Novel without a Name - Oanh's Thoughts

This is one of the most famous novels by Duong Thu Huong. It is the third of hers I have read and, though more impressed with the previous two, I find the imagery and the writing evocative, powerful and intense.

Novel without a Name is a story of a young man who is a member of the communist Vietnamese army (perhaps better known as the Viet Cong). It is written from his perspective and opens at an unknown date during 'the War'. The war is never identified -- and this is an important aspect of the novel -- although we understand it to be the war the Vietnamese term 'the American War' and the one Australians and Americans term 'the Viet Nam war'. The story of the novel is that the young man is to locate a friend from his home village, whom he understands to have 'gone mad', and rescue him. But the story is rather unimportant - it is the backdrop to a movingly written account of the futility of war and the hypocrisy of government.

Duong Thu Huong was herself a member of the Vietnamese army, until her disillusionment some time after the end of the 'reunification of Viet Nam'. Her intelligence and outspokenness led to a period in a re-education camp. Nevertheless her commitment and patriotism to Viet Nam shines through in her work. Clear principles of democracy and human rights imbue her work, and her willingness to question government has meant that her books are frequently censored, and sometimes burned. Duong Thu Huong was denied a passport for many years and only some of her novels are published in Viet Nam. Free Asia Radion has interviewed Duong Thu Huong here.

The aspects of the book that stay with me the most are the young man's descriptions of his love of his mother and his nostalgic yearning for village life. Duong Thu Huong develops a keen sense of the dream like nature of the young man's memories; I keep picturing a young Vietnamese woman wearing a red shirt and trousers her long hair falling away behind her, steadily climbing a hill as fields of rice fall away to either side. I don't recall whether this was an image Duong Thu Huong uses (there is an image of his mother struggling towards a temple on a hill), but each time the young man recollects his home, this is the image that comes to mind.

The overall theme of the book - the futility and hopelessness of war, the destruction it wreaks on ordinary lives - is so calmly encapsulated within the powerful writing and the evocative description that recognition of it is not fully realised until some time after the book is finished. In many ways, Novel without a Name left me feeling the same way I felt when I finished her other two novels (Beyond Illusions in May 2004 and Paradise of the Blind in December 2002), lost but hopeful, quiet and stirred.

There are so many reasons why she should be read, that you should just read one of her works to comprehend what I am grasping towards in this too brief outline.

Only two Book Groupies had finished Novel without a Name when we met for Viet goi cuon (rice wraps) at my house - Nikki & me.

Nikki commented on her disappointment that the protagonist was male, given that Duong Thu Huong had also been a member of the Viet army. Both Paradise of the Blind and Beyond Illusions had a female protoganist and I was also a bit taken aback (because my presumptions were jolted but for no more cogent reason).

Meg and Celia appeared to be enjoying the reading and I was interested to note Meg's response to the descriptions of food. Food is a theme of our reading.

The ritual, symbolism and function of food is also important in Norwegian Wood.

- Oanh

Some thoughts about the book club

Every now and then I have these delusions that I will do more than I am currently doing. Like blogging. I am a blog reader, rather than a blog writer - just like I am a novel reader and will probably never be a novel writer.

I have a personal blog - but don't ever hold your breath waiting for a post. I am inspired every few months to write something. It is not enough to get my blog listed on Rice Bowl Journals. (Dear Celia, how do you create a link? alternatively, Dear Reader - Google it.) (I edited it for you. And what there is of Oanh's personal blog is excellent, so go read it - Celia)

Here's hoping I will do a better job posting to a blog that has numerous authors (peer pressure). At least there will be posts more than once every purple moon.

***

Thought number 1:
This book club has minimal rules. (not like this club - don't get me wrong I like this blog. It has colour coordinated authors, quizzes and interesting writing and thinking).

The rules go something along the lines of: someone pick a person, person pick a book, whoever has the time and inclination read that book, someone (not necessarily the person who chooses book, but preferably) choose date and time for meeting, at meeting talk about book for long enough to justify it as 'book club meeting' and otherwise discuss anything and everything else. Tangents are important. Tangents are among my favourite things.

A de-facto rule has been: theme the meeting to the book. It's getting extravagant but heaps of fun.

Thought number 2:
Book club is all women. Wonderful women. Why is it all women? I ask my partner what he thinks - he is probably one of the most avid readers I know, one of the reasons I think he's a keeper - he says it's an excuse for us to get together and talk and exclude our partners. He scoffs at book clubs (but not this one because he would not dare).

I suggest that he is being too specific and not considering that most book clubs comprise women. And anyway, I often exclude him from things I attend without any qualms. I don't need an excuse to exclude him - it's very easy (I'm going here(insert place, function, friend) now (or sometime in the not too distant future). I don't want you to come. Entertain yourself for a while)

He suggests the evil 'O' word. I can't bear to repeat it here, but some of you may know who/what I mean. I shout him down. It has nothing to do with the evil 'O' word. Nothing. and our book club is nothing like that book club (because we don't have a TV show and we're not saps).

We talk about Ian McEwan. (you all know the story, right?) (Dear Celia, how do you so cleverly embed your links? I'm not sure if you can do it from email - so I've done it for you :-) ) Ian says that if women stopped reading, the novel would be dead.

Thought number 3:
I like book club because ... everyone lets me rant. Some of them even seem to enjoy my rants.

Book Club is an opportunity to do what I have done for years: say to people: ooh! have you read this? you must read this ... Conversations in the vein of the above are among my favourite conversations. I love it when people say the same sort of thing to me. Unless they are going to tell me to read Da Vinci Code, in which case I shall put my fingers in my ears and start chanting "Umberto Eco, Umberto Eco".

Thought number 4:
Blogging is evil. This blog has taken precious billable units away from my time sheet. I am in big trouble, now.

***
Until next time (I promise to post re Novel without a Name).
- Oanh (the ranter)

The Powerbook - Celia's Thoughts

One of the things I really love about this book group (apart from the food and the gossip) is the way I get a completely different perspective on the books we read. Often I arrive feeling a little ambivalent about a book, and change my mind completely after hearing someone describe why they enjoyed it. Perhaps this is because I have no opinions of my own, but I like to think it's because of the fabulously eloquent members of the book group.

I didn't quite know how I felt about The Powerbook after finishing it. It was a dream-like, stream of consciousness series of stories (one of which included sex with a tulip, which I must admit remained in my mind most vividly) about self discovery. It took me a while to read it - I kept putting it down in favour of more plot-driven books.

After hearing Oanh and Nikki talk about it, and Jeannette Winterson's work in general, I appreciated The Powerbook much more. It has wonderfully visceral, tactile imagery that remains most vividly in the mind, and it is an interesting exploration of love. I wasn't won over by Winterson's dialogue, but I enjoyed the work as a whole.

I'm not sure if I'd particularly seek out another Winterson, although I'd probably pick one up if I found it on a library shelf. I think I have to be in a more reflective mood for Winterson than I usually am.

Celia

P.S. See Bibliofemme's review of The Powerbook here.

Welcome

Last night was our fifth meeting of our book group/eating club/intense talking session, and Oanh raised the idea of a blog we could all post to with our comments about the books we're reading (and presumably other things as well, if we feel the urge.) Celia thought this was a wonderful idea, because she's a complete dork and making new blogs gives her a bit of a thrill. The others seemed mildly interested, and so the Book Group Blog was hatched.

Celia wanted to give everyone nicknames and encapsulate them in neat little sentences, but after nicknaming Lana ("The Guru") and then being unable to encapsulate her, she gave up on the idea. What a quitter.

Despite our history of five meetings, we've actually read and discussed six books, as follows. Last night we discussed The Powerbook by Jeanette Winterson (chosen by Nikki) and Novel Without A Name by Duong Thu Huong (chosen by Oanh). Previous books have been Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (chosen by Radha), Far and Beyon' by Unity Dow (chosen by Celia), The End of Nature by Bill McKibben (chosen by Lana), and Gabriella's Book of Fire by Venero Armanno (chosen by Kristy).

Next month's book (for an early December meeting) is Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (chosen by Yi). Hopefully, we'll have some interesting discussion online as well as in person.

(By the way, Threadless is where Nikki bought the very cool t-shirt she was wearing. Celia has been spending the last half hour wondering whether she should order a medium men's t-shirt, or an extra-large women's t-shirt. Such are the existential agonies of her life.)