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rachel101's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Moderate: Hate crime, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Suicide, Violence, and War
nini23's review against another edition
3.0
The positives first. This multigenerational sweeping saga of the Trần family told via alternating narrators of Trần Diệu Lan and her granddaughter Hương is clearly a labour of love. The opening scene of grandmother Trần carrying Hương on her back desperately seeking an unoccupied bomb shelter while American B-52 bombers are approaching Hà Nội is riveting (Quế Mai shares her inspiration for this opening here https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/author-spotlight-nguyen-phan-que-mai). I also really liked the Vietnamese proverbs sprinkled throughout the book, well-suited to the situation at hand. The Vietnamese culture and sense of family that permeates the whole novel makes it a rich offering.
As readers, we are given a whirlwind snapshot of the tumultuous events that Việt Nam and her people go through: the French Occupation, the American War, Japanese invasion, the Great Hunger, Land Reform, North-South conflict, formation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. By necessity, there is no in-depth focus on any one event, each of them a momentous one forming historical epochs. I personally would have preferred more of a zooming in, as it felt like this family was incessantly pounded by one traumatic event after another. For example, I would have liked to read more about how North Vietnamese people like Auntie Hanh and progeny are bullied and discriminated against in Sài Gòn in the late 1970s due to remaining acrimony between North and South.
Not all the inflictors of misery and war (foreign or internal) are appropriated the same blame. Hương on reading an American book realizes 'they're just like us,' the 7.6 million tons of bombs and over 20 million gallons of herbicides like Agent Orange dropped by American aircraft curiously given short shrift. The latter causing not only widespread ecological damage but physiologic human harm is mainly illustrated through karmic retribution for the evil Communist supporters. The peasants who have the gall to demand land from this benevolent angelic wealthy landowner family are singularly depicted as avaricious, uncouth, filthy. At times, we are given an inadvertent glimpse at the inequalities; while neighbours are scrabbling for food, grandma and granddaughter are surreptitiously designing and building a spacious three bedroom house. To appease local fury, they 'generously' manipulate the local council into digging a local well too. Crumbs for the sparrows. As young Hương is able to afford more conspicuous material goods such as a bicycle and foreign books, her friends/neighbours shun her but they are just jealous and she doesn't need them anyway because she has her book characters to keep her company. If you want to find out who the good characters are, they are the ones who read. Excepting reading communist propaganda, of course. Tâm, Hương's beau, might as well have a halo over his head other than the stain of having a relative on the 'wrong' side. It’s like watching a simplistic morality play. I am also rather appalled by the self-loathing that Ngoc, Hương's mother, was made to go through for what is a sensible decision. In addition, the writing of her character as a doctor especially in her personal journal is not realistic.
Some of the 'lessons' imparted seem like platitudes in the form of aphorisms - everything happens for a reason, if we all read each other, there would be no war.
I never really felt like I had a good sense of the characters or any progress in characterization. Trần Diệu Lan is emblematic of resilience, of blazoning courage, of being a survivor against all odds. She values her burgeoning family, even the brainwashed ones, welcoming them warmly back to the family bosom once they see the erroneousness of their views. She forgives serenely all who wronged her. She reminds me of the stories that my mother told me of my grandmother: she was the bestest mother, wise and forgiving beyond belief, survivor of the Japanese occupation, miraculously managing to feed the large family against great hardship. It's part of the family legend that some rich neighbour offered to buy some of the children but my grandparents steadfastly refused. I don't doubt she was that but I also wonder what kept her up at night, what personal resentments she harboured that she never confided in her children, what aspirations she had. The last time I spoke to my grandmother before her passing was when she was in the midst of advanced dementia and diabetic complications but I will never forget how she momentarily broke out of her fog to ask me if I thought there was a god.
What I am clumsily expressing is that I think the book would have benefitted from more nuance but despite the heavy-handedness and bias, I still appreciate having read it. Lest it be misunderstood, I would welcome reading more Vietnamese perspective books and definitely not any from foreign aggressors/occupiers.
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Blood, Gore, Rape, and Addiction
Minor: Ableism and Excrement
sterreg's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The change of faith is possible. As long as we follow the road of goodness, strength will find its way. A gorgeous story of family, broken hearts and loss, and how the family bounced back through hardship of a broken country.
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Miscarriage, and Sexual assault
moniipeters's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Graphic: Child abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Abortion, Ableism, Addiction, Blood, Grief, Classism, Colonisation, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Genocide, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Murder, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Abandonment, Child death, Gore, Kidnapping, and War
greatlibraryofalexandra's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
It could also be frustrating; despite how much I loved the book, I often felt like the characters were almost too naïve deliberately so the author could use them as a mouthpiece for philosophical arguments; i.e. Huong being 15 and not understanding what rape is so that the book can make the argument that no one should be shamed for violence inflicted upon them. There were other instances of this that tested believability, but for me it didn't drag down the impact of the novel. I'd recommend this to anyone and it will have a permanent place on my bookshelf and rotation of revered books.
Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual assault, Cancer, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Genocide, Grief, Gun violence, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, and War
singout's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Colonisation, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Mental illness, Torture, Violence, War, Murder, Gore, Abandonment, and Body horror
lenaschrn's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Torture, Abandonment, Cancer, Murder, Alcoholism, Body horror, Terminal illness, War, Blood, Death, Gore, Grief, Physical abuse, Rape, Death of parent, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Child abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Infertility and Toxic friendship
bookswithgeorgia's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Grief, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Pregnancy, Rape, Racism, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, and War
unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Gore, Grief, Murder, Physical abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, and War
alexhaydon's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
Graphic: War, Violence, Torture, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Body horror, Gun violence, Grief, Gore, Miscarriage, Murder, Medical trauma, Medical content, and Abandonment
Moderate: Rape and Alcoholism