Saigon

Saigon is the city in Vietnam where Lan and Rose formerly lived. After leaving her arranged marriage, Lan becomes a sex worker for American GIs in Saigon during the war. Shortly thereafter she meets, falls in love with, and marries Paul. Together they raise Lan's daughters. The narrator is also born in Saigon, but the family flees just two years later. Throughout the novel, however, the narrator recalls Lan and Rose's litany of stories about their life in Saigon, both before and during the war.

Hartford

Hartford is the city in Connecticut where the narrator, Rose, and Lan live for the majority of the novel. Together the three share a tiny apartment, in which many of the narrator's childhood memories take place. Because the apartment is located in a difficult area of the city, the narrator often recalls hearing gunshots in the neighborhood, which would upset Rose and...