In her follow up novel to The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai writes of the Dust Child, the child of mixed race who remains in Vietnam after the wIn her follow up novel to The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai writes of the Dust Child, the child of mixed race who remains in Vietnam after the war, a visible remnant because of skin color, features, eye color, or type of hair. These children were sometimes the offspring of true relationships, perhaps more often the offspring of desperate wartime affairs or attacks, or possibly a woman’s job as a hostess or bar girl, one of the few ways a female could make money in wartime South Vietnam.
We have essentially three basic points of view/stories that run through the book. The first is that of Phong, presented in 2016, but reliving various parts of his history as he tries to determine how he can get to the United States and find his father. As an infant, he was left at an orphanage. He has no knowledge of his parents, only knowing that his father is black. He has been cursed as a Dust Child, bullied and beaten in childhood and finding jobs difficult as an adult.
Next we have Trang and Quynh, two sisters who leave their parents’ farm in 1969 for Sai Gon in hopes of paying their parents’ debts. They are introduced to the life of bar girls. In that life, Trang, now known as Kim at work, meets a young American helicopter pilot, Dan. In 2016, Dan, accompanied by his wife Linda, finally visits Vietnam on the advice of others who think it may help with his severe PTSD. He also has a secret agenda to look into his past, find Kim.
The author gathers these stories together and allows the strands to overlap in 2016 in unexpected and satisfying ways. As she writes in her afterword, she has worked with and interviewed Amerasians and American veterans searching for each other and used the experience as inspiration for this book.
I recommend Dust Child. It gives a very different look on the Vietnam experience, a war experience that always has effects beyond the battlefield that can last for generations.
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review....more
The House of Doors, by Tan Twan Eng, is a work of historical fiction set in the British colony of Penang, Malaya during three time periods, the earlieThe House of Doors, by Tan Twan Eng, is a work of historical fiction set in the British colony of Penang, Malaya during three time periods, the earliest in 1910 and the next in 1921. A prologue and postscript are set on a farm in South Africa, far from the primary activity of the novel.
As the novel opens Lesley Hamlyn and her husband Robert have learned that Robert’s long-ago university friend, Somerset Maugham, is in Asia and will soon be in Malaya. He and his secretary will soon be their houseguests. It is during their two week visit that Lesley shares with “Willie” some stories of interesting events in Penang and Malaya that happened during 1910, including a lengthy visit by Sun Yat Sen.
To be continued….
Thanks to Bloomsbury Publishing and NetGalley for an e-arc of this book. The review is my own....more
Now I know why several friends have mentioned that this book has special meaning for them. I've never had a reading experience quite like this. A womaNow I know why several friends have mentioned that this book has special meaning for them. I've never had a reading experience quite like this. A woman writing from her older years about her teenage experiences in Viet Nam with her Chinese lover, but also with her family. And also of her experience of Viet Nam itself--the natural world, the skies and trees and people, and customs both strange and familiar.
The book is an experiential wonder, slipping between past and present, the concrete observations of the moment and whimsical, beautiful thoughts of the natural world and the history of mankind. I loved so many of these interludes and cited many in my status updates.
And there is her much older lover, a man some 12 years older than this 15 year old girl who manifestly shouts to the world how strongly she does not love him. But what the truth was/is for her only to know:
For her too it was when the boat uttered its first farewell, when the gangway was hauled up and the tugs had started to tow and draw the boat away from land, that she had wept. She'd wept without letting anyone see her tears, because he was Chinese and one oughtn't to weep for that kind of lover. Wept without letting her mother or her younger brother see she was sad, without letting them see anything, as was the custom between them. (p 111)
Was she crying for lost love, for her lost youth, for lost memories. We won't know. But there is despair as she leaves for France.
I feel that I have now truly read an actual soulful book. Duras' soul seems to permeate the entire piece in all its contradictions of emotions and feelings, observations of life and family, loves and hates and fears and hopes. For me the sometimes disconnected style was perfect for presenting and reflecting all of this.
I have been thinking about this book off and on since I completed it, thinking how to review all that happens here. Flanagan presents an unforgettableI have been thinking about this book off and on since I completed it, thinking how to review all that happens here. Flanagan presents an unforgettable portrait of life in one of the infamous Japanese prison camps in Thailand tasked with the impossible job of creating railway lines through jungles and mountains. We read of a particular group of Australian soldier POWs led by Dorrigo Evans, a doctor and surgeon. And we read of some of the captors who consider these prisoners as failures who are worthless in allowing themselves to be captured alive. Their fates, therefore, belong to the emperor and are of no account.
The framing story, moving back and forth in time in the twentieth century, shows some of Tasmanian history and, more specifically the early and later life of Evans: his impoverished childhood, his searching for love, eventual marriage, wandering eye and lack of focus in life. Elements of the love story were the part I had the most difficulty with, but not enough to subtract from my overall admiration for this work.
The aspect of the framing story that I found stronger relates to those who actually returned from the camp, both Australian and Japanese: how they tried to live with their experiences and memories, their families, their futures.
Flanagan's father did, in fact serve in WWII and was a prisoner in a railway camp. I imagine this book may be both a tribute to him and the many others involved while also being a strong testimony to the horrors of war, the weakness as well as strength of heroes, the need to understand our enemies, the overall complexity of human beings.
This is a difficult book but it is also an important book, I believe, for these reasons.