"A beautifully messy love letter to Vietnam that will make you book a ticket."
This is not a guidebook. It is not a list of hotels or a collection of must-see attractions. It is something rarer: the story of a traveler who fell inconveniently, life-alteringly in love with a country.
Roy Shiba arrived in Vietnam with color-coded spreadsheets and carefully planned itineraries. Then the humidity hit. The plastic stools appeared. The bowls of pho changed everything.
From the chaotic symphony of Hanoi's motorbike horns to the silent gold of Sapa's rice terraces, from the bitter-sweet revelation of egg coffee to the floating markets of the Mekong Delta, The S-Shaped Heart follows one wanderer's journey through the North, Central, and South of Vietnam-and into the hearts of the people who welcomed him.
Meet the grandmother who refused payment for a bánh mì. The Hmong farmer who taught a stranger to plant rice with cold mud on his hands. The old man near the DMZ who lost his family to war and still offered tea. Through intimate, gorgeously written vignettes, Shiba discovers that Vietnam is not a destination-it is a wavelength. A way of slowing down, sharing everything, and embracing the cracked sidewalk.
Perfect for readers of The Salt Path, A Fortune Teller Told Me, and the travel writing of Pico Iyer and Anthony Bourdain. This book will leave you hungry for noodles, thirsty for cà phê sữa đá, and aching to book a flight to the S-Shaped Land.
What readers will find inside:
The art of crossing the street in Saigon (and the life lessons hidden in it)
Why a 25-cent plastic stool can teach more than any meditation app
The real difference between Northern and Southern pho
Ha Long Bay, the Hai Van Pass, and the caves that feel like the earth's lungs
Tết, ancestor altars, and a culture that never says goodbye-only "see you again"
"An exquisite, soulful memoir. Vietnam has never felt so alive on the page." - (Early reader)
