Phuong Linh, the heroine of this novel, is compelled to face her illusions and "live in truth". The increasingly corrupt Communist regime leads her to a wrenching personal choice: whether or not to divorce her journalist husband. She soon discovers that virtually everyone has been corrupted.
“Reminiscent of All Quiet on Western Front and The Red Badge of Courage . . . . A breathtakingly original work."— San Francisco ChronicleTwenty-eight-year-old Quan has been fighting for the Communist cause in North Vietnam for a decade. Filled with idealism and hope when he first left his village, he now spends his days and nights dodging stray bullets and bombs, foraging scraps of food to feed himself and his men. Quan seeks comfort in childhood memories as he tries to sort out his conflicting feelings of patriotism and disillusionment. Then, given the chance to return to his home, Quan undertakes a physical and mental journey that brings him face to face with figures from his past—his angry father, his childhood sweetheart, his boyhood friends now maimed or dead—and ultimately to the shattering reality that his innocence has been irretrievably lost in the wake of the war. In a voice both lyrical and stark, Duong Thu Huong, one of Vietnam’s most beloved writers, powerfully conveys the conflict that spiritually destroyed her generation.“If it is a crime to take an unflinching look at the reality of war and life under a totalitarian regime, and to do it with great art and mastery, then Duong Thu Huong, is gloriously guilty.”— The New York Times Book Review
" ... An intimate, imagined account of the final months in the life of President Ho Chi Minh at an isolated mountaintop compound where he is imprisoned both physically and emotionally, weaving his story in with those of his wife's brother-in-law, an elder in a small village town, and a close friend and political ally, to explore how we reconcile the struggles of the human heart with the external world."--Provided by publisher
Paradise of the Blind is an exquisite portrait of three Vietnamese women struggling to survive in a society where subservience to men is expected and Communist corruption crushes every dream. Through the eyes of Hang, a young woman in her twenties who has grown up amidst the slums and intermittent beauty of Hanoi, we come to know the tragedy of her family as land reform rips apart their village. When her uncle Chinh‘s political loyalties replace family devotion, Hang is torn between her mother‘s appalling self–sacrifice and the bitterness of her aunt who can avenge but not forgive. Only by freeing herself from the past will Hang be able to find dignity –– and a future.
Au centre du Vietnam en 1975, la femme d'un commerçant fortuné, père de son fils, retrouve son premier mari, considéré martyr de guerre, 14 ans auparavant. Désormais partagée entre deux maris, deux vies et deux conceptions de l'amour, comment s'en sortira-t-elle? [SDM]
Roman de formation, paru en 1985 au Vietnam, alors que la publication des livres de Duong Thu Huong y était encore autorisée. Il s'agit de la première traduction en français. L'auteure y évoque les aventures de deux adolescentes qui entreprennent un long périple à travers le pays, en train, à pied ou en autobus. En cours de route, elles exercent divers métiers et rencontrent des personnages cocasses et fascinants. Un véritable hymne à la liberté, en partie autobiographique.
La fugue de Thanh, seize ans, plonge dans la stupeur ses parents, un couple de professeurs respectA(c)s, et les habitants de Lan Giang, la petite ville oA vit cette famille modA]le. Quand on le retrouve quatorze ans plus tard - en 1999, le temps du rA(c)cit -, il est devenu gigolo, entretenu par une femme d'affaires rencontrA(c)e dans la maison close de Saigon oA il exerAait ses talents de prostituA(c). Comment et pourquoi ce jeune homme sans histoires en est arrivA(c) lA, c'est ce que dA(c)voile ce roman diaboliquement construit. En toile de fond, le Vietnam, dominA(c) par le sexe, le pouvoir et la (TM)argent et A jamais marquA(c) par le traumatisme de la guerre.A Jamais la militante ne prend le pas sur la romanciA]re, cette magicienne de la langue capable de faire sentir au lecteur la (TM)odeur da (TM)un jardin de pamplemoussiers, comme de lui faire partager les tourments da (TM)un adolescent A la (TM)innocence trahie. Alexis Liebaert, Marianne.
