Duong Van Mai Elliott

Here's what I wrote about this work in 2012: "Excellent. The well-researched and well-told family story the brings to life the Vietnam conflict starting with the French occupation in the late 1800's and coming forward to 1999. Mai's family is educated, connected, and middle class; much to learn from her telling. Educates the reader about Vietnam, from the Vietnamese point of view (is apparently one of the few books on Vietnam to do so)." Note that the quotations in the comments section are from Amazon kindle highlights made at the time of reading.… (meer)

This is my favorite kind of history, one that puts you in a time and place, while providing the context and analysis to understand it. Each chapter luxuriates in the atmosphere of its time period. The writing throughout is excellent, with clear historical explanations seamlessly interwoven with the detailed story of the author's extended family. Every sentence, every paragraph, every chapter is perfect.
I was fascinated by the lives of the mandarins, whose mastery of classical Chinese Confucianism earned them positions of responsibility working for the emperor, how the next generation transitioned to working for the French in similar positions, then the next had their careers upended by the communist takeover.
Also the view of the Vietnamese from the perspective of a middle-class Vietnamese family was like seeing a world from the other side of the mirror. The years that provide the material for hundreds of American war histories and memoirs are a few paragraphs in the timeline. The corruption of the South Vietnamese government, mentioned in so many U.S. history books, is brought to life here; and the Americans are seen -- from the perspective of the middle class in the South -- almost as water carriers or victims of that corruption rather than the cause of it.… (meer)

A family history and memoir. Full of information and family stories. It's a long book that feels longer than it's 544 pages. There are just so many stories, maybe too many stories. For example, the section on the fall of Saigon includes Mai's story in NY, the stories of her parents and each family member that made it out of Vietnam and the stories of every family member that got left behind. The family has connections on every side of every struggle, civil war and war so every view is included- French, Communist, Buddhist, Catholic, Viet Min, etc. I did learn a lot about Vietnam. My previous knowledge of Vietnam being limited to what I learned about the Vietnam War in school.… (meer)