The narrative is a set of character studies told in vignettes. Vuong, cut off from his home village and let down by his government, tries to find solace in his girlfriend, but her pregnancy brings him no joy, only an increased sense of obligation. The Americans have only one another; their countrymen don’t see them as heroes and think draft dodgers are cooler than those who fought. JT feels “odd, like he’d been dropped from the sky, without roots, without connection to this world.” He tries to focus on his wife and baby daughter, but anger is always present and violence makes him feel good, like he’s “back at the Nam” and blowing things up.
Estes, a Marine Corps veteran who was wounded in Vietnam, brings both personal experience and meticulous research to the page. The prose is resonant, especially in descriptions of places and violence: “The sky turned black, the temperature dropped, and the smell of a storm was in the air. More incoming cranked the perimeter. Andy took a round in the mouth, teeth smashed, blood and broken bone.” His multilayered characters evoke sympathy as they struggle through their ordeals. Readers of character-driven drama and military tales will appreciate this novel’s unflinching examination of how the cruelty of war changes people forever.
Takeaway: This brutal novel of American and Vietnamese soldiers’ struggles during and after the Vietnam War will enthrall fans of character-driven drama.
Great for fans of Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: -
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A-
