I blame modern living. No one has salt in their food anymore, no one smokes and electric heating is prevalent. Traditional practices for killing a manananggal include applying salt, garlic, ash, or fire to the lower half, thereby preventing the upper torso from reuniting with it. If it fails to recombine before sunrise, the creature is believed to die.
Halfway through, now. It's absolutely rivetting. Halfway through, page 279, the NVA still haven't reached Saigon, ie it's not just about that very end. Despite all I've seen and read of the Vietnam War, this is chock full of stuff I never knew about - and possibly no wonder as, while Snepp had it published in '77, the CIA had him prosecuted (for what amounts to compromising America's reputation by reporting how it actually comported itself). And it's not just about the fall of Saigon, but the build-up to it from before Watergate, Nixon promising to resume bombing, and Hanoi tentatively sending NVA regiments through the DMZ and slowly realising they can keep going. This is about the evacuation and panic and bravery and stupidity, loyalty and treachery, mobs, ARVN deserters and murderers, city by city, region by region. Nobody appears to have actually disputed his account in nearly 50 years.
