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readthemol's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
✨Dust Child✨
Wow, oh wow, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is an incredible storyteller. The Mountains Sing quickly became a favorite of mine when I read it last year, and Dust Child will absolutely be a favorite of mine this year!
Dust Child seamlessly intertwines the stories of Trang and Quỳnh (sisters who become bar girls in Sài Gòn during the Vietnam war), Dan (an American veteran who returns to Vietnam with his wife nearly 40 years after the war), and Phong (an Amerasian, who is trying to find his parents after being left at an orphanage as a baby).
I devoured this story - I couldn’t read fast enough, yet didn’t want it to end! The characters felt so real - their stories will stick with me for a long time. I didn’t know about the tens of thousands of Amerasians (one American parent, one Vietnamese parent) that were born out of the war and how horribly they were treated, being referred to as “children of the dust” and completely ostracized. Similar to The Mountains Sing, Dust Child opened my eyes to so much of the pain, fear, and trauma the Vietnamese (women especially) experienced during and after the Vietnam War. It was powerful the way Quế Mai portrayed the trauma of the war from both sides - she really encapsulated what the poet Nguyen Duy wrote: “At the end of each war, whoever wins, the people lose.” This year marks fifty years since the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, yet there’s so much still to learn.
While used in a different context in the story, this quote felt very relevant to America right now: “Those in power feared free minds, and nothing unlocked thinking like literature.”
Dust Child is out tomorrow (3/14) and I highly, highly recommend picking up a copy! Thank you @nguyen & @algonquin for the eARC of Dust Child ❤️ I can’t wait to grab a physical copy for my collection!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Pregnancy, Antisemitism, Abandonment, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Vomit, and War
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