The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam [Paperback]

Bao Ninh (Author), Frank Palmos (Editor), Phan Thanh Hao (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

A novel of the Vietnam War is written from the perspective of the North Vietnamese, profiles human characters who are wrenched by the same pain and fear as their enemies, and follows the hero's ten-year separation from his loved ones. Reprint. NYT.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Kien, the protagonist of this rambling and sometimes nearly incoherent but emotionally gripping account of the Vietnam war, is a 10-year veteran whose experiences bear a striking similarity to those of the author, a Hanoi writer who fought with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. The novel opens just after the war, with Kien working in a unit that recovers soldiers' corpses. Revisiting the sites of battles raises emotional ghosts for him, "a parade of horrific memories" that threatens his sanity, and he finds that writing about those years is the only way to purge them. Juxtaposing battle scenes with dreams and childhood remembrances as well as events in Kien's postwar life, the book builds to a climax of brutality. A trip to the front with Kien's childhood sweetheart ends with her noble act of sacrifice, and it becomes clear to the reader that, in Vietnam, purity and innocence exist only to be besmirched. Covering some of the same physical and thematic terrain as Novel Without a Name (see above), The Sorrow of War is often as chaotic in construction as the events it describes. In fact, it is untidy and uncontrolled, like the battlefield it conveys. The point of view slips willy-nilly from the third person to the first, without any clear semblance of organization. The inclusion of a deaf mute who falls for Kien, and acts for a while as a witness to his life, seems gratuitous. The faults of this book are also its strengths, however. Its raggedness aptly evokes the narrator's feverish view of a dangerous and unpredictable world. And its language possesses a ferocity of expression that strikes the reader with all the subtlety of a gut-punch. Polishing this rough jewel would, strangely, make it less precious.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

These two novelists, both of whom fought for North Vietnam, offer American readers a startlingly different perspective on the war.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Books (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573225436
• ISBN-13: 978-1573225434
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,824 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #23 in Books > History > Asia > Vietnam > Vietnam War

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It is what it is..., September 28, 2005

By 

John J. De Bellis (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam (Paperback)

To say nothing else, this is an interesting book. From a humanitarian standpoint, it is on par with Frank Elkin's diary, "The Heart of a Man," that his widow published after his A-4 was shot down off Oriskany in 1966. That novel is the only other work I have read that compares in what it may accomplish for the reader from an emotional understanding of the immense toll of the Vietnam War.

Yet, The Sorrow of War is different. First published in 1991, the book was a best seller in Vietnam - even though the communist party banned it. In reading the novel, the reason eventually becomes subtly obvious as the glorious struggle is painted in more realistic colors.

The author, Bao Ninh, was born in Hanoi in 1952, and he was one of only ten survivors of the 27th Youth Brigade during the conflict. In 1994, his work received the Independent Foreign fiction award. His fictional story unfolds in the Central Highlands where his main character, Kien, after years at war, is working in a Missing In Action Remains-Gathering Team. After that opening, there are no chapters, there is no coherent timeline, and there is no reference to much of anything but the simplest of human emotions.

At first, The Sorrow of War is strangely un-engaging. Honestly, I considered putting the book down several times early on in my reading. However, Bao Ninh does have something worth saying that is not explicitly spelled out in any of the pages as we aimlessly follow Kien in his memory of the war.

This book is not an easy read. The timeline shifts and changes without warning, and it is up to the reader to get into the head of a man who is severely damaged by the war and its apparent total destruction of his life. But, it is worth the effort.

Kien, a young man from a suburb of Hanoi when American jets first start to hammer Hanoi, eventually fights through the entire conflict to the gates of Saigon in 1975. Along the way, he loses everything - all his friends, his family and the love of his life - which has obviously obsessed and crippled him. In fact, the story is really a love story of sorts within a whirlwind of catastrophic memories of combat. The searing pain that he experiences in that regard seems to cauterize his substantial wounds.

The Sorrow of War is not a political statement or an assessment of right or wrong, who won or lost and why. There is not a single reference or mention of Ho Chi Minh, or any other national leader or commander in the entire book. In fact, Bao Ninh even seems to regard the enemy in a light that is completely dispassionate... almost strikingly familiar. He practically sees the enemy not unlike himself... as he sees all his friends... caught up in a struggle much bigger than sense can explain. It is as though no shred of personal regard for anything remains in this shell of a man.

There is no doubt that the communist party would not look with favor on what Bao Ninh has to say. Although the character Kien is committed to doing his part by joining the war, there is the over-riding fear that he has to go or face punishment. Eventually, he becomes a hardened warrior, accepting of whatever fate comes his way because he does not have any realistic hope of survival. He loses everything - even himself in the process.

Likewise, portrayals of the North Vietnamese Army are not much different than the robotic statements of indoctrination that many have come to associate with communist re-education. In ways, Bao Ninh paints the picture that the whole tragic effort was simply not what the common person was led to believe. Very few of those people are left... except in the memory of Kien, and almost no one enjoys a better life than what existed before the war. Few seem to even be awake in the eyes of man that are fixed in surreal memories of his former life.

In the end, The Sorrow of War is not your typical war novel. In many ways it is different than any other book I have ever read; however, "brilliant" is too complex a word to describe this work. Perhaps it is because the author, Bao Ninh, is from such a foreign culture or because his main character is so damaged, writing being the only way he can cope with life after the war. Consequently, Kien's memories, visions and timelines are jumbled. Additionally, there is no judgment of anything to the point of being almost absent of hatred, which strangely leaves one feeling un-invested in the characters in an equal manner. It is almost as though one is simply observing the main character's thoughts and consequently understanding completely.

The Sorrow of War is not a novel that will allow the reader to get in the head of the enemy to understand anything about the greater Vietnam War. Instead, the book offers something of an account of human suffering from the view of a young grunt caught in a protracted conflict. I cannot recommend this novel to anyone who cannot divorce himself from an appeal to humanity because the book is almost too matter of fact for that. It is just not that simple. Basically, the title says it all, and it is up to the reader to try to figure out what Bao Ninh is saying. I will probably have to read the book a second time to do that myself; however, that should not be too difficult because by the end, I found the Sorrow of War difficult to put down.

John Jay De Bellis

65 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What war does to human beings, March 28, 2001

By 

edward j. santella (Malden, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam (Paperback)

When visiting Vietnam last year, a man stopped me outside the war rememberance museum in Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon. He carried a shrink wrapped stack of books three feet high and tried to sell me a knock-off copy of "The Sorrow of War". When I told him I'd read it, he broke into a bright smile. He then offered to sell me Greene's "The Quiet American". When I told him I'd read that too, his eyes sparkled, his smile stretched and he put his arm around my shoulders. He took me to meet his friends. He said something in Vietnamese to them. All of a sudden I felt like I was a rediscovered lost relative.

"The Sorrow of War" is a book that's not so much read as experienced. There is no escaping the intensity and naked reality presented. The author is a survivor of the American War who fought in the North Vietnamese Army, but Bao Ninh is kind to neither the North Vietnamese Army nor the Americans and its allies. There's no romanticism in this novel, only honesty.

Originally banned by the Communist government, the book proved so popular that the government reconsidered and lifted the ban. It's now a national treasure.

In my next life, when I'm a teacher, I will assign this to my class to be read back-to-back with Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried". These books could stop a war.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for every Vietnam Vet, February 3, 2003

By 

M. P. Wills (New York, New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam (Paperback)

I first purchased this book in Vietnam in 1990. In the past 12 years I have purchased well over a hundred more copies just to give away to other Vietnam Vets. It seems that Mr. Bao Ninh and I once fought each other on the battlefield, I contacted him in Hanoi in 1993 and praised him for his great work and his life's story. This book starts off after the fall of Saigon, a former North Vietnamese soldier searches the jungle for fallen comrades with a MIA team. As he searches and passes familiar places of long ago , he drifts back to the war the beautiful girl he loved. The sorrows of war deal with the horrors of war and lose of love and what it can do to your mind and spirit. In the words of Mr. Bao Ninh "Losses can be made good, damage can be repaired and wounds will heal in time. But the psychological scars of war will remain forever"