Vietnam, Fall 2023 ~ Read
Ahead of our trip to Vietnam I wanted to read stories beyond the Vietnam War. Because I know so little about the region, and Vietnam specifically, I ended up reading three books, and was very happy with every one of my choices.
To start in historically chronological order, I picked Bronze Drum: A Novel of Sisters and War by Phong Nguyen. Taking place in medieval Viet Nam, the book is very patriotic yet romantic, dark, yet informative. I loved getting a sense of ancient traditions and customs, and understanding Viet Nam’s millennia old bad blood with China.
My next choice was actually set during the Vietnam War, but it was told from the perspective of two Viet women, a grandmother and her granddaughter. The Mountains Sing by Nguyen Phan Que Mai describes the experiences of a rich landowner family devastated by the Viet Kong and the war between North and South, yet the sympathies never land on either side of the conflict. I loved the perspective of peaceful Vietnamese people, especially women, and how the war impacted sisters and brothers, marriages and mental health, and devastated centuries of hard work and family building.
And lastly, though I believe this book’s events take place in Vietnam before the war, the subject matter makes the timeline less relevant, as the story of The Lover by Marguerite Duras is timeless. The plot line is reminiscent of Nabokov’s Lolita, with the protagonist maybe somewhat older, and the age gap between the man and the 15 year-old girl much smaller. The story is very short, and is a first-person, autobiographical narrative of the woman. The story is based on true events, and Duras does a fantastic job describing the mental state and background trauma of the main character. It is a very short read, but powerful and an interesting glance into French post-modern literary scene. During our stop at Sa Dec, Vietnam, we saw the house of the man’s father, though that particular building did not figure into the story in any significant way. This book reminds us of Vietnam’s colonial legacy, and showcases the absurdity of the ordinary French citizens’ presence in the country so far removed culturally and geographically.
