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Paradise of the Blind: A Novel

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It's a challenge to really get into the heart of this book. It is easy for critics to praise it as a book that accurately portrays the effects of communism in Vietnam, however one must look far beyond that. The book comments much more on the evolving modern world clashing with traditional customs, or the struggle of family loyalty, then it is a political commentary on communism.

In fact, much of Huong's novel could easily be placed in any other setting and still be able to offer us the same thematic value. While I will not deny that here lies a book that gives us outsiders a wonderful glimpse into Vietnamese culture, something tells me that this was not the intential intention of Huong. The style of the book, and the portrayal of the narrator's mother and sister are all much to realistic for me to believe that this book is souly a commentary on the changing Vietnamese, and I look to all the readers to ask themselves if they cannot identify with the basic human nature portrayed ever so beautifully in this novel. Though it made be hard for the readers to relate, we can at least acknowledge that there is soul in this piece of literature,.

The story itself is quite a complex one. The book seems to take place in the past, the further past, and the even further past, and lets all of the stories grow and mature until in the end when they weave their way into one.

The book is completely worth reading and the insight gained from it will be well worth every minute you spend on it. However, the book is slightly distant and not quite so easy to connect to. I'll assume this has to do with the cultural differences between myself and the author and the result of the book being translated to English. However, the book is a must read. It will leave you with a hunger and thirst for life and an appreciation for living.

A short response to any book by Duong Thu Huong is a good deal like a short response to the Bible--it will be lacking. This is especially the case with Huong's 1988 work Paradise of the Blind, the story of a young Hanoi woman, Hang, forced to give up her university studies and work in the Soviet Union in order to support her mother. This is only half the story though. Hang reached adulthood after the heroic period of the twentieth century in Vietnam, namely the wars for independence and reunification, as well as the revolution. These events led to colossally momentous experiences in the lives of Hang's family--her mother and aunt whom she loves and the uncle she hates--so profoundly shaping were the experiences of these times that there consequences for Hang's family have nearly as deep consequences for her own life. Ultimately the only way that Hang is able to escape the chains bind her family members to the past is by abandoning her connection to the it.

Hang's troubles actually began a decade before she was born when Uncle Chinh returned triumphant from the war against the French to introduce land redistribution to his own and her mother's village in the middle 1950's. The approach Chinh took to land reform essentially ensured that he was going to be less than beloved by any person in the village--finding the most depraved and degraded of the village's lumpen proletariat and elevating them to the status of rural working class heroes. The paternal side of Hang's family has their property ruthlessly expropriated and her father is forced into internal exile. Chinh does not just acquiesce to their impoverishment and humiliation, but his own belief in the socialist millennium being just around the corner impels him, quite happily, to fanatically push for it and treat his sister harshly for continuing to even care about dispossessed husband and in laws. Chinh thus violates loyalty to kin in order to serve his own ideological pretensions and a poorly articulated form of class solidarity. At the novel's close when we see him waiting hand and foot on smugglers half of his age in order to better his material circumstances, it is truly pitiful, but is justice through history's cunning--one that was not likely to have been lost on the government authority that decided to withdraw the book from circulation.

Considering the pain he has caused, Chinh is not worthy of pity, but it is hard to argue that his situation is not pitiful. Hang's Aunt Tam is the surviving victim of Chinh's fanaticism, but she is not a character that could easily be described as pitiful, though she is worthy of pity in a way Chinh simply is not capable of being. Kept warm at night by the hate she has for Chinh and the contempt she holds all Communists in, this fanatically hardworking capitalist has grown absurdly rich by Vietnamese standards, without having to employ another person; thus making her a walking and talking reminder that not every rich person is rich by dint of exploiting the labor of the poor. Where Chinh is a fanatic who ultimately gives in to the system's endemic corruption, making a hypocrite out of himself, Tam is perfectly willing to use her money to subvert the system when it is convenient to do so and she makes no bones about where her power and influence come from and where her loyalties lie. Her riches and the influence that she wields are the product of an absolutely implacable sense of indignation at the injustices her own family suffered at the hands of the Communists in general and Chinh in particular.

Once Hang is old enough to form an opinion of her Uncle it is overwhelmingly negative and overtly hostile, though she is not capable of despising her uncle with the intensity that her Aunt--a Herculean task even without trying to grow richer with every passing day purely through hard labor. Que, Hang's mother, would seem to have as much justification to despise Chinh as Tam, because he certainly ruined her marriage through his ideological pretensions and career considerations. Instead she slavishly and thanklessly provides for his and his family's needs to her own and Hang's physical detriments. Que's dedication to Chinh's well being is repellant to Hang for the same reasons that it is repellant to most American readers; is a moral weakling incapable of admitting he performed a massive injustice. What makes it truly disgraceful, in Hang's eyes, is that Que's work is an attempt to maintain a link to a past that did nothing but bring pain to herself, her aunt, and Hang during her childhood where she was deprived of a father. Familial piety is an honorable and comprehensible value to Hang, one which she is filled with enough of to send her abroad to support her mother after she is crippled, and indefinitely put her own ambitions on hold; but it is so distorted and so pathetic in Que, that it invites at best pity and at worst contempt.

The fanaticisms of ideology, wealth and revenge, and continuity with a bucolic past that is a part of the three adults who had the greatest influence Hang could have consumed her had she not decisively broken with that past. Hang's own liberation will come only with that unforgiving war of attrition that finally kills all passions of memory and replaces it with largely dispassionate and impersonal history. The difficulties and Hang's life were almost wholly the cause of her kin living life's passions at extremes that could do nothing but cause her further distress were she to try to honor any of the values that they found to be so important--even gave their lives meaning. All of their lives have tragic elements to them, and it is precisely for that reason that Hang refuses to be imprisoned by their collective pasts. That past has to be down graded in importance if she is to be free to make a future for herself.

The book Paradise of the Blind describes the hardships of three young Vietnamese women. Paradise of the Blind is a very interesting and truthful book that allows readers to understand what Vietnamese go through daily. Written by Dyong Thu Huong, Paradise of the Blind goes in great depths describing the Vietnamese's idealistic hope and betrayal of Communism.
This book focuses on the life of a young lady, Hang, and her relationship with both her mothers and fathers relatives. Hang is a twenty-year-old exported worker in Russia, who has a series of flashbacks. On her train ride to Moscow, Hang recalls how her uncle Chinh tore her family apart and destroyed the relationship between her and her mother. Her mother Que moved to Hanoi and became a street vendor because of the land reforms. Hang blames her uncle Chinh for her father's departing, her Aunt Tam becoming poor, and her mother becoming a street vendor. She realizes that she can only move on with her life and succeed only if she distances herself from her family and their history. "I can't squander my life tending these faded flowers, the legacy of past crimes," (Huong 57). Her Aunt Tam is convinced and determined that her hard work will benefit Hang someday. Hang is forcefully torn between her mother Que and her Aunt Tam.
Overall, Dyong Thu Huong expresses a great deal of description of both the characters and their thoughts and feelings. One fact that really shocked and surprised me was that Paradise of the Blind was one of the first books written under Vietnamese Communist Regime ever translated into English. This book is well translated and is an easy read. It makes you think and appreciate how lucky you really are. If you truly want to understand the history of Vietnam and what life is like under communism, this is a must read.

This is a fine novel in many ways, at once probing the fissures and scars of life in modern Vietnam in an uncompromising manner while telling a tragic tale of family conflict and broken dreams. The descriptions of everyday life are rich and detailed in ways that move the story along, and the author has framed the story well by presenting much of it as flashbacks and flashbacks within flashbacks, which enables her to compellingly uncover the complex snarl of events and episodes entangled with Vietnam's troubled history as all of this affects the present.

In terms of pages this is a novel of modest length, but so much is going on. There is a definite political edge to it, a sharp critique of the absurdities, deprivations, and hypocrisies of life under a Communist regime by a former true believer. But that's only the beginning. The polarization of urban and rural life is also a major theme, as is the complicated links and disjunctures between generations. Even geopolitics as it affects individuals comes into play, and all of this in a way that seems perfectly natural in this well-told tale.

Still, the characters, while generally convincing, are sometimes just short of three-dimensional. Hang's Uncle Chinh is always despicable, her Aunt Tam is always strong and vengeful, and so on. Not quite caricatures, but a bit too close nevertheless. And while the role of food is important in this novel in many interesting ways, signifying bounty and comfort but also manipulation and power, still sometimes the grocery list gets a bit long. All of which just means that the novel is excellent but not perfect. The translators have also provided an introduction, a glossary, and a note on the author that helpfully and unobtrusively give the reader the right amount of context to appreciate this fine work.

Hearing people complain about their lives and how the world treats them so unfairly will really make one think about the reality of what they are saying after they read the novel, Paradise of the Blind. Coming from a Vietnamese background, I was intrigued to read this novel because I saw a slight connection, but after just a few chapters, I realized that people from all ethnic backgrounds could appreciate this novel. Paradise of the Blind deals with the struggle of three women in Vietnam and how they try to overcome their obstacles in their communist world and make a future for themselves and their family.
Hang, the main character of the novel, is summoned in the first chapter to go attend to her sick uncle. The story takes place on the train to Russia where Hang remembers back to her life living in communist Vietnam. She reminisces about her mother, Que, who would do anything to keep her and her daughter healthy and happy. She can still remember playing the streets of Vietnam while her mother was out selling odds and ends to keep them alive. Along the way, we hear details about Hang's father and about his death that Que never wants to tell Hang about. With Hang's father, comes Aunt Tam. She is the rich aunt that won't deny Hang anything. Paradise of the Blind tells about the life of these women and how through land reforms, death, poverty, love, and hate, these women survive and make a life for themselves.

The accounts of these women left me with a sense of knowledge about the restrictive time period that they lived in. Although very profound, this novel can surely be enjoyed by all audiences. The simplicity of the language helps the reader understand the real meaning that this novel is trying to share, and a truth like this one should not be kept in the dark.

If anyone wants to truly understand Vietnam's history and what life under communism is like, they should read this book. Duong Thu Huong reveals a reality I had not known about until I read Paradise of the Blind. This book captures the idealistic hope and devastating betrayal and disillusionment of those who gave their lives and hopes to communism, only to discover it is a lie. I will never be able to look at Vietnam and the war the same way again. The fact that this book is banned in Vietnam only reveals its power. I look forward to reading more of this author's books.

When the Vietnamese Communist Party slightly gave people freedom of speech in 1987, Duong Thu Huong cleverly borrowed many stories to analyze what had happened to ordinary people of the northern part of Vietnam under the communist regime. She challenges the communists to look at people's miserable lives that they have made and lured people into. Paradise of The Blind depicts some realities of negative aspects of communism. The story circles around the life of a young lady, Hang, in her relationship with her both mother's and father's relatives. All of them, her mother, her aunt, her uncle, her cousins and herself are all intertwined in a twist of the country without a way out. The story gives readers a mixed feeling of pity, sympathy, hatred and love for these Vietnamese people. However, Duong Thu Huong does not tell the whole truth. She does not point out some crucial details of the horrors the Land Reform Movement had created and of how poor people had been through. For example, these communists and even common people would sacrifice their parents and their siblings for their own fame and future during the Land Reform Movement. Moreover, many communists would not give their immediate families' members a way out. Paradise of The Blind was among the first books written under Vietnamese Communist Regime ever translated into English. I think you will enjoy it. If you are among those suffering and struggling by the ideal or "paradise" of the communists, you will share the same feelings of those people. If you don't know what live under the Communist Regime is like, you may have a great insight about it.

This book gives a good picture of the atmosphere in the country: dictatorial power of corrupt party bosses, no free speech, hunger, inflation, collective suspicion, spying.
It is well constructed: a mixture of flashbacks and actual facts.
But I feel that the main characters are not integrated in the country's political and social system. There is a gap between the comments on the political and social environment and the experiences of the protagonists.
To the bargain, the novel is full of family reunions with enumerations of long lists of dishes, what makes the reading sometimes boring.
I prefer by far the work of Truong Nhu Tang 'A Vietcong Memoir'.

Just the very title of this book must have troubled the Hanoi politburo hacks but the way PARADISE OF THE BLIND ends frightened them so profoundly they banned it and put its author in jail.

Reading Duong Thu Huong's lyrical novel about life in post-war Vietnam I am reminded of a line from Nguyen Du's classic narrative poem, THE TALE OF KIEU, particularly Kieu's song, "Cruel Fate," which mourns "all women in soul-rending strains." I am also reminded of the resiliency of Vietnamese women, of all women in general, especially those who come from Confucian societies. Well, Duong has taken a leaf from the great poet with PARADISE OF THE BLIND.


Although PARADISE is translated into colloquial modern English (kudos to Phan Huy Duong and Nina McPherson for this), a radical departure from the classic six-eight verse of Nguyen Du, still, the descriptive power of Duong's prose comes through with the "indestructible purity of a countryside at peace" even when she's describing "purple flowers radiant in the middle of the filth...the purest balm and the most overpowering poison of my existence." The metaphor of flowers for people, the yin and yang, the balance of life, conjures a powerful image that is often found in Vietnamese literature and Hang, Duong's heroine and the narrator of this tale, is one of the most compelling of those "flowers." We follow her through this story as she tries to find the balance of her own life. Note that often in Vietnamese literature that balance is only found at great cost to the seeker which Duong reflects on in Chapter Eight, when she writes, "Separation, this ancient pain, perhaps the greatest of all human sadnesses."

Food is another metaphor Duong uses skillfully. Food is the element that connects all the characters in this story, from the middle-aged Russian man on a train to Moscow who gives Hang a piece of fruit, to elaborate banquets hosted by Aunt Tam, Hang's patron and mentor, to the simple fare of Hang's poor, widowed mother.

And over all hangs the oppressive pall of socialist bureaucracy. To us Duong's criticisms sound much less vitriolic than our own so we may be surprised they landed her in jail. But remember, communists have little sense of humor. Remember the "Beggar's Opera," that line that goes, "When you censure the age be cautious and sage lest the courtiers offended should be. If you mention vice or bribe, tis so pat to all the tribe, each cries `That was leveled at me!'" Well, look for Aunt Tam's putdown of her village vice president in Chapter Nine, indisputably an all-time classic. And don't be surprised to find out that Vietnamese people can be very "earthy" when the occasion calls for it.

The reader should bear in mind that Confucianism, with its emphasis on obedience to hierarchy, is much more compatible with Communism than the Western idea of democracy that emphasizes individual choice and action. To us it may not seem an epiphany when Hang decides, against her aunt's dying wish, to sell their home with its altar to their ancestors, and hit out on her own. But by that decision to leave the past where it is Hang not only rebels against the Confucian system but the Communist system as well. No wonder Hanoi doesn't want ideas like this to spread among the Vietnamese people!

As you take the novel Paradise of the Blind off of the shelf, you cannot help but notice the picture painted on the cover of a young girl holding hands with her mother. The picture distortion gives it a blurry effect, perhaps letting the reader know that they are entering a new world where things are seen differently. Turning the story to the first page, you can hear in your mind the voice of the young girl that is talking. You can almost feel what she feels; the loneliness, the desperation, the heartache, and the pain of a long past. This is the whole basis of the novel; endless descriptions of the surroundings and culture superstitions of a Vietnamese people and a young girl growing up with it all.
"You could smell the evening smells melting into one: straw fires burning, bean shells mixed with young rice roasting, the pungent stench of fresh buffalo dung, guavas ripening in the garden" (Huong, 75), quotes Hang, from the novel Paradise of the Blind. The words envelop you, bringing the descriptions alive, giving the reader a sense of actually being where she is, of experiencing what she is experiencing. You can almost smell what she is smelling. The novel is a wonderful door to a new world that allows one to feel, from the perspective of a Vietnamese woman, the pains and pleasures of growing up and living in the Vietnamese culture.
The setting takes off in Russia where the main character, Hang, is living as an imported worker. From Russia, you jump all the way to a small town in Vietnam, Hanoi, where this young woman spent her childhood. Throughout the novel, the main character, Hang, recalls memories from her past. She reflects on these events and focuses mostly on her mother, her Aunt Tam, and her Uncle Chinh. The conflicts of the novel deal with her feelings towards each of them. She faced a mother who devoted all her love to her brother without reserving any for her daughter, an uncle that caused her father's death, and an aunt who traps Hang with her expectations and judgmental love. The story conveys Hang's struggle with growing up and discovering who she is during her childhood. As you listen to what she has to say, you understand that she is trying to overcome her past and move on from it.
If you are interested in understanding and exploring Asian culture along with its people, then Paradise of the Blind is a sure read. I recommend it to men and women past the age of 14. Younger readers may have a difficult time with the emotional context and the thematic elements. If you are someone who needs an action packed story full of violence or twisting plot, this book is not for you. If you enjoy biographies or even just entering a world different than the western one, then this book is for you.
While the stories of the protagonist may at times be slow, the whole essence of the book leaves one with a sense of compassion and understanding for a girl they don't even know. It introduces a lifestyle that one may not be used to and through this helps to build tolerance for a different way of life.