"A town like this spread gossip like the clap." (p.108) (Simile)
This simile comes from the story "Halflead Bay." It is a humorous comment on the way gossip spreads in a small town, creating drama and animosity. The comparison to the clap, a colloquial name for the STI gonorrhea, shows the narrator's crass, frank voice.
"A sudden sharp crack behind us, like the striking of a giant typewriter hammer" (p.10) (Simile)
This simile comes from the story "Love and Honor and Pity and Pride and Compassion and Sacrifice." It is fitting that Nam compares the sound of a gun going off to a typewriter hammer since he is a writer. The simile shows that he always has writing on his mind, and perhaps that he relates writing and violence in some way.
"The street, like a wound, had closed over the space where it had been" (p.241) (Simile)
This simile appears in the story "The Boat" when the main character Mai is leaving her home forever. By comparing the street to a wound, Le creates a tone of pain, which goes along with Mai's trauma over leaving her family. The comparison to a wound is apt because wounds can heal but will never go back to exactly how they were.
"I took the gun, which felt unexpectedly warm and heavy in my hand, and which gave off a smell like a match being lit in a dark room" (p.47) (Simile)
This simile occurs in the story "Cartagena." It is used by Juan Pablo to describe what he felt just before killing a man who abducted him and Hernando. Juan Pablo's comparison of the smell of a gun to a match shows that, at this point in his life, he was unfamiliar with weapons. The image of a light in a dark room could also represent Juan Pablo's small amount of hope for breaking through the fear that has been overwhelming him.
"In the driver's seat a heavily stubbled youth named Reza steered their car, an ancient Ford, like a bullet into the city" (p.180) (Simile)
This simile appears in the story "Tehran Calling" when Sarah has just arrived in Tehran. She has been very fearful and jumpy ever since getting off the plane, and this simile continues to set a tone of fear by comparing the car to a bullet. This use of figurative language shows that Sarah expects violence to occur while she is in Iran and demonstrates to the reader that she may perceive events as acts of violence.
