## Metadata - Author: [[Andrew X. Pham]] - Full Title: Catfish and Mandala - Category: #books ## Highlights - Tuan didn’t know his secret. No one in the prison did. “They’ll let you go soon. You only violated martial law.” Tuan murmured himself to silence. There were nervous movements in the hut. Someone in the far corner retched. The loudspeakers crackled and screeched to life, whipping a charge of adrenaline through the room. “Bastards!” someone hissed in the dark. “Why at night? Why do they only call at night?” Silence answered him. “If they are going to kill me, I want to die in the sun,” the man said, his voice rising on a false note of courage. “Why do they only come at night?” A voice replied from across the darkness. “They are afraid of what they do. It is easier to kill in the dark.” Someone else said, “No laws, no reasons, no mercy.” ([Location 213](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004L62EU8&location=213)) - “It is the way of the Viet Cong. I know them,” an old voice said. It was Khuong, the fisherman. He was in his sixties. He had given fifteen years to the Nationalist Army. The first man shouted out the window, “Cowards!” “Shut up!” a new voice trilled. “Yes, shut up. It’ll go hard for us if you don’t.” The murmurs of consent angered the first speaker. His voice, tinged with fear, became a shout. “You’re all cowards. You wait like chickens—they kill you like chickens. When they kill me, I’m not going to kneel. No shooting in the back of the head. I’ll look at the eyes of the man who pulls the trigger.” Khuong replied, “You won’t. It is dark. The night hides everything.” The loudspeakers blared. “Stand outside your hut when your name is called.” Without preamble it rattled off names like a shopping list. “Nguyen Van Tung, Do Nhan Anh, Tran Truc Dang …” A wail pierced the hut. A man across the room convulsed on the ground. The loudspeakers boomed, “Vo Ba Sang.” Oh, God. Not the auto mechanic. “Le Tin Khuong.” The village fisherman. “Dinh Yen Than.” The pig farmer. “Vu Tan Khai.” The town storekeeper. They were killing all the locals linked to the Nationalists. People were turning in their own neighbors. ([Location 221](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B004L62EU8&location=221))