A view from our back door. In fact the storm was not that bad, we probably got a little more than a foot of snow with howling wind spreading it unevenly. At some place it was piled up as high as 3 feet, at others, bare ground can be seen. I crept on the floor to dramatize the look of the snow drifting against the patio door.
Patio furniture submerged in a foot or 2.
Eddy surrounding vegetable pot. You can imagine the wind speed on that day, must have been 40 to 60 knots at times.
The book was very favorably reviewed by a local newspaper. Another Vietnam story said I? As an avid Vietnam reader I couldn't let go of the opportunity despite nagging skepticism that it just could be another mundane refugee story. 62 cents + $2.98 shipping to Amazon brought the paperback to my doorstep. All the reviewers were right, it was an outstanding story of 3 generations of devout Vietnamese protestants living the ordeal of Vietnam in the 20th century, from the North all the way to America. If you are not Christian, don't let the evangelical style get you down. Icing on the cake: my spouse knew of Ngoc Anh when they both worked for People Express in the early 80's. All the private stories I was told then came back. Don't want to say more except that I was touched! A must read book, and kudos to Ngoc Anh, her maiden name, Vu~ Ngo.c Anh to be exact.
Not too sure why I want to post these pictures, except they were taken unprofessionally with a lousy cell phone camera (Samsung u540) while sitting in a car traveling on I-84 between Connecticut and Massachusetts (Summer and early Fall 2009). The light and dark contrast, the diversity of colors dispersed in the atmosphere, and low fuzzy resolution, all contribute to make them look interesting.
Taking advantage of the holiday season I finished another novel of Duong Thu Huong, The Lost Life (Quang Doi Danh Mat, 1988), and am on my way to a third, Paradise of the Blind (Nhung Thien Duong Mu, 1988). Among Vietnamese and expatriates alike, she is well known for her principled stand against the current government in Vietnam and the war it conducted in the 60's and early 70's. A few years back I first sampled her writing through one of her earliest novel, Journey in Childhood (Hanh Trinh Ngay Tho Au, 1985). It was a delightful little book especially when read in Vietnamese.
Her writing from 1985 to 1988 provided a distinctive feel of steady progression toward open but polite rebellion. In fact her dissent began much earlier according to the many interviews available through the web, notably the one conducted at the NY Public Library in 2006 and referenced below. She personally dated her questioning of the conduct of the war in 1969 upon encountering the first batch prisoners of war who happened to be all Vietnamese and no "white men, with sharp noses and blue eyes".
Whatever your views of the Vietnam War and its extensive ramifications, Duong Thu Huong's voice must be heard. Her undeniable literary skills have been much publicized and there is no need to expand on the subject here. Above all, she's a woman of courage and conviction, highly articulated albeit at times feisty and raw when attacking the Vietnamese Communist Party. The NY Public Library interview contains many gems, especially her discussions of the visceral fear that people have when dissenting against a powerful organization, and how to overcome such fear by understanding and accepting one's righteous course of action, by living the present and not wondering about tomorrow. The strength of character was quite evident.
Personally I felt she might be a bit too colored by the dark side of the Vietnamese Communist Party, and justifiably so. It's just too bad that she never had the opportunity to experience the incompetence and corruption of successive South Vietnamese governments of the late 50's through early 70's. She might come out with a more balanced view of Vietnamese history and the evolving struggle of its people from feudalism towards democracy. Politics is not for the light-heart and there is no free ride. Duong Thu Huong is doing her parts and paying her dues by staying on the side line and vociferously protesting.
Politics aside, her literary skills alone make her novels worth reading, especially when you don't grow up in North Vietnam during the war years.
All the novels cited above were written and published in Vietnam until banned. Of course, there are still many others to digest: Beyond Illusions (Ben Kia Ao Vong, 1987), Memories of a Pure Spring (2000), Novel Without a Name (Tieu Thuyet Vo De, 1991), No Man's Land (Chon Vang, 2002), and more recently after self exile in Paris in 2006, Dinh Cao Choi Loi, translated into French as Au Zenith. (2009).
First installment of the NY Public Library 2006 interview, thanks to Youtube, which nowadays we can't live without:
