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"This family's saga is as engrossing as fine literary fiction and is, besides, indispensable to understanding Vietnam from a Vietnamese perspective.--The New Yorker
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Growing up in Hanoi, Haiphong, and Saigon, Mai Elliott loved listening to the stories told by her parents and other relatives about their parents and grandparents. She found these tales fascinating - some funny, some tragic. She knew one day she would tell their stories and she has in her book The Sacred Willow. In The Sacred Willow Mai tells the story of her family over four generations, from the 19th century to the present. She takes us back to the vanished world where her great-grandfather, Duong Lam, rose from poverty to become a mandarin at the imperial court. She tells of childhood hours spent in her grandmother's sil shop - and of hiding while French troops torched her village, watching blossoms from the trees torn by fire flutter "like hundreds of butterflies" overhead. She reveals the agonizing choices that split Vietnamese families, while her father, loyal to his mandarin heritage, served the French colonial regime, her eldest sister joined the Communist guerillas and vanished for years into the jungle. Finally, Mai traces her family's journey through some of the most harrowing events of recent times - the fall of Saigon, the exodus of the boat people, and the re-education camps endured by those who were left behind. Writing with insight and compassion, Mai Elliott weaves a narrative with the richness and colour of a historical novel. Haunting, heartbreaking and inspiring, The Sacred Willow wo;; fprever cjamge pir imderstamdomg pf Vietnam and our role in it.
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My family owes its good fortune to a mysterious man. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
My family owes its good fortune to a mysterious man. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Sacred Willow is a beautifully detailed view of the Vietnamese twentieth century -- not from the perspective of Americans involved in the war years 1965-75, but from the perspective of one Vietnamese family. Duong Van Mai Elliott's family included mandarins and leaders of Vietnamese society -- as well as members of the Viet Minh. The memoir is poignant and dramatic, exploring the widely diverging experiences of the author, her relatives and friends between the 1940s and the end of 20th century. The reader who wants to "understand Vietnam" will not find a better book, or a more readable and absorbing one.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a superbly told saga that spans four generations of a middle class Vietnamese family. In doing so, the book covers the wars that Vietnam fought against the Japanese, French, and the Americans. It tells the story without bias or prejudice, the author's own family's loyalty being split between support for the Communist's and the occupiers.
More than most Vietnam books this one gives a rare and valuable insight into the Vietnamese psyche and one thing that consistently strikes the reader, is the tremendous resilience, guts and resourcefulness these people possess, that even the military might of the Usa could not extinguish.
It also delves into the cultural, and pysche differences between the Northern Vietnamese and their southern counterparts, whilst always reading like a novel as opposed to a historical tome.
Highly recommended, well written, highly informative, and always interesting throughout.
More than most Vietnam books this one gives a rare and valuable insight into the Vietnamese psyche and one thing that consistently strikes the reader, is the tremendous resilience, guts and resourcefulness these people possess, that even the military might of the Usa could not extinguish.
It also delves into the cultural, and pysche differences between the Northern Vietnamese and their southern counterparts, whilst always reading like a novel as opposed to a historical tome.
Highly recommended, well written, highly informative, and always interesting throughout.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
A top read, well written, and perfect for anyone - male or female - who is interested in Vietnam from the 1880s to the 1990s. And the maps, photos, index and bibliography are excellent.
A staggering and beautiful book, and a fine edition to any intelligent - indeed, cool! - bookshelf.
Did you know that the French were using Napalm in Vietnam before the US got there? (I did not.) The stories and details are almost literally breath-taking. The prose is clear and lucid.
I'm looking forward to reading it again. A sad story with a happy ending
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
the real history of Vietnam in the 20th Century
This book is a fantastic impartial view on the 20th century history of Vietnam, specifically through the French ocupation following WW2, and the subsequent American/Vietnam war. Read more
Published on 12 Nov 2009 by Robert Iden
Fine read
A long but ulitmately very rewarding book. Elliot's family is fascinating, and the story follows the massive changes that Vietnam has moved through over the past hundred years. Read more
Published on 21 May 2009 by Kevin O'connor
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