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Bao Ninh – Het verdriet van Vietnam (The Sorrow of War)

The story of a north-Vietnamese soldier in the Vietnam-war. When I got this book, it looked to be very impressive. And at times it was. Unfortunately, this book is not one solid piece. The author jumps from story to story in a very chaotic manner. truly, it looks like the author just follows his every thought, not caring about chronology, or about if other people are able to follow it. As is implied multiple times throughout the book, it indeed looks like the author wrote to write, and didn't write to publish. It was his story, written to relive everything and to be able to cope with his experiences. Whether or not this is a true part, or part of the fiction, I can not say. What I can say is that this makes the book hard to read. There are parts of the book that are brilliant, that truly take you into the world of the Vietnam war, where you feel with the main character as if it were you in his place. But then there are parts of this book that are boring, or make no sense, or because of the chaotic character of the stories just doesn't get full attention. So I'm not sure what to think of this book. Clearly it is not the story of a soldier in the war. It is the story of an ex-solder, after the war, struggling to write down his experiences into his first book. And since that soldier-become-author is clearly a bit chaotic, following his every thought, the book is very hard to read. The quoted comment of a dutch newspaper on the back cover mentions that this is a “war book that will linger in your memory”. I'm afraid I don't agree with this. Some parts will linger in your memory, because of the very detailed way in which some of the fights, some of the drama, some of the feelings have been described. But other parts will soon be forgotten. Should soon be forgotten.
May 31, 2006 - tags: books