Vietnam War fiction

Book SynopsisA powerful, captivating tale of family secrets and hidden heartache from an internationally acclaimed authorTrade Review'Powerful and deeply empathetic... A heartbreaking tale of lost ideals, human devotion, and hard-won redemption.' Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Sympathizer'Beautifully crafted, haunting... A masterful display of Que Mai's capacity to evoke compassion through her lyrical prose.' Irish Times'Dazzling. Sharply drawn and hauntingly beautiful.' Elif Shafak, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Island of Missing Trees'Notable for its boundless compassion for all the characters, from young, brutalised US soldiers to the girls who pretend to love them and the dust children left behind.' The Times'Dust Child is satisfying, lyrical, and deeply empathetic. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is a born storyteller.' Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow'Once again, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai has written a beautiful novel that shines a light on the history of Vietnam... Dust Child is simply stunning.' Eric Nguyen, author of Things We Lost to the Water'A heartbreaking, beautifully told, utterly unique story of love, loss, and longing that speaks to the very heart of the human experience.' Kristin Harmel, New York Times-bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars'Well-researched, realistic, and compassionately written... This eye-opening and fascinating novel is a must-read!' Le Ly Hayslip, bestselling author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places'Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is one of the most unique storytellers of our time... She creates plots which are Dickensian in their breadth and mastery, while bravely probing the complex emotional challenges of living in a modern world full of disruption and displacement.' Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society'Nguyen's novels, suffused with kindness and understanding, are an important and accessible tool to delve deeply into the perspectives of those whose lives were changed by the conflict. Her kaleidoscopic view opens doors of empathy and humanity.' Sydney Morning Herald'Phenomenally beautiful.' Australian Women's Weekly'Look for a reception akin to Min Jin Lee’s bestselling Pachinko.' LA Times'I truly cannot wait for the rest of the world to celebrate this book.' Chanel Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Know My Name'Quế Mai demonstrates a deep understanding of splintered lives. The compassionate treatment of her characters, insights into the period and eloquent prose are impressive.' FT

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Book SynopsisKristin Hannah is an award-winning international number one bestselling author with over 25 million copies of her books sold worldwide. Her most recent titles, The Four Winds, The Great Alone and The Nightingale won numerous best fiction awards and her earlier novel, Firefly Lane, is currently a blockbuster series on Netflix. The Nightingale is soon to be a major movie and is described by many as one of the most loved books of our generation. Kristin's writing has taken readers across multiple eras and to many places, but the thing that connects all of her work is the focus on what it's like being a woman in challenging times. Kristin is a lawyer-turned-writer and is the mother of one son. She and her husband live in the Pacific Northwest near Seattle.Trade ReviewHannah’s tale, rich with period detail, is an impassioned tribute to the heroism of the many thousands who did serve, as well as a hymn to female solidarity in the darkest of settings. It’s a surprisingly original take on a well-trodden subject * The Times *Astonishing. Compelling. Powerful -- Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing A sweeping, powerful story of courage with a detail-rich setting * Good Housekeeping *An epic story * Woman&Home *Hannah is in top form * New York Times *Moving, exceptionally well researched -- Stephen KingKristin Hannah’s novel shines a light on the sacrifice, commitment and heroism of the incredible women often forgotten about in history books. A truly emotional, realistic and unforgettable book * Culturefly *Wow. I have been left with a bursting heart . . . a story of love, family, unbreakable bonds, bravery and hope -- Christy Lefteri, bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo on The Four WindsA powerful, stirring, wind-swept tale . . . makes your heart break and soar in equal measure. An escape into the past with timely echoes to the present. Kristin Hannah is a classic storyteller -- Matt Haig, bestselling author of The Midnight Library on The Four WindsA real page-turning read. Best book I’ve read all year -- Martina Cole, author of Close on The Four WindsI didn’t just love this book, I became obsessed with it . . . The characters were flawed and vulnerable, strong and naive, and Hannah has delivered a masterclass in all the different ways love can both save us and destroy us -- Karen Swan, author of The Stolen Hours on The Great AloneEpic . . . By the end, I was surrounded by snow-drifts of tissues damp with my tears -- The Washington Post on The Great AloneGreat characters, great plots, great emotions: who could ask for more in a novel? -- Isabel Allende, author of Violeta on The NightingaleMovingly written and plotted with the skill of Greek tragedy. You’ll keep turning the pages until the last racking sob -- Daily Mail on The NightingaleA rich, compelling novel of love, sacrifice and survival, as epic as the Alaskan landscape it so vividly describes -- Kate Morton, author of Homecoming on The Great Alone

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Book SynopsisThe million-copy bestseller, which is a ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling.The Things They Carried' is, on its surface, a sequence of award-winning stories about the madness of the Vietnam War; at the same time it has the cumulative power and unity of a novel, with recurring characters and interwoven strands of plot and theme.But while Vietnam is central to The Things They Carried', it is not simply a book about war. It is also a book about the human heart about the terrible weight of those things we carry through our lives.Trade Review‘One of the best war books of this century, an unflinching attempt to illuminate both its obscene physical brutality and the terrible mental overload’ Guardian ‘A thrilling and beautiful distillation of everything that has been thought, felt, or said about the Vietnam War and its long afterburn. A heartbreaking and healing masterpiece; time will make it a classic’ Michael Herr, author of Dispatches ‘Essential…O’Brien captures the war’s pulsating rhythms and nerve-racking dangers…a stunning performance. The overall effect of these original tales is devastating’ New York Times

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Book SynopsisThis is the definitive story of one of the longest and most controversial conflicts in US history.Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, this authoritative history of the Vietnam War examines the key figures and events of the conflict, and its lasting effects on the world. This history book for adults combines compelling text with maps and archive photography, A Short History of the Vietnam War is an all-encompassing showcase of every aspect of the fighting and the wider political landscape, from the struggle for civil rights to the treatment of prisoners.Inside the pages of this retelling of America''s bloodiest conflict, you''ll discover:- Vivid, moving, and informative details of the Vietnam war, including eyewitness accounts and iconic photographs - A clear and compelling account of the conflict, in short, self-contained events from the Battle of Ia Drang to the Tet Offensive and The Khmer Rouge - Biography s

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Book SynopsisIn this anthology, Vietnamese writers describe their experience of what they call the American War and its lasting legacy through the lens of their own vital artistic visions. The twenty short stories collected in Other Moons range from the intensely personal to narratives that deal with larger questions of remembrance, trauma, and healing.Trade ReviewUnlike much of the large body of fiction from American writers that deals with what the Vietnamese call the “American War,” these stories, most of which are set in rural areas of the country and feature humble characters, focus less on the experience of combat and more on its lingering effects in the national life . . . Readers seeking a broader perspective on Vietnam will find much of interest here. * Kirkus Reviews *As 2020 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of US-Vietnam normalization, celebrating a strategic and comprehensive partnership between the two former foes, this collection of stories, rendered with sophisticated and evocative translations by Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock, provides more complex narratives behind that glossy sheen of a pastless future. -- Quynh H. Vo * Journal of Vietnamese Studies *It is no exaggeration to say that Other Moons: Vietnamese Short Stories of the American War and Its Aftermath is one of a kind. . . The stories are beautifully rendered insights into the loss and sorrow people carry in the aftermath of a devastating decades long war. -- Janet J. Graham * DELOS: A Journal of Translation and World Literature *Long awaited in English, these stories are beautiful, nuanced translations from the Vietnamese side of the America-Vietnam War. One of the best collections I have read from postwar Vietnam, the stories illuminate the country’s darkest period with humor, shock, and touching insights. Other Moons is a remarkable achievement. Highly recommended. -- Andrew X. Pham, author of Catfish and Mandala.Other Moons makes widely read war fiction from Vietnam available in English translation for the first time. The stories offer a range of perspectives on the impact of the war, bridging the experiences of north and south, the home front and the battlefield, women and men, and even the living and the dead. This book will be welcomed by readers interested in how the war is remembered in Vietnam. -- Kathlene Baldanza, Penn State UniversityA unique and deeply intimate portrait of human suffering and resilience through the somber accounts of a generation of Vietnam’s most talented writers, Other Moons conveys both the complexity of a war that remains profoundly misunderstood and the creative diversity of Vietnamese literary styles that are often misread as one-dimensional. -- Christina Schwenkel, author of The American War in Contemporary Vietnam: Transnational Remembrance and RepresentationProvide[s] a first-hand insight into how the war was perceived, experienced and lived by Vietnamese people. -- Phuong Phan * Asian Review of Books *Other Moons: Vietnamese Short Stories of the American War and Its Aftermath celebrates Vietnamese voices and gives English speaking audiences the opportunity to discover the Vietnamese perspective of the American War. This anthology proves how important translators are to the publishing industry and how necessary their work is. -- Mallory Miller * Paperback Paris *[This] accessible, entertaining and empathetic collection can be picked up by anyone that enjoys a good story or wants to be welcomed into the interior worlds of people who too rarely have their stories heard. -- Paul Christiansen * Saigoneer *[A] necessary work that succeeds in enlarging the perspective of English-speaking audiences through diverse, well-chosen Vietnamese voices . . . Not only are the translations in Other Moons skilled and considered, they demonstrate the tremendous importance of translation in portraying the complexities of a conflict, its traumas, and its people. -- Sarah Moore * Words Without Borders *Bringing 20 new works into English on such an underexamined piece of American history is a significant achievement. Other Moons continues the assault on the reigning homogeneity in the American canon surrounding the Vietnamese/American war and reminds its readers that we are all in fact united by the things that once tore us apart. -- Chase Michael Greenfield * Cha Review of Books and Films *A momentous contribution. -- Sydney Van To * Asymptote *Other Moons is a rich collection that makes a significant contribution to both contemporary global fiction and the diverse canon of Vietnamese literature. -- Catherine Calloway * Metamorphoses *Table of ContentsForeword: Writing About War Is Writing About Peace, by Bao NinhAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: A Note on the Selection and Translation of Stories, by Quan Manh Ha and Joseph Babcock1. Unsung Hero, by Nguyen Van Tho2. White Clouds Flying, by Bao Ninh3. Louse Crab Season, by Mai Tien Nghi4. Birds in Formation, by Nguyen Ngoc Tu5. A Crescent Moon in the Woods, by Nguyen Minh Chau6. Ms. Thoai, by Hanh Le7. The Corporal, by Nguyen Trong Luan8. Red Apples, by Vuong Tam9. The Most Beautiful Girl in the Village, by Ta Duy Anh10. Brother, When Will You Come Home?, by Truong Van Ngoc11. War, by Thai Ba Tan12. The Chau River Pier, by Suong Nguyet Minh 13. Storms, by Nguyen Thi Mai Phuong14. They Became Men, by Pham Ngoc Tien15. An American Service Hamlet, by Nguyen Thi Thu Tran16. Love and War, by Nguyen Ngoc Thuan17. The Person Coming from the Woods, by Nguyen Thi Am18. Out of the Laughing Woods, by Vo Thi Hao19. The Sorrow Wasn’t Just Ours, by Luong Liem20. A Moral Murderer, by Lai Van LongPermissions and Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisOctober 21, 1967, Washington, D.C. 20,000 to 200,000 protesters are marching to end the war in Vietnam, while helicopters hover overhead and federal marshals and soldiers with fixed bayonets await them on the Pentagon steps. Among the marchers is Norman Mailer. From his own singular participation in the day''s events and his even more extraordinary perceptions comes a classic work that shatters the mould of traditional reportage. Intellectuals and hippies, clergymen and cops, poets and army MPs crowd the pages of a book in which facts are fused with techniques of fiction to create the nerve-end reality of experiential truth.The Armies of the Night uniquely and unforgettably captures the Sixties'' tidal wave of love and rage at its crest and a towering genius at his peak.Trade ReviewOnly a born novelist could have written a piece of history so intelligent, mischievous, penetrating and alive * The New York Times Book Review *His genuine wit and bellicose charm, and his fervent and intense sense of legitimately caring, render The Armies of the Night an artful document, worthy to be judged as literature * Time *Mesmerising, and to re-read it today is to experience an additional punch: the one that verifies that history repeats itself as (malignant) farce * Guardian *A work of personal and political reportage that brings to the inner and developing crisis of the United States at this moment admirable sensibilities, candid intelligence, the most moving concern for America itself. Mailer's intuition in this book is that the times demand a new form. He has found it * New York Times *

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Book Synopsis''NOBODY DOES IT BETTER THAN DAVID MORRELL'' LEE CHILDOne war waged against one man: RAMBOFirst came the man: a young wanderer in a fatigue coat and long hair. Then came the legend, as John Rambo sprang from the pages of FIRST BLOOD to take his place on the world''s cultural landscape. This remarkable novel pits a young, disillusioned and ragged Vietnam veteran against a small-town cop who has no idea whom he is dealing with - or how far Rambo will take him into a life-and-death struggle through the woods, hills and caves of rural Kentucky.From best-selling author David Morrell, this is the critically acclaimed thriller that launched the cultural phenomenon, Rambo.''Morrell writes action scenes like nobody''s business.'' New York Times Book Review''An absolute master of the thriller.'' Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times bestselling author''The finest thriller writer living today, bar none.'' Steve Berry,

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Book SynopsisWeaving between the Viet Nam war and the present day, Dust Child is a powerful, captivating tale of family secrets and hidden heartache from an internationally acclaimed author.Trade Review'Powerful and deeply empathetic... A heartbreaking tale of lost ideals, human devotion, and hard-won redemption.' Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prizewinning author of The Sympathizer'Beautifully crafted, haunting... A masterful display of Que Mai's capacity to evoke compassion through her lyrical prose.' Irish Times'Dazzling. Sharply drawn and hauntingly beautiful.' Elif Shafak, Women's Prize-shortlisted author of The Island of Missing Trees'Notable for its boundless compassion for all the characters, from young, brutalised US soldiers to the girls who pretend to love them and the dust children left behind.' The Times'Dust Child is satisfying, lyrical, and deeply empathetic. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is a born storyteller.' Gabrielle Zevin, author of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow'Once again, Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai has written a beautiful novel that shines a light on the history of Vietnam... Dust Child is simply stunning.' Eric Nguyen, author of Things We Lost to the Water'A heartbreaking, beautifully told, utterly unique story of love, loss, and longing that speaks to the very heart of the human experience.' Kristin Harmel, New York Times-bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars'Well-researched, realistic, and compassionately written... This eye-opening and fascinating novel is a must-read!' Le Ly Hayslip, bestselling author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places'Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is one of the most unique storytellers of our time... She creates plots which are Dickensian in their breadth and mastery, while bravely probing the complex emotional challenges of living in a modern world full of disruption and displacement.' Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society'Nguyen's novels, suffused with kindness and understanding, are an important and accessible tool to delve deeply into the perspectives of those whose lives were changed by the conflict. Her kaleidoscopic view opens doors of empathy and humanity.' Sydney Morning Herald'Phenomenally beautiful.' Australian Women's Weekly'Look for a reception akin to Min Jin Lee’s bestselling Pachinko.' LA Times'I truly cannot wait for the rest of the world to celebrate this book.' Chanel Miller, New York Times bestselling author of Know My Name'Quế Mai demonstrates a deep understanding of splintered lives. The compassionate treatment of her characters, insights into the period and eloquent prose are impressive.' FT

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Book SynopsisFrom the International Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Order of the Day and The War of the Poor comes a searing account of a conflict that dealt a fatal blow to French colonialism.A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2023'Excoriating and profound . . . A remarkable work' - Scotsman'Absolutely spectacular' - France Info19 October 1950. The war is not going to plan. In Paris, politicians gather to discuss what to do about Indochina. The conflict is unpopular back home in France: too expensive, and too far away for the public to care. Withdrawal is not an option – a global power cannot surrender to an army of peasants – but victory is impossible without more soldiers and more money. The soldiers can be sourced from the colonies, but the money is out of the question. A solution needs to be found.In this gripping and shocking novel, Éric Vuillard exposes the tangled web of politicians, Trade ReviewExcoriating and profound . . . A remarkable work . . . I cannot think of an Anglophone author who writes with such polemical, poetical indignation * Scotsman *Powerful . . . An entracingly nightmarish analysis of the First Indochina War -- Graham Robb * The Spectator *Clever and scathing * Le Temps *Vuillard writes into grey areas of history * New York Times *A work of ferocious reckoning . . . chilling . . . shine[s] a hard light on figures who might otherwise disappear into the jumbled backdrop of the past * Wall Street Journal *Absolutely spectacular * France Info *Pages clenched like fists ready to strike. It is the eternal war of the powerful against the weak that Vuillard stages in each of his books * L'Obs *Sparkling . . . By his pen, historical figures become beings of flesh and blood; we hear them breathe, we see them sweat * L'Histoire *The challenge for Vuillard is to tear the rancid nostalgia for 'the good old days' of the colonies, for the chic, elegant, confident and honourable colonial France, to pieces * La Croix *Brilliant . . . An Honourable Exit not only illuminates the machinations behind the Vietnam debacle for the French, but shows just how damaging an anachronistic hunger for domination can be. * Arts Fuse *

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Book SynopsisA beautiful, powerful and utterly devastating novel from Orange-prize shortlisted author Georgina Harding''Georgina Harding's novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of clean and disciplined prose'' GuardianThe memory of war will stay with a man longer than anything else. Dawn, mist clearing over rice fields, a burning Vietnamese village, and a young photographer takes the shot that might make his career. The image, of a staring soldier in the midst of mayhem, will become one of the great photographs of the war. But what Jonathan has seen in that village is more than he can bear... He flees to Japan, to lose himself in the vastness of Tokyo, and to take different kinds of pictures: of streets and crowds and cherry blossom and of a girl with whom he is no longer lost. Yet even here his history will catch up with him: that photograph and his responsibility in taking it; hiTrade ReviewGeorgina Harding’s novel is the finely tuned work of a writer exceptionally at ease with her craft and a testament to the power and poetry of clean and disciplined prose -- Sadie Jones * Guardian *Quietly and restrainedly, The Gun Room is a book that provokes searching questions * Daily Mail *Graceful and considered ... The dreamlike quality is heightened by Harding’s sharply observed prose ... As befits a writer adept at carefully cropped scenes, Harding has the measure of photography. The novel plays with its ability to captivate, shock, inform and misdirect * Sunday Telegraph *In delicate, hypnotic prose, Harding describes the devastating effects of war and the trauma of bearing witness * Sunday Express *A moving story * Elle Summer Reading *Harding has the descriptive skills to do her subject justice … Elegant * Mail on Sunday *Her writing is so gentle and beautiful and takes you so confidently on a journey. I let myself be carried away -- Esther Freud

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Book SynopsisOakland, 1982: one good cop against the world. GREEN SUN is the long-awaited third novel from cult author Kent Anderson.Trade ReviewFearsomely authentic and moving, it paints a scary portrait of an officer's life * Daily Mail *You might sign up for the promise of thrills but you'll leave utterly sated by the very human magic of the finest crime writer alive. * Metro *Kent Anderson serves up the best of what crime fiction can do in Green Sun, showing us a slice of the world that stands for the whole wide world, and giving us Officer Hanson, whose perseverance and bedrock fairness and understanding of human frailty make him a hero for all places and times. The Hanson Trilogy should not be a secret. It's the best of the best in American storytelling today. -- Michael ConnellyAnderson was, like his maverick hero, a Vietnam vet, an Oakland cop and an English lecturer - experiences that give this fiction the compelling authenticity other writers strive for. * Sunday Times Crime Club *This is only Kent Anderson's third novel in 30-odd years but it's worth the wait...There's a wealth of hard-won knowledge, if not much conventional plot, in this brilliant, subtle, finally optimistic, cop novel. * Mail on Sunday *Green Sun tells the unvarnished truth about what it is to be a cop in modern day America. I can give a suspense novel no higher compliment -- James PattersonAnderson is adept at finding a terrible kind of beauty in the worst circumstances, which makes Green Sun difficult to put down even when it's emotionally painful to keep reading. * NPR *Kent Anderson is one of the unsung legends of crime fiction * Chicago Tribune *Deeply moving...couldn't be more timely * Publishers Weekly, starred review *Kent Anderson immediately pulls you into his taut, authentic depiction of a cop's life in early-80s Oakland. Green Sun is crime fiction at its best: smart, unflinching, and, ultimately, compassionate. -- Alafair BurkeKent Anderson has crafted a literary miracle here. We're transported to 'Nam and circa-'80 Oakland, reimagined as Hell, seen through the eyes of a crusading cop unique in the annals of police literature. This jazzy - and jazz influenced - novel is like the best of early Joseph Wambaugh. -- James Ellroy, New York Times bestselling author of PerfidiaThe best cop novel I have ever read. There's never been anything like it. -- James Crumley, author of The Last Good KissAnderson doesn't publish much, but when he does, it's something to remember...It is perhaps the perfect time for an honest, realistic, unflinching portrayal of a good cop, and Anderson delivers just that. * Booklist (Starred) *Kent Anderson is the finest portrayer of the cop novel, elevating the genre to the highest literary form. With Green Sun, he completes a trilogy that would sit effortlessly alongside the masters, Cormac McCarthy and James Lee Burke. This is Ellroy for a whole new generation. -- Ken Bruen

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Book SynopsisAn astronaut who will go on to be the first man to walk on the moon. A child of privilege who has run away to work in a pilots' bar in the Mojave Desert. A love affair that interacts with three of the twentieth century's most iconic moments: the race to space, the rage against the Vietnam War, and the ravages of the AIDS epidemic.Trade ReviewSixties radicalism and the space program are set in fruitful juxtaposition ... Displays a sure-handed lyricism * The New Yorker *Alcott is an impressionistic stylist capable of lovely, luminous effects on the brushstroke level of the sentence ... Alcott is at her best in zero gravity. * Wall Street Journal *Readers who value elegant style will savour Alcott's musical sentences and dreamlike pacing ... Readers who enjoy literary fiction have a golden opportunity to not just look, but also to really see. Highly recommended. * Pittsburgh Post-Gazette *A marvel of compression and controlled description ... Fay's ambition, at the start of America Was Hard to Find, is to make life 'happen more deeply inside her.' Alcott's novel is a finely calibrated machine that does the same for us. * BookForum *[Alcott's] prose has a way of finding the cinematic in the personal .... Alcott's narration is penetrating and elegant, but she gives her characters some of the wittiest and most screen-ready dialogue in contemporary fiction. * Paris Review *Powerful.... America Was Hard to Find leaves readers wanting more of this story and everything else Alcott has written. * BookPage *Like Franzen or DeLillo, Alcott brings awe-inspiring exactitude and lyricism to her dive into three of America's most iconic moments.... In her exquisite and poignant reimagining of historic events, Alcott dissects their impacts in a sweeping yet intimate saga that challenges assumptions and assesses the depths of human frustration. * Booklist *Absorbing ... Ambitious ... Shimmering, knife-sharp descriptions of small and often devastating moments of individual experience within those larger histories ... The reader experiences the era's social upheavals and contests of values at their most intimate register. * New York Times Book Review *Alcott's is a striking voice, visceral and electric * I paper *America Was Hard To Find is an ambitious attempt to capture three turbulent decades of political unrest... Kathleen Alcott is an author to watch * IRISH EXAMINER *

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Book SynopsisWhen sixty-eight-year-old Vietnam War veteran David Granger wakes up from emergency surgery, he finds himself repeating a name: Clayton Fire Bear, a soldier from whom he stole something long ago. And now, David knows he must make amends. It might be the only way to find happiness in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect, and it might also help him recover from the loss of the wife he grieves for every day. Motivated by his adoring young granddaughter, Ella, David sets out to confront his past in order to salvage his present. Grumpy and argumentative he may be, but ultimately The Reason You're Alive challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in others.Trade ReviewQuick’s prose is sharp and cutting . . . The Reason You’re Alive is a compact powerhouse of a novel. Though brief, it’s subversive, unexpected, and utterly compelling * Booklist (Starred Review) *Scorching family drama . . . narrated with ire and eloquence by David Granger, a Vietnam vet . . . It’s as if Holden Caulfield grew up to be a reflective, even soulful, Archie Bunker. David’s voice is intimate, personal, occasionally poetic and sensible, even sympathetic . . . the force of David’s voice is electric . . . a touching, old-fashioned drama about the ties that sometimes choke, but always bind * BookPage *Dysfunctional families are Matthew Quick’s specialty, and the latest novel from the author of The Silver Linings Playbook doesn’t deviate from that focus. The Reason You’re Alive deals with the impact of PTSD, depression, and adultery on a Philadelphia family, but also zooms in on the especially sharp divides created by America’s culture wars . . . laugh-out-loud funny . . . fundamentally about the power to forgive both yourself and others . . . full of intriguing supporting characters . . . its mix of breezy humor and poignant reveals is perfect for the big screen. It’s not likely to solve too many family feuds, but there is merit in its message that people are rarely entirely as they seem * A.V. Club *In The Reason You’re Alive Matthew Quick performs a nifty literary magic trick. The author of The Silver Linings Playbook introduces readers to David Granger, a politically incorrect Vietnam veteran who takes pride in the fact that he’s basically too ornery to die. By book’s end, everyone will wind up loving the camouflage-wearing, knife-carrying sociopath . . . When readers make it to the Capra-esque final pages, they are almost certain to shed a feel-good tear or two * Star Telegram *A valuable addition to fiction about the tangled aftereffects of Vietnam on soldiers in the field * Kirkus *

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Book Synopsis‘A profound meditation on forgiveness and forgetting . . . Dao’s extraordinary debut novel combines fiction and history to chronicle his Vietnamese grandparents’ traumatic life.’ – The ObserverMoving from 1930s Hanoi through wars and displacements to Saigon, Paris, Melbourne and Cambridge, a deeply moving novel of memory and inheritance, colonialism and belonging, exile and home.Born to a Vietnamese family based in Melbourne, the narrator is haunted by the story of his grandfather whose ten-year imprisonment by the Communist government in Vietnam’s notorious Chi Hoa prison looms large over his own place in the world and his choice to become a human rights lawyer. As he oscillates between identities of his Australian upbringing and his Vietnamese heritage, it is the death of his grandfather in a Parisian suburb and the birth of his daughter that crystallize the strands of thought that have shaped his life.André Dao’s Anam blends fiction and essay, theory and everyday life to imagine that which has been repressed, left out, and forgotten by archives and by families. As the grandson sifts through letters, photographs, government documents and memories, he has his own family to think about: a partner and an infant daughter. Is there a way to remember the past that creates a future for them as well? Or does coming home always involve a certain amount of forgetting?Trade ReviewThis impressive novel illuminates lives that rarely come to the attention of readers. Braiding fiction, essay, family stories and history, the result is a profoundly moving remembrance of things past as well as an invitation to look to the future. There is kindness and insight on every page. -- Michelle de Kretser, author of Questions of TravelAndre Dao’s Anam . . . confirms his status as a young writer to watch . . . Blending fiction and essay, Anam is about a grandson trying to learn his family story and explores ideas of home, exile and identity. * Sydney Morning Herald *Riveting, wise, transporting, Anam turns its back on the memory industrial complex and keeps the past unassimilable, both dangerous and fragile. -- Maria Tumarkin, author of AxiomaticAnam is a beautiful book. I loved its hypnotic rhythms, its restlessness, the way memories, dreams and ideas, like waves, kept riding in over the top of one another, undoing and complicating everything. It is the work of a soulful and scrupulous mind. -- Miles AllisonDao has a mesmeric and unique style that is both brave and profound, a style that captures the voices of those that may not always have had one… A magnificent debut. * The Australian *André Dao’s ambitious debut… offers something defiant and distinct, unsentimental yet tender... Nothing in Australian literature has challenged me in a way that feels so profoundly personal. * The Saturday Paper *Anam gently pulls us into a deepening flow of memory… untangling the endlessly knotted problems of memory, inheritance and home… Anam is a rigorous and generous book, which will sit with you well after reading. * Melbourne Age *Uncompromising and honest, Anam is a brilliant book of immense scope…. Original and convincing... in terms of thematic, linguistic, and cultural scope, Anam is a fine example of what a global novel should be like. It beautifully connects East and West; Europe and Australasia; Oceania and the Middle East. * The Conversation *

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Book SynopsisLiving Dangerously: In Sweet Delusions And Datelines From Shrieking Hell is a history-driven story casting a wide net over the Vietnam War, called the most important event of the second half of the twentieth century. It is a story with flashbacks and live action, from the battlefield to the bedroom, politics and the military, to a his-her war of sweet, bitter, and brave love.Jim Jordan is a war correspondent reporting on the wildest, weirdest, and most impossible conflict ever. Susanna Robinson is a young beauty, more complex than the curvy little beach bombshell she seems. Susanna endures both the shooting war and the grab-and-growlers (chief among them a brilliant English wordsmith and scumbag). This is 1968, a year like no other ? riots, protests, assassinations, radical cultural changes, and an array of memorable characters caught in Vietnam?s shattering Tet Offensive.Shades of soldiers, women, and news-types, including cognac-nipping, Sean Donlan, a fainting French photographer, who?d rather be shooting his bony beauties along the Seine, a passionately anti-war female correspondent, and the old English, America-despising scoundrel by-lined E. Drudgington Blow. Winston Churchill he is not. Tales emerge of courage and puking-in-the-dust cowardice, of gritty-funny realism. Full of fury and fright, tortured rights and wrongs, Living Dangerously captures the essence of great war novels such as The Red Badge of Courage and Catch 22.

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Book SynopsisOf the twelve short stories appearing in Hà Nội at Midnight, ten are appearing in English for the first time. Bringing to life the full range of Bảo Ninh's inventive and poetic language, Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran are granting to English readers Bảo Ninh's first book-length work since The Sorrow of War.Hà Nội and Midnight delineates the complex outpourings of war and the way it remakes our relation to each other.Bảo Ninh's stories accentuate the gamut of human emotions: nostalgia, anguish, desolation, melancholy, poignancy, and hope. His stories wistfully render pre-war Hà Nội, its peaceful alleys and streets, its courteous residents, and the cozy atmosphere when family members, neighbors, and friends gather around a fire or converse in a coffee shop, as in "Hà Nội at Midnight" and in "Reminiscences."Juxtaposed with this tranquility and geniality are the abandoned areas and defoliated forests occasioned by American bombardment and the American use of Agent Orange, as in "An Unnamed Star" and "A Farewell to a Soldier's Life." Images of polluted rivers and streams, the war-torn sky, the pungent air filled with the stench of decomposing human corpses, and the deafening roar of helicopters and bombers hovering in the gloomy sky dominate the settings of Bảo Ninh's stories.Intertwined with these horrific images are human tears shed during farewell ceremonies, when recruits are separated from their loved ones, when parents live in anxiety and hope at home while their children are fighting in a war in remote regions, and when soldiers bury their comrades and burden themselves with their fallen comrades' unfulfilled wishes.

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Book SynopsisCOUNT YOUR DEAD is the first novel written about the Vietnam War by a professional soldier. A fictional story with drama, violence, strong characters and poignant moments, COUNT YOUR DEAD is closely based on real events and John Rowe's personal experiences and observations of real people. When COUNT YOUR DEAD was first published in 1968, it made front-page news and led to his resignation from the military. Written by Rowe as part of his own personal process to make sense of the complicated war, it raises questions still relevant in global conflicts today.

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence 2017 Profound and poignant, Perfume River is a masterful novel that examines family ties and the legacy of the Vietnam War through the portrait of a single North Florida family. Profound and poignant, Perfume River is a masterful novel that examines blood ties and the legacy of the Vietnam War through the portrait of a single North Florida family. Robert Quinlan and his wife Darla teach at Florida State University. Their marriage, forged in the fervour of anti-Vietnam-war protests, now bears the fractures of time, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee, solitary jogging and separate offices. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain below the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert's own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy, who became estranged from the family as the Vietnam War intensified. William Quinlan, Robert and Jimmy's father and a veteran of World War II, is coming to the end of his life, and aftershocks of war ripple across all their lives once again when Jimmy refuses to appear at his father's bedside. And a disturbed homeless man whom Robert at first takes to be a fellow Vietnam veteran turns out to have a devastating impact not just on Robert, but on his entire family.Trade ReviewButler's Faulknerian shuttling back and forth across the decades has less to do with literary pyrotechnics than with cutting to the chase. Perfume River hits its marks with a high-stakes intensity . . . Butler's particulars on the two brothers' marriages are comprehensively adroit . . . Butler's prose is fluid, and his handling of his many time-shifts as lucid as it is urgent. His descriptive gifts don't extend just to his characters' traits or their Florida and New Orleans settings, but to the history he's addressing . . . 'You share a war in one way,' Robert thinks. 'You pass it on in another.' Perfume River captures both the agony and subtlety of how that happens -- Michael Upchurch * New York Times Book Review *Though superficially a straightforward family drama, Perfume River poses some deeply serious questions about the nature of our engagement with war and the way throughout history it has served the purpose of testing the resolve and courage of young men. It also explores how notions of loyalty and duty can be part of a son's genetic inheritance and what can happen when they are challenged. And it reveals how, more than 40 years after its ignominious end, the Vietnam War remains for some Americans an open wound. Butler's refusal to even hint at easy answers to those questions makes this a novel that succeeds in engaging us in profound and important ways * Bookreporter.com *At the heart of the story - or stories, which move fluidly among Robert, Darla and Jimmy, one character's thoughts sometimes answering another's - is a knot of misunderstandings, misconceptions and assumptions that begin to unravel with the father's fall, only to be replaced by new if somewhat clearer distortions * Minneapolis Star Tribune *This thoughtful and considered novel stands as a sobering reminder that there are still members of an ageing generation to have, even now, failed to find peace or closure -- Alastair Mabbot * The Sunday Herald *An understated yet profound and incredibly hard hitting and evocative novel that just simmers with tension -- Liz Robinson * LoveReading *

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Book SynopsisA magnificent debut novel, which follows in the spirit of Conrad's Heart of Darkness, in which an alienated student named Lopez joins the Vietnam war to escape from his past and himself. Forced out of self-pity by the brutality and injustice surrounding him, Lopez begins to shed his layers of acquired culture, identifying instead with the Vietnamese and their cause. 'Stylistically sophisticated, visually and emotionally present; the pace is good and the author knows how to hold the reader's attention.' y

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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