Bao Ninh: The Sorrow of War

Hamlet

Hamlet

Reader
Having recently read the NYT bestseller MATTERHORN, a 'big fat book' [according to the Liam system of classification!] I was immediately transported back to an earlier read printed in 1994, The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh. (I can't recall when I got to it, found it).

Whereas Matterhorn is well written and disturbing The Sorrow of War is a book brimming with humanity and suffering. Having only read American accounts of the war, it was quite a splash when it came out and wasn't so much a case of just 'showing the conflict from the other side' but showing how human beings are chewed up and destroyed in the process of war. As reviewers on Amazon have said: it is probably one of the most touching books you'll ever read.

I'm generally not one for endless accounts of war in fiction, but when the writer can write, it's a genre that can really deliver experience of life like no other, another exceptional read, quality of writing, the visual imagery, was FIRST LIGHT, the account of a Spitfire Pilot during WWII and the Battle of Britain, also a BBC TV programme.
 
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K

kpjayan

Reader
Sorrow of war is a little gem of a book. I always prefer to read the war tales fom the sufferer's point of view , and not those heroics that interest the movie makers.
 
Hamlet

Hamlet

Reader
It's also a love story, for those who may decide that any 'war' fiction, is just that. The separations and dislocation that war ineviatbly brings, families torn apart, belief-systmes to get you through, and this long-suffering soldier is a victim of both sides, it's told in this objective way, and not just because he's fighting the Americans and that they are the boogey-men, everyone gets sucked up into the vortex of the war.

I remember the title of the first chapter-

Jungle of the Screaming Souls, a place where the ghosts of the dead walk. I'ts a battlefield, where so many have died, we join the grim Body Truck, the soldiers are frightened of this part of the jungle, they can hear the dead screaming and whaling at night. This introduces the Vietnamese belief systems.
 
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lucasdiniz

lucasdiniz

Reader
This novel showed up on my recommended reading right after I finished "Novel Without A Name" by Duong Thu Huong. Huong's novel really affected me, it's a heart-wrenching account of being in a war and pretty much wasting all of your youth in it. "The Sorrow of War" seems to be more popular and well-rated though. Definitely reading it soon.
 
Daniel del Real

Daniel del Real

Moderator
lucasdiniz said:
This novel showed up on my recommended reading right after I finished "Novel Without A Name" by Duong Thu Huong. Huong's novel really affected me, it's a heart-wrenching account of being in a war and pretty much wasting all of your youth in it. "The Sorrow of War" seems to be more popular and well-rated though. Definitely reading it soon.
Click to expand...

Now you're making me go and grab the Duong Thu Huong novel!
 
tiganeasca

tiganeasca

Moderator
Daniel, I think that's an absolutely excellent idea. I endorse it wholeheartedly! (You won't be wasting your time; it's not big and it's an easy read.)
 
Daniel del Real

Daniel del Real

Moderator
I was searching for the book and there is a Spanish translation, however I haven't been able to confirm if it is direct from the Vietnamese (which I doubt). The publishing group doesn't exist anymore so I cannot reach them via FB or Twitter.
 
Cleanthess

Cleanthess

Dinanukht wannabe
Some poetry found inside spam:

Chances are that you have been assigned tasks that contain coping with.
Final should be the perfect program to achieve the fruit.
Insert and silence, you'll be able to feel free.
 
umbrarchist

umbrarchist

Member
I was in the draft lottery for that nonsense. Since then I saw a documentary that said originally FDR was opposed to the French going back into Vietnam after WWII but finally agreed because of politics over the European theatre.

I came up with a losing number of 319. I don't know if I could read that even now.
 
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