueline whom he won during at a high stakes game of mahjong. However Jacqueline is not all that she seems and has a past that could tear everything Percival has worked for and loves.

Personally, it was the depiction of the Japanese treatment of the Vietnamese through Percival's eyes during the war and how Vincent writes a true story of history, entwined with the fascinating character of Percival that makes this book a fantastic read.

There is absolutely no doubt that the Headmaster’s Wager is a real page turner. Right from the start I kept saying to myself in the evenings ... just one more chapter... just one more chapter. The novel has also a simultaneous feel of a big saga (since it centers around four generations of Chinese men who ended up in Saigon in search of so-called Gold Mountain) and very intimate portrait of people that must have been closed to the author himself. The story is told by Percival, a headmaster of the private school that teaches English until the communist takeover. It is also a bit of the historical novel chronicling the interesting bit of the history of modern Vietnam and the Chinese perspective gives it an additional interesting angle. On the top of this all it is also a bit of the love story, a very complex one but I will not say anything about it for the fear of spoiling some surprises for those of you who have not read that book yet. There is a lot more to this novel too: friendships, hardships, lives caught in massive political upheavals, betrayals, lost dreams and not to be missed fantastic descriptions of Mahjong (I am still not sure how the game is played but the description of an important round of it will keep you on the edge of the seat). Overall I greatly enjoyed the story and the way it was told my only issue was the representation of women: as in this book they are uniformly calculated, self-centered, weak, vain and snobbish characters...