A Time Far Past [Hardcover]

Lu Le (Author), Nguyen Ba Chung (Translator), Ngo Vinh Hai (Translator), Kevin Bowen (Translator), David Hunt (Translator)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This autobiographical novel begins Giang Minh Sai, son of a Confucian scholar, gets married?at age ten?in rural Vietnam and continues from the 1960s through most of the 1980s. Using as background the liberation from France, the war, and the Communist postwar era, the novel depicts rural and urban Vietnamese life, with Sai's domestic problems detailed most poignantly and realistically. The description of customs and social assumptions are particularly fascinating. Le Luu's work is extremely popular in Vietnam and deserves a wide audience. The translation is usually ably done, but the dialog is often stilted (do ordinary people ever say "exemplary," "corvee," "object of notoriety," or "gleanings"?). Still, this is highly recommended for collections of Asian fiction.?Kitty Chen Dean, Nassau Coll., Garden City, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Vietnamese

Product Details

• Hardcover: 266 pages
• Publisher: Univ of Massachusetts Pr (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155849085X
• ISBN-13: 978-1558490857
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,034,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Individualism and Romance in Viet Nam, April 24, 2000

By 

Fannie (Rome, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Time Far Past (Hardcover)

In the editor's introduction to "A Time Far Past," we are encouraged to read this novel as a North Vietnamese perspective on the American Wars. Don't come here for such a story. Le Luu weaves a simple, heroic love story around life of a villager who refusal to submit to the fate of his childhood, arranged marriage. Going off to war to escape his wife, he still lacks the ability to define his sense of self. We watch his late-blooming after many failed relationships through the eyes of a somewhat moralizing and acutely critical narrator whose portrayal of shifting cultural values in Viet Nam is intimate and human. While this experimental, multiperspective narrative is sometimes unconvincing, I found I could not put it down. Among the few novels mentioned in the plot is Jane Eyre. My opinion is that if you like a good romance you will enjoy this.

5.0 out of 5 stars a wonderful story about a Vietnamese man over a span of decades, May 2, 2007

By 

Karyn W "blckwidow8" (Kansas City, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Time Far Past (Hardcover)

In this book we read about the struggles of a common countryman who yearns to better himself and to be happy in Vietnam. He has a wife who he doesn't love, he joins the military, and tries to become a Party member. And he deals with many other relationships as well. I learned a lot about the culture of Vietnam, how respect works there, what roles people are supposed to play and how sometimes they don't work out how they are you want them to. I enjoyed the writing style and felt I really got to know the main character, Sai, with all the ups and downs in his life. I only wish the ending had been on a slightly happier note, but not everything can be perfect.