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By: WAIUK 001
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2025-07-08 09:58:28 |
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Enjoyed by all the members. The Tran family fighting to survive against 'Land Reform', French colonialism, the Japanese takeover, the Vietnam Civil War - we learnt a lot of their history, and they survived! Also how women coped with the years of conflict. |
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By: AUCK 272
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2025-07-02 12:28:39 |
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Loved this book. |
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By: CHCH 148
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2025-06-30 12:15:29 |
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A harrowing story. The structure of the book with different time lines and narrators was hard to follow. An interesting chronicle of modern times under a brutal regime. |
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By: ONAWE 001
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2025-06-23 11:15:10 |
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A difficult read but created some wonderful discussion. |
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By: NAP 005
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2025-03-13 20:57:33 |
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Enjoyed by all. Written with a very different voice and point of view of the Vietnam/American War from the side we have heard more from. We liked the way the author wove in so many strands of the history of Vietnam through the experiences of the children that the grandmother had to leave behind and later went searching for. While the story was certainly gripping some of our readers felt that the richness of language didn’t come through as much as they would have liked. We particularly enjoyed the BDS Notes for the book which added so much to our knowledge and understanding of Vietnam. |
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By: CHCH 059
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2025-02-20 09:57:44 |
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Heart wrenching account of the impact of war in Vietnam especially when North and South were fighting each other. Would recommend to anyone with an interest in history - especially of Vietnam and the impact of war on different cultures. |
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By: WELL 001
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2024-12-18 13:26:37 |
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While many in the group found the story enlightening and interesting, we thought it may have been better written in the author's native language, than translated. |
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By: LOWER 024
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2024-12-11 14:59:06 |
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One member felt it was the best book we'd read all year. Well-written but harrowing at times. The multigenerational aspect was an interesting approach and informed us about the history of Vietnam at the same time. |
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By: WELL 093
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2024-11-25 14:50:01 |
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A good book. We learned about unknown aspects of the Vietnam War and discussed our attitudes at the time, and now, toward the North, South and the U.S.A. |
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By: NGON 002
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2024-10-21 14:26:41 |
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The group enjoyed this story. We had a good discussion on this book, and reflected on the atrocities of war and decided that every book we have read since childhood has influenced our view of the world. |
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By: DUNED 002
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2024-09-24 14:50:25 |
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An interesting read. We all learnt so much about the history of Vietnam. |
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By: TAUR 005
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2024-09-02 12:31:31 |
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A glossary of names may have been useful. A very interesting and moving book about women's courage. A harrowing story sometimes, but inspiring and gave a good insight. |
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By: QUEEN 006
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2024-07-08 10:31:31 |
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A lovely integration of history and fiction. Very confronting yet inspirational re women's inner strength and resilience in such horrific circumstances. We thought the questions should have included one about the reintegration of the children at the end. |
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By: MANGWH 005
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2024-07-04 12:27:41 |
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Such a tragic history. Worth reading but characters sometimes confusing, and drawn out dialogue. |
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By: NELS 086
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2024-05-20 12:26:59 |
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Best discussion yet following this read! |
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By: TEKUI 001
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2024-05-13 13:53:00 |
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Most of the group found it interesting being from a female's point of view. Not all were familiar with all of the history especially pre the American War. They felt a map of Vietnam would have been useful. The names of the characters were a challenge - the family tree did help a little. Great discussion was held as a number of the group had been to Vietnam. |
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By: WELL 007
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2023-11-15 10:08:37 |
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This book was well received by the group. Although fictional, it provides a startling and at times, harrowing picture of how a family coped in Vietnam in the 20th century. But it also shows the strength of family bonds. We appreciated the perspectives of a Vietnamese author. |
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By: AUCK 412
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2023-10-17 15:56:37 |
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We were all equally very pleased with this book. All agreed that we hadn't known a lot about the Vietnam War and Vietnam in general. It was a real eye-opener and very, very sad. Some were not so happy about it going back and forth in time and constantly switching characters, others loved this aspect. |
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By: OTORO 002
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2023-09-25 11:42:29 |
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Learnt lots about the history of the time, the culture, resilience...an eye opener into someone else's world. |
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By: TAUR 043
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2023-08-21 13:47:27 |
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Harrowing story, but everyone thought it was worthwhile reading a Vietnamese perspective on the war. |
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By: PICT 005
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2023-07-25 12:02:13 |
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We all thought this book was well written and connected, with excellent depiction of characters and settings. It brought back many memories and demonstrated the perspectives of women and families in war situations. |
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By: HIKUR 001
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2023-06-27 11:20:15 |
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A very interesting novel covering the complex political history of Vietnam. Fear and terror over generations making us more aware of our privileges in N.Z. Rather confusing read with the unfamiliar names of the many characters and constant time shifts. |
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By: NELS 007
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2023-05-11 11:40:54 |
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We really enjoyed this book. Great to hear about the Vietnam War from the side of the North Vietnamese. Loved the cultural aspects especially the family 'closeness'. All want to read her next book 'Dust Child'. |
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By: MAST 003
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2023-04-13 14:11:28 |
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The novel was an important lens for viewing this country's history, especially the war. It was revealing and horrifying, to view the chain of events through the stories of one family, although the plot did feel contrived, an effort to compress all major events into one narrative. Disturbing that this could, however, have been the actual lived experience of some. Those of us who were familiar with Vietnam and its history were more ready to overlook what others saw as barriers to engagement. |
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By: AUCK 038
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2023-03-28 12:50:23 |
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At times a harrowing read but most of us thought the writing was wonderful. Very interesting to read about the Vietnam war from the perspective of the North Vietnamese - mostly we get the other side with a heavy U.S. input! |
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