Quê Nội

This was one of my most favorite books of my childhood. I still remember the cozy feeling of just staying up the whole Saturday night with a pile of books, reading without fearing waking up late the next morning for class (back then Vietnamese pupils like me still had to study six days a week and thus Saturday night was the only chance for an “owl” like me to do whatever I want during the long night) – this book was almost always included in that pile. The funny thing is that I only had the seco

This was one of my most favorite books of my childhood. I still remember the cozy feeling of just staying up the whole Saturday night with a pile of books, reading without fearing waking up late the next morning for class (back then Vietnamese pupils like me still had to study six days a week and thus Saturday night was the only chance for an “owl” like me to do whatever I want during the long night) – this book was almost always included in that pile. The funny thing is that I only had the second part of this book (“Tảng sáng”) for a very long time and still enjoyed it thoroughly without knowing that there is actually the FIRST part that I should read beforehand (“Quê nội”) for a complete reading experience (and even my second part already lost its cover and several early pages to the point that I had always thought that the title of the book is “Cù Lao Chàm” instead of “Tảng sáng”). Only about a decade later that I was able to get the first part and of course I enjoyed it as much as I did with the second part. This hilarious reading experience only showed that I did really like this book, as parts or as a whole, and now, thirty years later, the book is still as fascinating, as mesmerizing, as exciting as ever to me in the nth read. Of course, some passages that are either too naive or propagandic (probably the later since its author was a revolutionary first and a writer second) to my understanding now, especially with regards to the prospect of a successful revolution to the life of ordinary Vietnamese people after the August Revolution, but those small details are few and far between. Instead, the book remains a great reading experience with regards to many things – the changing landscape of everyday life in Vietnam after the August Revolution, the ever exciting childhood of poor rural children despite their lack of almost everything, the heartwarming interaction between people of a close-knit community with a supportive and caring spirit that has gradually disappeared in modern-day Vietnam. The book actually gets weaker by the end when the writing seems to be less inspiring, more disruptive, and fragmented. But as a whole, still a fantastic reading time for me with this book – the first Vietnamese book I have read since forever.

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