Customer Reviews

The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family

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This book is indeed what most critics say that it is: an ambitious, sprawling saga, paralleling the life and history of one family with the history of Vietnam in the last 130 years. And it does make fascinating reading. However, one other critic rightly made the point that this history is limited to the upper-middle-class, with very little on the rest - the farmers, the urban working class, the fighting soldiers, the intelligentsia. To which I will add: the view Mai Elliott gives of the sweeping events her family lived through was in fact rather comprehensive as long as it took place in the North, where she was born. Once the family moved South to Saigon, they pretty much kept to themselves and were out of the loop as far as decision-making was concerned (whereas ther father had been Governor of Haiphong and right there in the thick of things in the North). Being myself a Southerner Vietnamese, I do admit that, in general, the refugees from the North were not made warmly welcome. But some did reach out and eventually made friends, which the Duong family does not seem to have done. When they were still high officials in the North, the Duongs were influential and knew almost every aspect of what was going on. Once in the South, they were pretty much out of the loop, and Mai falls back on sweeping generalizations based on prejudices and hearsay, like "the Southern landowners were absently landlords who lived it up in Saigon, leaving their lands to caretakers". Being myself from a landowning family, I can vouch that that was far from true. Same thing about the South Vietnamese armed forces and the contempt in which they were supposedly held by their American allies. Would Tiger Woods' father have named him after a South Vietnamese Ranger if he despised him and his companions as cowards? She also fails to note that, very often, a South Vietnamese military operation would fail because Americans would not listen to their SVN counterparts, thinking they knew better. And Mai was so busy interviewing VC prisoners of war and trying to understand them that she never took the time to find out what the South Vietnamese working class, farmers, and fighting men, were like. Or why they stuck with a "corrupt" and "tyrannical" government, not to mention nasty imperialist Americans without rising up and going to the other side. Her account of the fall of Saigon and its aftermath is told solely from the point of view of her relatives who stayed there, or other former Northern refugees, and from a strictly "bleeding-heart liberal" perspective. General Loan is stigmatized when he shot a VC in public (he had heard that very day that the VCs had massacred a whole bunch of his relatives), but widespread cases of the so-called Liberation Army summarily shooting thieves in the street is related without so much as a metaphorically raised eybrow. There is no mention whatsoever of the South Vietnamese underground resistance that went on for over 10 years after Saigon fell, and only a grudging, one-sentence acknowledgement of "acts of heroism" by the South Vietnamese army and people. Her extensive bibliography is limited to North Vietnamese and American books, magazines and papers when she could have gained a different insight from books or articles by South Vietnamese or French writers and journalists, among others "The Vietnamese Gulag" by a South Vietnamese who stayed on after the "liberation" to help rebuild the country. I still recommend the book as an interesting work, giving a perspective that Americans in general have not seen - the "Vietnam War" viewed from the point of view of a Vietnamese family. But for that, Le Ly Hayslip's "When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" was closer to the people - and Mai Elliott's point of view is only that of a small part of Vietnam. But do read it anyway. You will still gain facts and insights you did not get before.

The Sacred Willow is an excellent family biography and historical analysis of the origins of, and events surrounding, the Vietnam War. If you have shied away from histories of Vietnam as you are not interested in military history, I would highly recommend this work. This book is a social, rather than a military, history. Tracing the history of Vietnam from the era of the mandarins, through the French colonialization, through the communist insurgency, to the fall of Saigon and beyond, the author writes a history of her own family and in so doing, beautifully and subtly details the complexities and nuances of the origins of the Vietnam conflict and America's participation therein. The author's use of spare and straightforward prose enables the reader to look beyond the sheer horror of the war and its aftermath and reach a level of understanding as to how this tragic conflict could have occured.

I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about Vietnam. Well-written, the book is a history of how one family lived in Vietnam over several generations. The reader will learn the conflicts (politcal, cultural, and military) that each generation faced and how they responded to them to survive.

What is also interesting in this fine book, is that Mai Elliot showed how important it was to the Vietnamese that the Japanese (for a time) ruled the French in Vietnam during World War II. It showed that the French could be defeated and raised the morale of those Vietnamese who wanted to drive the French out of Vietnam. Not many other books highlight this particular role of the Japanese on Vietnamese history in the second half of the 20th Century.

Overall, this book will give beginning and advanced students of Vietnam both a relatively unbiased and informative view of Vietnam over the years. Furthermore, parts of the book are an adventure and demonstrate the hardships that many in Vietnam had to endure for so many years regardless of social status and education. Mai Elliot has made a solid contribution to the literature on Vietnam. One of the best Vietnam books out there.

Duong Van Mai Elliott has given the world as intimate an account of the entire breath of Viet Namese history as you'll ever encounter. It is remarkable how close to the ground her family has always been throughout her country's efforts to break the bonds of colonialism, regardless of the oppressor. She casts history accurately, relates its impact on her forebears and brings the whole discussion front and center in the conflicts that arise among siblings as they come to terms with some who embrace Ho Chi Minh, others who embrace US personnel.
Mai's own story is full of that heart-rending division as she comes to term with her husband's family, who while very supportive of their daughter-in-law, really are not aware of the enormous drama taking place in the souls of this family. It is not like the Viet Namese to be outwardly emotional, and so their resolve to be brave in the face of often crushing personal sacrifice leaves you stunned.
One of the things I got from this book was that the US never stood a chance. The Us never understood what the central issue was for the Viet Namese people, inspite of having liberated themselves from similar colonialism in their own history. Replacing one colonialist for another, be they kinder or crueler, was not the point: they were still colonialists, and too often the US opted for choices based on ideologies instead of on the human factor, a point the Viet Minh knew was more powerful than bullets.
The war decimated Viet Namese as well as Americans, a point too often overlooked in the rush to build monuments to people who had no business there to begin with. The killing fields that would follow in the wake of the US departure would exact a toll on the humanity of a remarkable people. Time would show that the ideologues of Uncle Ho were little better than oppressors from afar. Mai saw it up close and personal.
The familial rifts remained. Still there is so much healing needed. This book will not resolve anything for the reader. Imstead, it shows that history happens to real families. Holocausts impact real people. The numbers and the monuments don't tell the story at all.

The Sacred Willow is a beautifully detailed view of the Vietnamese twentieth century -- not from the perspective of Americans involved in the war years 1965-75, but from the perspective of one Vietnamese family. Duong Van Mai Elliott's family included mandarins and leaders of Vietnamese society -- as well as members of the Viet Minh. The memoir is poignant and dramatic, exploring the widely diverging experiences of the author, her relatives and friends between the 1940s and the end of 20th century. The reader who wants to "understand Vietnam" will not find a better book, or a more readable and absorbing one.

This is a Vietnamese version of the "American Quilt" or even, "Magnolia". It told the story of a Vietnamese family spanning 4 generations. When I was a child growing up in the South East Asia region, I read & heard about the boat people from Vietnam every single day. I used to wonder why should they abandon their homeland & why should they take such a major risk. I also saw pictures & video clippings of a Vietnamese girl running naked from her village after a napalm attack, the mob gathered around the US Embassy hoping to catch the last flights out from Saigon, South Vietnamese Police Chief that shot point blank range towards a captured Viet Cong at the public place, a Buddhist monk burnt himself to death in protest of the South Vietnam Government, & so forth. I couldn't relate to those incidents then but this book enabled me to do so now. The stories of the author's family members came slowly but effectively thru tying them up with the historical happenings of that particular moment. Because her family was vast, & that they all shared different beliefs, we got to see Vietnam from different perspectives. Even though some reviewers reckoned that the book was rather one-sided, it still is a captivating to read, obviously a labour of love for the author. I definitely broadened up my knowledge about Vietnam & no longer stereotyped them as victims of the unscrupulous wars as depicted by Oliver Stone's movies or even Acropolyse Now. Rather, being their enterprising selves, they would always sought ways to sustain or improve their predicaments no matter which parts of this world that they are residing in. Highly recommended & an experience that's not to be missed.

I did not realize the importance of reading a book written from a Vietnamese viewpoint until I began reading other books on Vietnam written from Western viewpoints. Certain events, such as the lasting meaning of the Tet Offensive of 1968 and Vietnam's engagement of the Khmer Rouge are shown in a completely different light in "Sacred Willow".
In addition, Elliot's coverage of an unwieldly time span is impressively complete, even though the ealiest events comprise only a few chapters of this 500-page tome.
Elliot keeps her references to her experiences in America to the bare minimum necessary to flesh out the story, which I found appropriate in a book about Vietnam (not about the Vietnamese-American immigrant experience). There are several memoirs out there dealing with Vietnam, but none are as clearly focused on Vietnam, or have near as broad a depth as this book. I am utterly satisfied and excited to have this one in my personal library.

This is a great story of Vietnam and its evolution as a state. I found the author's detail and historical knowledge very rewarding. Anyone interested in the people culture of indochina should read this book.

rlk

I am a Vietnam vet that thoroughly enjoyed this historic background as portrayed by Mai Elliiot in this remarkable book. I have always been amazed our government prepared us so lightly for a conflict that needed the knowledge Mai exhibits for this far-away land we tromped into so blatantly. Only a vet could begin to comprehend the extent of Mai's wonderful treatment of her native people's travails and create the respect one has to garner for their toughness and leathery resiliency.
I flew helicopters in the Mekong Delta in 1966-67 at Vinh Long, with the Outlaws of the 175th Aviation Company--a very lucky assignment. I grew familiar with the terrain this VN author describes and the torment of her citizenry in this conflict. Every vet and family member of a Vietnam vet should have this book in their library; hurry up and buy it before it is past!! My book of the same title as my unit covers our flying experiences as youthful US Army Aviators.

I've known Mai Elliott for nearly ten years and although I've always know she was a brilliant and insightful woman, I had no clue she had a full-blown work of genius in her. I know she put many hard, careful and thoughtful years into this history of her family and suffice it to say, her natural wit, intelligence and sensitivity shines through on every page. Not only is she a tremendous human being, she's a tremendous author. I haven't enjoyed a work of history as much as I have this one since I read Richard Rhodes, "The Making of the Atomic Bomb." And, frankly, I don't know what Amazon.com is charging for it but it's more that worth every cent.