Don't Break My Rice Bowl is a book that will stir you up, highlighting an unseen angle of the Vietnam War. The descriptive detail is strong; the writer certainly manages to conjure up a picture, which of course is one of the pleasures of reading a good book. It is easy to use your imagination, with detailed scenes set up, followed by realistic and slick dialogue. You are carried along on the adventure, on the ups and the downs, the serious, the sometimes funny, but also suspecting things might go into dark and tragic places. I honestly think this book could form the basis of a very good film (Ryan Gosling, Benedict Cumberbatch and Tom Hanks all come to mind). The novel is cleverly (and unflinchingly) presented by the co-authors, providing a context and inviting you to think about the story while weaving it with the late author's life. The completed package is filled with raw emotion and heart aching yet enduring love.
Being a history buff and knowing many who served in Vietnam this topic intrigued me. I’ve never read a book on Vietnam written from an American civilian’s perspective and it was more than insightful! “Eddie” is an altruistic agriculturalist wanting to make a war torn world (Vietnam) a better place while also running from the his perceived mundane life. What he sees and experiences abroad shows the conflict of wanting to “change the world” mixed with the reality of a very difficult situation. It’s written almost like a diary account of his thoughts, actions and interactions. Honestly, it was hard to put down! I was touched by his love for the Vietnamese people and his desire to help them. His descriptions of his friendships with the farmers and his associates and how he painted the landscape with his words was truly stunning. I was most touched by his daughters beautiful Forward and his wife’s poignant Afterword. Their bookended thoughts made the fictitious writing take on so much more meaning. It gave the reader that added vantage point to feel the authors intent even deeper: a type of window into his proverbial soul. All three of the authors of this book gave me much to ponder as I read each page. May it equally intrigue the next reader!
'Don't Break My Rice Bowl is an inspiring story - showing one man's dedication to helping others - at considerable personal cost. It is also instructive - revealing the limits of such dedication. I can only imagine what it meant to Robert Dodd's daughter to find this "hidden treasure".'
‘To the thousands of histories, memoirs, and novels of America’s Vietnam Experience, this is a laudable addition, a descriptive, fast-paced story told from the point of view, not of a combatant, journalist or citizen, but by a civilian agricultural expert inspired by the miracle of rice. Eddie represents the America and the Americans who really wanted to make life better for the Vietnamese. This thought-provoking book deserves a place in the light (not in a dark drawer from where it came!). It is about survival, and so much more than a story of war.’
‘What a brilliant, moving and vivid “through the looking glass” book this is. An irresistible read; beautiful, cover to cover.’
‘From the fundamentals of getting food on the table, to the role and impact of fathers, from ambitions to benevolence, not to mention a “Godless” war, there is something for everyone. If I were back in the classroom, I’d teach this book in a heartbeat. It would encourage a plethora of classroom conversation!’
Patricia Rykiel of Oakwood Road, rediscovered ‘Don't Break My Rice Bowl’ by her dad Robert H. Dodd during the first Covid lockdown of 2020.
IT consultant Patricia said the story is a ‘fictional memoir’ inspired by her father’s real life experience in Vietnam.
She said she knew about the manuscript when she was young, telling the Middy: “When I was 17 I didn't live with my dad, I visited him on holiday in America.”
She said her dad was English but also ‘very American’, having emigrated to the States with his mother when he was nine. She explained he was an agricultural expert sent to South Vietnam by the US government during the Vietnam war.
Patricia received a copy of the manuscript to take back to England in the ’80s and her father died in 1987 when he was just 50 years old.
Patricia said she read his manuscript in her twenties but ‘hadn’t paid full attention to it’, keeping it safely in a drawer until the Covid pandemic.
“It hit me completely differently as a daughter in my 50s,” she said. “In 2020 I’m reading it and realising that I’ve overlooked something of historical importance. It was moving.”
The novel is about Eddie, an American agriculturalist who travels to Vietnam during the war as part of President Johnson’s ‘Hearts and Minds’ campaign. He and other characters try to support South Vietnam’s rice farming community against a backdrop of political and cultural challenges.
Patricia said reading the novel recently was emotional. She said: “It was me trying to understand my father more, who I didn’t grow up with – he would come and go.”
She said she felt more of a personal connection with him while reading and listening (and walking in lockdown) to the developing draft version of the story using Microsoft Word's Read Aloud mode.
“During that whole process it was almost like I was having a conversation with him,” she said. “Staying up late and getting up early, I felt quite connected with him through his words.”
Patricia said the manuscript was ‘95 per cent there’ in 2020, so to help prepare it for print she asked her father’s second wife, Beth Jackson, who lives in Arizona and has an editing background. It took them two years to finish it before they approached publishers.
Patricia, who lives with her husband and two adult children, said her daughter Justine is a trained illustrator and animator. So Justine designed the cover, and created 25 hand-painted illustrations inside.
Patricia said: “I think some people might think it's easy to bring a book to life but it's really quite difficult. Perhaps being a bit naive to the process was a benefit because I might have talked myself out of it had I understood how hard it is to get a book in a bookshop.”
Patricia added that in January she and her family went to Ho Chi Minh City to tour the sites in the book.
The novel is Published by Holey Jumper Press and is available in Waterstones and Blackwells and on Amazon. Patricia will be signing copies at The Crafters Market, at The Kiln, The Martlets, Burgess Hill, on March 2. The book is for sale at the Help Point shop too.
