The Hundred-Year Flood

Lovely, charming, quietly engaging book. If you love characters that go deep, this book is for you. I don't think any book is perfect, but I do wish the star function allowed half stars. I think this is more like a 4.5.

This book didn't have wild ups and downs, but it builds steadily upward and held me for reasons I can't even quite get yet. All I know is that I stayed up to finish it--and I finished this book in two days because I couldn't leave it alone. Maybe haunting is the word--but not darkly haunting. It's more emotionally haunting, if that makes sense.

Happy reading!

For a first-time author, a number of literary aspects of the novel were quite good. I was reminded of a younger JD Salinger. Or perhaps Updike. However, literary merit is also defined as "the power to endure", at least that is what Walter Van Tilburg Clark said way back in the 1950's at the "Howl" obscenity trial. He went on further to say that literary merit includes the sincerity of the writer and the seriousness of purpose.

The Hundred-Year Flood doesn't fail on these counts, not totally. There is no doubt about the author's sincerity. No one works on a project for this length of time without believing they have something meaningful to say or carthartic to release. But, as a reader, there has to be a "hook" to make me want to share that journey. One would think that a story of Prague and the 2002 flooding would be sufficient, but it was not.

Tee is a very immature, self-centered, selfish Korean-American. Despite at least some reasonable expectation that a young man in his early 20's is going to have an attenuated view of reality, he has very little empathy. The novel deals principally with feelings of how Tee is affected by the universe. We see very little empathic activity on his part....a colder Holden Caulfield?

So, where does that leave us? Me? I suppose I'd recommend Catcher in the Rye to someone who hasn't read it, and any number of travel writers on Prague. But, I wouldn't recommend this novel. Tee is not someone that I liked or sympathized with.

Meh.

This story is a true masterpiece! The characters are well developed and the unique backgrounds blend perfectly into the present and into each other. I cannot wait to re-read this or more from the author. It's a must read!

The reading was tedious. I stayed with the book to its completion because I was intrigued by the story but the author's writing style seemed to want to intentionally confuse the reader until the last chapter. I was moved by story's conclusion.

I first discovered the work of Matthew Salesess when I read his novella The Last Repatriate, about a young American soldier’s journey home at the end of the Korean War.

Like that book, The Hundred Year Flood is the story of a young man’s quest and journey. It is a story of discovery, about what lies both within us as individuals and what lies in the outside world we inhabit. Beautifully rendered and finely crafted, written in prose that is at turns powerful and poignant, humorous and tender, and always wonderfully imaginative, The Hundred Year Flood is the debut novel from a young writer who possesses the rare gift of both talent and heart.

It is said that Matthew Salesess spent ten years writing this book. In a world that grows faster and faster each day around us, it is a true joy to find a writer who still dedicates such time and care to his craft and to the words he sets down on the page and sends forth into the world.
If you hold literature as something sacred and carry a true love for myth and storytelling in your heart, a true love for the written word, this reader cannot recommend the work of Matthew Salesess highly enough. We are lucky to have him, and The Hundred Year Flood may be his finest work yet.

Love the epic quality of this lyrical novel. Tee is a fascinating and flawed character. I was intrigued by what he was fleeing from and where he fled to and the love story. Books like this where the telling of the story is as intriguing as the story itself are the ones I enjoy best. Looking forward to reading more books by this author.

It's interesting in that it has great symbolism, depth, and concept, but it was painful to get through. It's definitely not an "easy read". The story was too analytical to the point where the plot was entirely lost. It was also difficult to follow because the narration constantly jumped around without establishing motive, so you don't get a thorough understanding of anything being said in the novel.

This book is not just great; it has forever altered the ways in which I experience anxiety, pain, and (most importantly) pleasure. This sensual roundhouse kick of a novel will crush your heart, while other novels merely blow on it. Salesses is a ridiculously gifted author who is not afraid of anything, ever. You can tell by how he writes. Long live Salesses.

A hauntingly beautiful story of a young man's struggle to come to terms with his origins and explore his own identity. Well-written and poetic, the novel is set in Boston and Prague; following the young protagonist Tee through his journey to self-discovery and acceptance, as he finds the courage to face the truth behind his murky adoption and his adoptive parent's troubled marriage. An excellent read!

What a gorgeous book. Matthew Salesses’s writing is haunting and sad, wise and true. I found I often underlined sentences I wanted to keep with me. When the novel ended, I wished I didn't have to leave the world he’d made. I’m already looking forward to rereading it.