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26th out of 91 books
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The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam
by
Bao Ninh
The first novel of the Vietnam War written from the point of view of the North Vietnamese, The Sorrow of War has been hailed by critics not only as the best novel to emerge from the Vietnam experience, but as one of the greatest war novels of the century. National ads, media.
Mass Market Paperbound, 233 pages
Published
April 1st 1996
by Riverhead Books
(first published 1991)
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As you learn from the jacket, the author of this book was among the 10 survivors of the brigade of 500 soldiers he joined in 1969. So you know right away that this is not going to be an easy book to read, and it's not. It's difficult to read because the most horrible death and destruction stalks every page. But it's also literally hard to read, because it pretty much breaks all the rules of story-telling. There are no chapters, and little structure. It reads pretty much like a dream (a nightmar...more
At the end of the text, the author writes, “Many would say this was a disruption of the plot, a disconnection, a loss of perspective. They’d say this style proved the writer’s inherent weakness: his spirit was willing but his flesh wasn’t.” (Ninh 230) The novel reads like memories scattered on pages; like diary pages ripped out, shuffled, and sewn together into a story. It has been said that art is either revolution or plagiarism. Bao Ninh certainly takes risk with his writing style, elimi...more
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This book is structured around a protagonist Kien and his attempt - through writing a novel after the war - to rid himself of his memories of the war and of his relationship with Phuong, his childhood sweetheart, and its gradual disintegration during and after the war.
Probably the overwhelming response of American readers to this book is that it humanizes the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War: and thank god. The most common explanation for North Vietnam's victory is that the North ...more
Probably the overwhelming response of American readers to this book is that it humanizes the Vietnamese during the Vietnam War: and thank god. The most common explanation for North Vietnam's victory is that the North ...more
As the title makes clear, this is not a book you can read without some real emotional work; Bao Ninh, pen name of a North Vietnamese veteran, barely mentions the invading Americans, except in a few searing passages that come through with a cinematic calm and vividness. His overall subject is what war does to the people who fight it, and the novel is in part about the writing of the novel, the kind of approach that usually fails, at least in my estimation, but here works oddly well. It helps to e...more
When I read Anthony Bourdrain’s A Cook’s Tour, he mentioned that he got a copy of Bao Nihn’s war novel, The Sorrow of War, and consumed it in an afternoon at the beach while visiting Vietnam. So I decided to see what it was about. It’s a short, but powerful novel that illustrates the destructive nature of war. It’s not always the battle itself, but the situations people find themselves in because of the war. The loss of innocence, unruly behavior of humans in general, the break up of families ...more
This was my first time reading anything from the vast oeuvre of Vietnamese literature, so I can't compare it to a canon Bao was probably inspired by. What I can compare it to is the range of American stories and movies concerning that vicious land war that slashed three nations to ribbons. The parallels to the Deer Hunter are striking, really.
He writes in an intimately personal, rather modernist idiom that has largely been forgotten by Anglo-American writers. Rather than rely on linear...more
He writes in an intimately personal, rather modernist idiom that has largely been forgotten by Anglo-American writers. Rather than rely on linear...more
This is a memoir of the Vietnam War. This is a metafiction studying the debilitating art of writing a piece of intensely personal literature and the breakdown that can come with it. This is a coming-of-age story in which two young lovers have their innocence brutally taken from them by the world at large. This is a horror story haunted by the ghosts of Vietnamese myth as much as the nightmares of those who served. This is an inditement of what war is; an ugliness carved out by violence, hate and...more
My main problem with this book, besides the general lack of character development and plot, is that its overall theme seems overdone.
The novel follows the story of a North Vietnamese soldier that loses love and faces the hardships of a physical, but also emotional war. Now, it might have been the fact that I had read Things They Carried and Red Badge of Courage only months before, but writing a story about the idea that war causes "emotional struggles" is not new. It...more
The novel follows the story of a North Vietnamese soldier that loses love and faces the hardships of a physical, but also emotional war. Now, it might have been the fact that I had read Things They Carried and Red Badge of Courage only months before, but writing a story about the idea that war causes "emotional struggles" is not new. It...more
While traveling in Vietnam, I was informed that the Vietnamese refer to 'the Vietnam War' as 'the American War.' I think it's easy to lose track of the fact that there are two sides to every conflict. Without getting into the politics of whether war is ever justified, this book is a reminder of the damage done to the ordinary people who get caught up in it. But Ninh's book is a whole lot more than a cautionary tale about the effects of war. It's a dreamy, poetic recounting of youth and love a...more
I just finished reading this book in my IB HL English class. It was a very emotional book that follows the protagonist's, Kien's, journey before, during and after war. It is a story about the affects of war on Kien's post-war life and his struggle to save his relationship with a childhood love. This book highlights the themes of the universality of love as well as the loss of innocence. Although I have never had such experiences as explained throughout the plot of the story, I found it to be a v...more
Tim
added it
A love story, a war novel, an examination of the writing process, a memoir of lost innocence. The Sorrow of War is many things. Somewhat difficult to read, not just for the horrors presented (although little combat description), but also for the non-linear presentation. It is also unclear if this book is autobiographical, semi-autobiographical or fiction. What the book is is powerful and haunting. None of the bravado that accompanies western descriptions of war I have read, none of the heroics. ...more
Cũng dễ hiểu tại sao cuốn này lại được cả thế giới quan tâm. Một bức tranh rất thật về tâm hồn người lính Bắc Việt thời kì khốc liệt nhất của cuộc nội chiến và cái nhìn rất bao dung về những người lính và người dân bên kia chiến tuyến. Truyện viết rất thật, và thực sự mình mới hiểu cuộc sống của thế hệ sinh ra để bị nhét súng vào tay, đẩy ra chiến trường; những người chiến đấu hết tuổi xuân, để trở về với những ám ảnh, khủng hoảng khôn nguôi và rơi vào con đường nghiện ngập.
I'm not sure if it is a poor translation, or if the Vietnamese lyrical style does not translate well into English, but this one was a little disappointing for me. Many of the vignettes themselves were compelling, but the stilted, exaggerated and overly florid description wears you down.
The overly elaborate and shifting narrative also did not help. While I appreciate an unreliable narrator as much as the next guy, balancing unreliable narrator and omniscient overarching structure to ...more
The overly elaborate and shifting narrative also did not help. While I appreciate an unreliable narrator as much as the next guy, balancing unreliable narrator and omniscient overarching structure to ...more
This is a book that every veteran who saw combat in Vietnam should read. It gives the other side and points up so poignantly the universal suffering of all soldiers. It helped me to come to an understanding that nobe of the anger and resentment I feel about my service in Indichina had nothing to do with those we called the enemy but towards those who put us where we were;who trained us to fight and steel our hearts towards those who were always referred to as "gooks, dinks, or nogs"; w...more
The Aesthetics of Remembering the Dead and the Loving
by Van A. Huebner
(Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
and
Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War)
Timothy O’Brien and Bao Ninh provide us with a good opportunity to demonstrate what I propose to investigate more thoroughly at some other time. But for the purposes of the moment let me digress a little and begin by referring to M. Merleau-Ponty’s, Phenomenology of Perception. M-P mentions the difficulty of knowin...more
by Van A. Huebner
(Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried
and
Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War)
Timothy O’Brien and Bao Ninh provide us with a good opportunity to demonstrate what I propose to investigate more thoroughly at some other time. But for the purposes of the moment let me digress a little and begin by referring to M. Merleau-Ponty’s, Phenomenology of Perception. M-P mentions the difficulty of knowin...more
This is a novel about an NVA soldier who comes home from the war in Vietnam to find his girlfriend has cheated on him. This combined with the horrors of the war start to mentally torture him and he falls into a breakdown. He remembers the comrades who died, the gang rape of innocent civilians, army deserters, horrific living conditions and the fear of dying.
The good parts of the novel were his memories of the war. It shows that the NVA suffered the same harsh conditions, witnessed th...more
The good parts of the novel were his memories of the war. It shows that the NVA suffered the same harsh conditions, witnessed th...more
Kien is a survivor of the Viet Nam war, a North Vietnamese survivor. This book is written by a North Vietnamese writer and clearly evokes much of his experience in what was a much longer war for the Vietnamese than it was for Americans. The similarities between the affects of war on all sides are clear, but this tale is uniquely home grown. The story is told in several different time lines. Kien recalls his youth, his early years in the military, a time ten years after he entered the war, events...more
The first half of this book read like an opium dream. The battles and the imagery from the Jungle of the Screaming Souls presented me with a very different perspective of the North Vietnamense soldier than what I thought it would be.
In fact, my view of just about everything I thought I knew about North Vietnam from the mid-60's to the mid-70's was altered by this book.
In the second half of the book there is a lot more focus on the main character (Kien) and his childhood sweetheart P...more
In fact, my view of just about everything I thought I knew about North Vietnam from the mid-60's to the mid-70's was altered by this book.
In the second half of the book there is a lot more focus on the main character (Kien) and his childhood sweetheart P...more
An amazing book, especially for people interested in the history of the US war with Vietnam. This is a personal first-person account told from the point-of-view of a Vietnamese foot soldier (the author draws upon his experience as a Vietnamese foot soldier). It is not propaganda, nor is it US-bashing. It is a riveting fictional account of the peculiar specificities of that particular tradgedy of war. It is readable, if "gut-wrenching". It offers another view of that war, which American...more
I really enjoyed reading this novel. Since it is written from more of an Eastern mentality the concept of war is handled in a way I find much more humanistic. The book is not about communism and is not even, I do not think, closely tied to being Vietnamese. Instead this book encompasses the title, literally.
The author explores the sorrow that he felt, and the ways in which he attempted to come to terms with it. Although the timeline for the novel is slightly chaotic, the meta fiction...more
The author explores the sorrow that he felt, and the ways in which he attempted to come to terms with it. Although the timeline for the novel is slightly chaotic, the meta fiction...more
This book is unbelievably emotional. The style of writing is unique: it is not linear or chronological in any way. It is chaotic, a reflection on the subject of the book. It is not hard to read, however, and, compared to, say, Naked Lunch, it is relatively mild in regards to the chaos.
The writing style, though chaotic, seems to be a perfected style. The book was written with total disregard to order; there is no doubt that all was deliberate.
The writing style, though chaotic, seems to be a perfected style. The book was written with total disregard to order; there is no doubt that all was deliberate.
I think what distracted me were the horrifying memories of the war. Otherwise, I think this was a well-crafted book despite the chaotic style. It really captured the main character's thought process, which was oddly beautiful despite the madness and depression. The book itself I think is hard to describe because of Ninh's approach to the story although the summary is straight forward. I would recommend this book to experience a unique voice.
The book has a good start it gets to the rising action pretty quickly. It is very touching and it brings empathy to the reader. I recommend this to people who like sad stories. This book was well written to try and connect to the reader. Although I did not like that they dont describe what the main character, Kien, Looked like. This is not my favorite book. It is OK just to read it but if you want to read an awesome book, I dont recommend it.
Sam Norton
added it
Wow...one of the most disturbing war books I've ever read. It seems like literally every person in this guy's life prior to and during the war, except for Phuong, was killed. In America we remember the Vietnam War for many reasons, mostly bad but some good, but we are either unaware or we totally forget the destruction the war caused for the people of Vietnam. One is unlikely to forget that fact after reading "The Sorrow of War."
I really wanted to love this book, but ultimately it was hard to focus on -- the writing was a bit disjointed for me....
It was however quite interesting to read the story of the war through the eyes of a North Vietnamese soldier's eyes, and was especially devastating to absorb the bitterness and sorrow that he had internalized after so much fighting. It was much like reading the story of a US veteran of the same war, except from the opposite side....
It was however quite interesting to read the story of the war through the eyes of a North Vietnamese soldier's eyes, and was especially devastating to absorb the bitterness and sorrow that he had internalized after so much fighting. It was much like reading the story of a US veteran of the same war, except from the opposite side....
An interesting perspective on a man who escaped with his family after the Vietnam war and settled in America. It's not about the difficulty of an immigrant adapting life in a new country/society. But, about his struggle for identity as a Vietnamese person/ an American and acceptance by his own people fellow countrymen in Vietnam. At the beginning he talks of the drama of everyday life with his parents and his sister, but the story picks up when he decides to make a kind of pilgrimage back to ...more
an intensely dark, melancholic and disturbing story of a Vietnamese soldier who lost his innocence, his faith in love and was incessantly haunted by the memories of war and the loss of his dearest. there's no room for romanticism or illusions of bravery and patriotism in this book, only bare harshness and cruelty of death and war. the book is significant in that it portrays the Vietnamese soldier from a very different perspective, not like traditionally depicted as soulless pawn as from the Ame...more
This book is amazing. The story progresses thematically rather than chronologically, and leaves you piecing together historical non-fictional events...
He succeeds in taking the reader on a difficult journey of emotional and spiritual crisis, right to the core of the human condition and captures a sorrowful despair like no other literature I've ever read
He succeeds in taking the reader on a difficult journey of emotional and spiritual crisis, right to the core of the human condition and captures a sorrowful despair like no other literature I've ever read
So tragic
But very good
Kien is a true hero, he had so many experiences but he doesnt deserve the way he died.
He died of not having his true love, and that's the saddest thing about this story. It's atrue story though, that's why it's settings and narrations are realistic.
Bao ninh is good in doing this, but the real author is totally great too, I wish it ddnt end that way. Poor Kien., he should have been a journalist than a soldier.
But very good
Kien is a true hero, he had so many experiences but he doesnt deserve the way he died.
He died of not having his true love, and that's the saddest thing about this story. It's atrue story though, that's why it's settings and narrations are realistic.
Bao ninh is good in doing this, but the real author is totally great too, I wish it ddnt end that way. Poor Kien., he should have been a journalist than a soldier.
The Viet Nam war from a North Vietnamese soldier, this ranks up there with the darkest psychological studies ever written, like The Trial, Crime and Punishment and (take your pick from Wm S Burroughs). Written in tight, simple language it goes a long way into the unrevealed psychology of the soldier.
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“The sorrow of war inside a soldier's heart was in a strange way similar to the sorrow of love. It was a kind of nostalgia, like the immense sadness of a world at dusk. It was a daness, a missing, a pain which could send one soaring back into the past. The sorrow of the battlefield could not normally be pinpointed to one particular event, or even one person. If you focused on any one event it would soon become a tearing pain.”
—
5 people liked it
“I envied his inspiration, his optimism in focusing back on the painful but glorious days. They were caring days, when we knew what we were living and fighting for and why we needed to suffer and sacrifice.
Those were the days when all of us were young, very pure and very sincere.”
—
2 people liked it
More quotes…
Those were the days when all of us were young, very pure and very sincere.”
