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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The REMF Reviews "A Saigon Party", June 5, 2000
I served in Vietnam in the rear with the beer and the gear for 13 1/2 months, 1966-1967. No better book has been written about that Saigon experience than Dell's "A Saigon Party." If a reader is curious about what kind of tour of duty most had who served in the military during the American war in the beautiful country of South Vietnam, Dell's fine book is the place to start. "A Saigon Party" is a book of great wit and compassion, and Dell is brave, resourceful, and successful in her use of the many voices of the Vietnam War. Dell gives Robert Olen Butler's Vietnamese voices in "A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain" a run for their money. I am now a librarian who spent much time in libraries in Vietnam (both for the books and the air conditioning) so I especially enjoyed Dell's story "The Library Card." I also loved the Ken and Barbie stories and wish there was a entire book of them. The "CIA Wife" story is a great story and very funny. The CIA deservedly gets rough and witty treatment. For those of you still wondering why we lost our war in SE Asia, these stories provide the reasons. Sincerely, David A. Willson, author of REMF Diary, The REMF Returns and In the Army Now.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly remarkable book in different perspective than others, February 6, 2000
Miss Dell is a born story-teller, and her stories are like none of the others ever written about regarding the complexity, intrigue, and follies of the Vietnam war. The satire is true and biting, but it is high-time someone such as Dell presents this point of view with the candor that bears all the little known facts about how many Americans and Vietnamese operated during the war that has not been written about. Dell's stories are fast, and the points made are cleverly designed to make you ponder and go back to read them gain and again. "Yep, that's the way it really was, how I always felt like---that's how ol' Mister Charles got over on us Americans and South Vietnamese during the war," I often mused, half-offended that the naked truth was now being written by a witty little blonde whose brother had been killed in Nam, and she had the courage to go see for herself what the war was really all about. The book is a bellringer of truth about the men and women caught up in the drama of war in the exotic world of Asia; as is complex as a tropical night with the moon simmering over the wind-bending jungles and bright gaudy lights of Saigon, while her real life characters just tell it like it was, and leaves you yearning for more stories as the last page is turned. Dell's stories flow in polished cadences of witt, terror, evil, passion, shame, and the sly intellect of the mysterious Eastern way of thinking. The politicans and generals of our side might have been thinking a little different if Dell's compelling views of the way it really was had been written about before the United States involvement in the war. Marvelous storytelling, and laced with unexpected complexities, make this a must read for any person wanting a book that they can disappear for days into and emerge with a much differnet view of the way things were in Nam as presented by the news media and other writers of the era. "A Saigon Party," is an important and literary excellent book that is not to be ignored. Sincerely, Franklin D. Rast, author, "Don's Nam," and "Ghosts In The Wire."
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Humorous and angry, tall tales about the war, January 24, 2002
I didn't quite know what to expect when I bought this book; I've only begun reading books by female Viet Nam vets since publishing my collection, and this is the first fiction other than my own that I've encountered. What I found, to my surprise and a delight, kept me entertained throughout its quick reading. These are humorous tales, irreverent to a fault, bound to offend someone, be it the Red Cross, the USO, or the military establishment--hell, especially the military establishment. Some of them are real whoppers, spun with panache--I especially loved Dell's depiction of the Ho Chi Minh Trail (by now, she's probably right). As is always the case with good satire, the humor here is fueled with a crisp anger. If you are interested in a different slant on the Viet Nam conflict from someone who's been there, a writer with a Mark Twain puckishness, this is definitely your book. Susan Kramer O'Neill, author
Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Viet Nam
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