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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Balanced if Sentimental View of Modern Vietnam, September 13, 2002
David Lamb's "Vietnam, Now" provides a balanced perspective on modern Vietnam. Lamb first worked as a UPI reporter in South Vietnam in 1968. He returned in 1997 as a correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and lived in Hanoi with his wife for four years. Other recent books about modern Vietnam (such as Robert Templer's "Shadows and Wind" and Henry Kamm's "Dragon Ascending") seem to put a negative spin on everything in Vietnam. However, in "Vietnam, Now" David Lamb chooses to take a more realistic and slightly optimistic view. In his stories of life in Vietnam, he acknowledges the poverty of the people and corruption and stubbornness of the ruling old guard. However, he puts things in perspective. As is the case in most books on Vietnam, a lot of stories are related to the American War: US veterans return to Vietnam for closure; North Vietnam war memorials are in good shape and the South Vietnam war memorials aren't; one son fought in the north and one in the south. It's easy to see why some people have written negative reviews about this book. Some persons who have sacrificed and lost much in this country cannot acknowledge that anything good can exist in Vietnam while the communists are in charge. Still, I recommend this book as a balanced perspective of modern Vietnam. If you do want another opinion of the country, I recommend Templer's "Shadows and Wind." Or, better yet, read both these books and then visit Vietnam the country and judge for yourself.
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26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A powerful evocative book, May 14, 2002
David Lamb's " Vietnam Now" is a brilliantly evocative book on life in Vietnam in the late 1990's. It captures eloquently the way Vietnamese have come to terms with their past. It brings to life the spirit, the courage and the generosity of spirit and the gentleness of the people. What David is able to do through his superbly crafted vignettes of modern day life is to humanize a people and a country too often dismissed as a war. He is able to blend the past history of the country and its impacts on the present by tracing them through the lives of fascinating people?Trinh Thi Ngo or `Hanoi Hannah, Pham Xuan An, the Time reporters whose cover as a Viet Cong colonel was blown only in 1978, General Giap who now leads a quiet life in a villa in Hanoi after a lifetime of war..... David writes for the first time of the "Vietnam's wandering tribe of mourners"- thousands of mothers and fathers, wives and brothers and sisters who spent their time searching out witnesses, digging up marked graves- all desperate for clues that would help them locate the remains of loved ones. And the Vietnamese MIA number over 300,000..... As David points out Americans became " so self-obsessed with our pain that we never thought much about theirs? a stunning statistic : one out of every ten Vietnamese was killed or wounded in war". He seeks to set the balance right. .......
This book is a combined history lesson, guidebook and a reflection on modern day life in Vietnam. It brings to life a country not only its history and its culture but even more importantly its life and soul.............recommended to all seeking to understand a country and how it is able to overcome insuperable odds and yet survive with its soul intact.
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16 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The realities of Vietnam as it is today, February 21, 2003
I don't think there's any American who can hear the word "Vietnam" and not have feelings about the awful conflict that divided a nation and ushered in a new way of looking at war. However, most of these recollections go back thirty years. It's different now. And that is the theme of this book by journalist David Lamb, who covered the Vietnam War as a young reporter in the late 1960s. Then, in 1997, the Los Angeles Times sent him to Hanoi for four years. This book is a result of his observations. One of his remarkable discoveries is that in spite of the war, the Vietnamese people like Americans and he was treated well wherever he went. Vietnam is now Communist, but it is not the same communism that was typical of the cold war and the Soviet Union. Through the years, the hard line has softened, small businesses are thriving and the standard of living has improved. And the younger generation finds it is not necessary to join the Communist party in order to get into school or get a job, which was formerly the case. The history of Vietnam is long and sad. Mostly, they were conquered by one country after another. When the French moved out, the Americans moved in to South Vietnam. They were trying to protect it from Communism but the people in the North really loved their leader and wanted to unify the country. The war was bitter and more than one out of every ten Vietnamese died. Then, after the War, the South Vietnamese were treated badly. They were sent to re-education camps for years and even when they came out, they could no longer get jobs. There are interviews with South Vietnamese in the book and they have somehow reconciled themselves to this. It is the younger generation who have the opportunities. In the North, the people who fought are treated better. The cemeteries are well kept and widows and mothers get a pension. This is not true in the South. Former North Vietnamese soldiers talked to the author about the will of the people to endure in order to win. They are proud of the fact that they won and unified their country. The younger generation of Vietnamese who fled after the war are coming back. They have been educated in Australia or America, are taller and heavier their Vietnamese relatives, and speak English better than they do Vietnamese. Life is hard for them in Vietnam and they have to adjust to constantly changing laws and a communist government, but they are starting new businesses and beginning to flourish. This is an easy book to read. The interviews are short and connected in a way that illustrates the realities of what Vietnam is today. It is also Mr. Lamb's own story. And that of some American Vietnam veterans who are now traveling back to this place which holds so many memories. I've read several books about Vietnam. Mostly, they were about the War. But this one brought me right up to date. Definitely recommended.
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