If you can navigate its overly descriptive prose and the excess of metaphors, Catfish and Mandala provides an honest and complex look at a generation and the modern landscape of Vietnam.
The hieroglyphic qualities and broad brush strokes of two of his masterpieces, "Ancient Script Mandala" (1968) and "Frolicking Birds and Beasts in Yin Script" (1969), are clearly influenced by the more primitive scripts found in bronze castings.
She could find that place if she needed to, but for now she just lightened her grip on the steering wheel, then stared in contemplation at the recessed Chrysler logo at its center, as if it were some sort of ancient mandala-like emblem.