“Green Coffee Girl” is a term used in postwar Vietnam to refer to sex workers who often frequented coffeeshops. While on a walk one day after the war, Kien sees a man abusing a “Green Coffee Girl,” so he goes to her aid and fights off her aggressor. Later, he realizes that he knew her brother from the war—in fact, Kien was the one to deliver the news of her brother’s death. The “Green Coffee Girl” offers to have sex with Kien as a way of thanking him for his protection, but he simply gives her a place to rest and some money before seeing her out.
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The Green Coffee Girl Character Timeline in The Sorrow of War
The timeline below shows where the character The Green Coffee Girl appears in The Sorrow of War. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Pages 56-79
...the woman, chasing off her attacker. He then realized that the woman was a “ Green Coffee Girl ,” the popular name for sex workers who frequented coffeehouses to meet up with clients....
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When the “ Green Coffee Girl ” got into Kien’s bed, she fell asleep almost instantly, and it was only upon...
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