This book was just enthralling- I could not put it down! I loved the pace, the flow of the book. It was well researched, but did not take on the tone of a history book. It was about a woman who was on one of the last helicopters out of Saigon during the Vietnam war, when Saigon fell. But it was not a war book- it was a family history- a short history of Vietnam. I found myself getting annoyed, at times, at the way people in the book thought or acted- but I had to remember that it was not my culture- not the way I was raised, not even my time period- so how in the world could I understand or make judgements? It’s important to remind ourselves of that with books like this, lest we lose the real meaning. My heart hurt for her, for so many others in the book. As an international volunteer, mostly working with children, certain parts of the book really broke my heart. As a history buff and hopeful PhD candidate in the future, it was an interesting book to read from the angle it was written. The traveler in me just wanted to go SEE it, go visit the places that sounded so beautiful, and read more about the legends in the book. I always have a hard time talking about books like these- that I love, but don’t want to give anything away because I don’t want to ruin it for you!
If you are a lover of history, of drama, of romance, travel, or just want a good, interesting read- this is one to pick up. I think by now you know I tell you my honest to word opinions- I think most people would love this book.
Here is a bit more information about Daughters of the River Huong–
Product Description: Daughters of the River Huong by Vietnam-born, Houston-based writer Uyen Nicole Duong is a richly woven tapestry of family, country, conflict, and redemption. A saga spanning four generations of Vietnamese women, we discover lives inextricably tied to their country’s struggle for independence. Narrated by the teenaged Simone, a girl who flaunts convention and enters into a forbidden relationship of love and sensuality, readers are drawn to the lives of four of Simone’s ancestors, from Huyen Phi, the Mystique Concubine from the extinct Kingdom of Champa, to Ginseng, the Mystique Concubine’s second daughter and a heroine of the Vietnamese Revolution. Duong tells a tumultuous story of power and lust that transports us from the Violet City of Hue to the teeming streets of a Saigon at war, from the affluence of Paris’s St. Germain des Pres to Manhattan. Love, war, capitalism, revolution—this novel delivers a chronicle of history as fascinating as it is memorable.
Disclosure- I received this book in order to facilitate the review. All opinions are my own,
yours may differ.
