A lyrical novel of love and betrayal in the aftermath of the fall of Saigon—from the author of Monkey Bridge A singular work of witness, inspiration, and courage, The Lotus and the Storm marks the welcome return of Lan Cao’s pitch-perfect voice, telling the story only she can tell. Four decades after the war, Vietnam’s flavors of clove and cinnamon have been re-created by a close-knit refugee community in a Virginia suburb. But the lives of Minh and Mai, father and daughter, are haunted by ghosts, secrets, and the loss of their country. During the disastrous last days in Saigon, in a whirl of military signals and helicopter evacuations, Mai never had a chance to say goodbye to so many people who meant so much to her. What happened to them? How will Mai cope with the trauma of war—and will the thay phap, a Vietnamese spirit exorcist, be able to heal her?
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ok um! tw:rape would have been a nice warning! if you are sensitive to that please keep in mind it's definitely in this book.
edit: changed from two stars to one star because i keep thinking about this book and getting angrier and angrier when i see how flawed it is.
if you're into the overdramatic, sappy hallmark stories, this is your thing dude. have some fun i guess but i hated it.
i don't know why anyone says this is “powerful” because to me it does not read powerfully. there are so many examples people have listed earlier of lan cao's senseless prose. but also, considering the attentive detail to historical events in this book i wonder why there is no mention of my lai? i cannot even remember if there is a mention of the american war crimes (correct me if i'm wrong) but there is incredible scrutiny of the communists in the novel during the war.
this is not something i would bring up in just any viet book. but in a viet book that tries to be as profound as this (and gives you chapter after chapter of vietnamese history and politics), and seeing northerners/communists are just used as depressing props or enemies, it just reads as...annoying, and biased. i don't know i really hated that. also i can't help but feel that all of these characters are just...flat. i can't really even describe the personalities of mai (or her other personalities l m a o), her father, and her mother without all of them sounding the same. and james is...nice?? like that's it!
and just...that ending. that was so stupid. yes, james, you are a shitty person for not leaving vietnam with your wife and granting her american citizenship because you think vietnam is a “forgiving” place. oh my god man! why didn't you just stay dead! and how he gets with mai in the end? did i just land in hollywood vietnam war territory?? and then how the whole book is suddenly epistolary. holy moly. come on.
(RAPE MENTION BELOW)
the brutal rape scene was incredibly unnecessary and rendered quy's character (and eventually thu's) to the trope of the tragic, demure, self-sacrificial dragon woman. that was so awful my stomach turned. what was the point of doing that to a supposedly “strong” and “resilient” character except to break her down and make her a pitiful asian martyr?
as one other reviewer said–this book definitely feels like it was based off of true stories. but it feels told in a way that obfuscates the truth and that is irritating.
i don't know. i've read so many other wonderful vietnamese novels that cover tragedy and loss and melodrama way better than this did. the gangster we are all looking for by le thi diem thuy defined the relationship between an ARVN vet and his daughter when they came to america much more beautifully than lan cao did. and quan barry's novel, she weeps every time you are born, is significantly better with regard to characterization and attempts to encompass vietnamese history, especially w the way she represented both north and south vietnamese people as...people, and not just random tragedies, like this work does. if you want interesting war drama, literally viet thanh nguyen's the sympathizer is so much better with regards to addressing the conflict between north and south vietnam (and america's severely flawed involvement). duong thu huong's works are crazy dramatic and questionable as all hell but her perspective is so much more interesting. aimee pham is amazing and i'm just plugging her here because i can and i'm tired
this was just...a huge bore, and a huge disappointment.
