Những quyển sách mùa đông

No Man’s Land, Duong Thu Huong
****
This epic novel revolves around a highland village in post-war Vietnam. The strength of this book is in its characters, well-crafted enough that you eventually see each of them, even in their competing roles within the plot, as you would a friend. By virtue of familiarity with their experiences as well as their aspirations and ideals, you come to identify with all three main characters, and thus are brought face to face with the classic Confucian conundrum of the story (a tragedy of sorts), where the allegiances which are designed to bind you into society are twisted to the task of tearing you apart. Truly a book you can get caught up in.

Brief Encounters with Che Guevara, Ben Fountain
***
A collection of short stories that takes you all over the world, this book is exceptional in its portrayal of Americans in international settings. I was impressed with it – the characters and settings are real in their complexity and refusal to be ‘boxed’ or explained. In spite of all the time I spend reading about (or dreaming up) precisely that – explanations of the world that makes sense to my head – it is only the ideas and places most opaque to me that are able to hold my attention. Which is why I like the book, it’s about people who are out of place!

The Irresistible Revolution, Shane Claiborne
**
A call of sorts for Christian communalism, this book is at times inspiring in its real, simple, logical application of spiritual concepts that are often religiously clichéd beyond recognition. There are a lot of ideas here, about the value of community, about living reasonably in a rabidly materialistic world (well, America, at least), about treating people always and first as simply people like yourself, which I very much agree with and have a great deal of respect for. That said, this particular revolution would have been a bit more irresistible to me had he expanded the motivational basis for the appeal to a simple and more basic human level. Inspiration for living with decency and respect for others can come from any number of sources.

Perfume Dreams, Andrew Lam
**
A collection of essays relating to the Vietnamese-American experience, this book is well-written but I found the structure (or lack of) not very conducive for creating a big picture. A little fractured, maybe that was the intent though.

The American Soul, Jacob Needleman
****
Needleman’s goal here is to, in his words, ‘re-mythologize’ the idea of America, by looking at the ideals and characters of some American historical figures, and how the actions of America through history have reflected, or rejected, those ideals. The character studies on Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln are explicitly focused on the ideals of the men, as such they do not aim so much to examine their lives as to explore how their ideals are relevant to America today. The most fascinating part of the book looks at American experiences in direct opposition to the stated ideals of the nation, like the dehumanizing of the American Indian, and slavery and racism. He also has a small section on Vietnam, although to be clear it is on ‘the Vietnam experience’ within America, with little relation to Vietnam itself. After recounting the story of Conrad Beissel and the Ephrata Cloister, he moves on to Walt Whitman. All in all I very much enjoyed this book, it is more spiritual philosophy than history, and is a bit more rooted than philosophy often is.