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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Life in war-torn Vietnam is here recollected in prose poems by two friendsLarsen, an American poet and teacher married to a Saigon-based journalist, and Nga, a Vietnamese social worker and mother of four. (Both women now live in the U.S.) Major events and emotions are concentrated in the terse, yet evocative lines. Nga's dramatic, sometimes humorous and often poignant verse is effectively understated; her narrative is rich in arresting images ("sunlight coming through the bullet holes") as she expresses the cruelty of families separated and a country divided, with refugees from one sector unwelcome in the other. Adapting to life in the U.S. was difficult, but with no pathos Nga comments that "People will give one shoe to a rummage sale." The title of these eloquent pieces refers to the belief that the souls of those buried in shallow graves are doomed to wander.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
Two friends, an American woman teaching in Saigon in the early 1970s, and a Vietnamese woman who later comes to America, have composed a satisfying collection of one-page "prose-poems," a term that suggests the verses' straightforward narrative. The American describes her apprehensive first walk to work in war-torn Saigon, a class discussion, a G.I. explaining to his girlfriend how much bigger the cabbages are back home, and other experiences related to and remote from the war. The Vietnamese tells more of her family, having grown up in the North, and how the wars against the French ("We especially hated their long noses") and the Americans ("They thought they could buy everything") affected her family and people generally. The authors nicely convey their impressions of life in Vietnam. The writing itself can be enjoyed by all. Recommended. Richard W. Grefrath, Univ. of Nevada Lib., Reno
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Vietnam and America in Poetry,
By Bonnie Brody "Book Lover and Knitter" (Port St. Lucie, FL) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (TOP 100 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Shallow Graves: Two Women and Vietnam (Paperback)
This book in poetry form is written by two women - - one is Vietnamese and the other is American who was in Vietnam as the wife of a news correspondent. The tales are of the confrontations, juxtaposition, and over-riding humanness of two cultures. Some of the Vietnamese experiences were so vividly painful that I could not read them though without resting my head for respite.
The American woman discusses her Vietnamese encounters in the 1970's. Nga talks about her whole life - - from Vietnam under the French, to China, back to Vietnam and then to the United States. She tells of her marriage, her family and her uprootedness, all of the time being deeply rooted to her culture and self.
5.0 out of 5 stars
non fiction that reads like a novel,
By
This review is from: Shallow Graves: Two Women and Vietnam (Paperback)
This is the story of the Vietnam war told from two perspectives, that of the young wife of a Time Magazine correspondent stationed in Vietnam. The author also taught English Literature to Vietnamese. The other story is told from the viewpoint of Mrs. Na, a Vietnamese woman who also worked for Time Magazine, and whose whole life was turned upside down by the events of the war. Although the story is written in blank verse, it reads like a novel. I couldn't put it down, nor could my mother-in-law and others to whom I gave it as a gift.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Descriptions of Two Cultures and the War They Shared,
By Rodamu (Phoenix, OR United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Shallow Graves: Two Women and Vietnam (Paperback)
Poems and prose by the wife of an American Correspondence and a Vietnamese mother bring a personal perspective to the vicious and senseless war Americans fought in Viet Nam and its aftermath. It is unfortunate that this book is no longer in print.
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