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Background

Debut novel, published in 2015 by Grove Press, it won the 2016 Pulitzer

Genre: Literary Historical Fiction

Setting: Vietnam, Southern California, Thailand

Additional Notes and reviews:

It won multiple awards and was on several “best of” lists. The New York Times reviewer hailed it as an important addition to Vietnam Literature.

It provides an alternative view to the Vietnam War and gives voice to the people who were most affected by the American abandonment of the Vietnamese people.

This is a book that one should read, even though it is difficult. If the purpose of literature is to make us think, to make us inhabit the lives of others so that we can see what it might be like to live a different life, then this book does that. It is not ultimately entertaining in an escapist kind of way. If we are being honest, there were times I struggled to finish it, but it provokes insight, and it was worth the effort.

Themes: How others see you. How others might choose to believe something different or interpret your actions in a different way. What it means to be misrepresented, to be “unseen.” Duality/Contradictions/Paradoxes

Things we thought AUTHOR did well as a writer that we would like to emulate.:

Narrator Voice—If I had to choose the most redeeming quality that makes the effort worth it, it would be the voice of the narrator. It is true that it is uneven, indecisive even, as he wavers between the worlds he inhabits, but that is the point. The voice tells the reader his deepest problem, his deepest desire, which is to belong. He will never belong. He is not only of mixed race, but he is a Communist spy among the Americans and South Vietnamese that he works against. He exists forever in the margins, forever interstitial, forever belonging nowhere. His experience is specific to his place in time and space, but because of that it is also universal. We have all felt that sense of un-belonging at times, so we do sympathize with him, as he sympathizes with his victims.
POV—While I have some complaints about the style, in a not to a fellow reader, I may have mentioned that I found it the kind of “male-centric, self indulgent, prick obsessed” book that doesn’t usually appeal. (That’s the reason I can’t read Philip Roth.) However, in this case, because the narrator is inherently unreliable, the first person narration is the best choice, and it carries the whole novel. I admit that I felt like it petered out towards the end after Sonny’s murder, but because it is written as a prison confession, I did want to see how he got caught and what happened afterward.
Emotional Resonance—Because it is written in first person and because the voice is so strong, there is a deep emotional resonance in the text. Even though I found the narrator to be mostly vile, I could relate to his struggles. He loved and hated America at the same time. He loved and hated the General. He loved Bon, which may have been the only purely good thing he did, but he killed Sonny to save him, so maybe not. I felt all the feelings he did, even though I found him despicable, so that is an accomplishment of good writing.

For writers:

When you read a difficult book like this, it can be tempting to say something like—I don’t need a plot, my novel is character driven, etc. My book is episodic. My book is important! Look how successful it was!

Here’s the thing: the author doesn’t decide their own book is important, other people do. Write something that is the best you can make it and that asks the questions you want to ask and send it out. The odds of it winning the Pulitzer are pretty low, but probably you are writing for a different reason. Keep your own motivation and story questions in mind and you will be able to be happy with what you do, regardless of whether it becomes a list maker.

BONUS for Women's Fiction Day 2023—Author Interview with Barbara Dullaghan