Booklist Starred Review
Starred Review
Catherine Rossi's
dream, in 1987, is to find the remains of her son, Lieutenant Nicola Rossi, the
only American unaccounted for after a deadly firefight in Vietnam in 1967. So
she travels to the Mekong Delta with her daughter, Chi Lan, 18, adopted from a Catholic
Vietnamese orphanage when she was five. At the small inn where the Rossis stay,
employee Le Giang believes Mrs. Rossi's quest is highly unlikely to be
fulfilled, but he comes to treasure the companionship of Chi Lan. The narration
alternates between the voices of Lieutenant Rossi in 1967 and Le Giang, in the
present of 1987, a man born and conscripted in the north who defected to the
army of the south, then was imprisoned for "reeducation" in the north
for 10 years. Both men describe the horrors and deprivations of war, along with
the bonds of fellowship forged, as well as the natural beauty and dangers of
the country, on the way to a healing climax. Ha's prose is so clear and vivid,
whether describing a dying soldier's wounds or local flora and fauna, and his
message is so powerfully understated that this beautifully written novel should
have a place alongside the best fiction of the Vietnam War.—Booklist
