Tuesday 12 April 2011

Book 50, Country 56 - Vietnam

Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh - translated from Vietnamese and first published in 1991


At last I have finished this book!  It has taken me over a month even though it only has just over 200 pages.  It is about a man called Kien, a North Vietnamese soldier and his experiences just before, during and after the Vietnam War.  It is a nonlinear narrative and has no chapters, which I found very confusing, as even within a page it leaps around from one time period to another.  Nearly all his comrades die in front of him in various horrible ways, which are described quite graphically.  Kien feels both survivor guilt and guilt for having killed people.    There isn’t a happy ending.  I admit I would have got more out of it if I had known more about the circumstances of the Vietnam War.  There isn't any explanation of the reasons for the war given in the novel.  4/10