SO HAPPINESS TO MEET YOU
Nonfiction Lock you door. People very friendly. SO HAPPINESS TO MEET YOU: Foolishly, Blissfully Stranded in Vietnam By Karin Esterhammer 259 pp. Prospect Park Books Reviewed by Marty Carlock It’s 2008, and the recession has destroyed non-essential jobs like journalism (Esterhammer’s profession) and selling soundtracks from old films (her husband’s business) (honest, I’m not making this up). They realize they can’t afford their L. A. house. “So,” she writes, “I did what I always do to ease existential pain. I bought airline tickets…While America was closing up shop, it seemed perfectly reasonable to leave the country and head to Southeast Asia.” Esterhammer and her husband, Robin, had visited Vietnam two years before. Her recollection was of an intriguing culture but, more to the point, of a tightwad’s dream: a huge bowl of pho cost 85 cents; parking a motorbike all day cost eleven cents; a gorgeous linen blouse, three bucks. And the country’s growing economy made learning English a ver...