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9781558490857

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This is a lucid and readable translation. It will appeal to a variety of audiences, including historians, literary critics, students, and the general public.""""—Qui-Phiet Tran, Schreiner College """"This is one of the most significant novels written in Vietnam since the end of the war. Le Luu is popular and well-respected, and is regarded as something like the 'Hemingway of Vietnam.'""""—Larry Heinemann, author of Close Quarters and Paco's Story

This earnest portrayal of North Vietnamese life from the 1950s through the 1980s offers fascinating details about the village culture from which its hopeful protagonist Sai hopes to raise himself. A brief description of his combat experiences precedes an unfortunately labored account of Sai's failed marriages and career efforts - an account also burdened by overemphatic socialist proselytizing and by a portrait of Sai's combative second wife, Chau, that verges on misogyny. Still, this first English translation of such vividly detailed fiction - which was very popular when first published in 1986 - stands as the best and most involving novel we've seen from, and about, northern Vietnam. (Kirkus Reviews)

This is a lucid and readable translation. It will appeal to a variety of audiences, including historians, literary critics, students, and the general public. -Qui-Phiet Tran, Schreiner College This is one of the most significant novels written in Vietnam since the end of the war. Le Luu is popular and well-respected, and is regarded as something like the 'Hemingway of Vietnam.' -Larry Heinemann, author of Close Quarters and Paco's Story

Author Information

Born in Hai Hung Province, Le Luu was an army courier on the Ho Chi Minh trail and a combat correspondent during the American War. He is an editor for the literary magazine Van Nghe Quan Doi. Writer-translator Ngo Vinh Hai and poet--literary scholar Nguyen Ba Chung are both natives of Viet Nam and now live near Boston. Kevin Bowen is adjunct professor of English and director of the William Joiner Center and David Hunt is professor of history, both at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

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