Saigon

Finished June 8
Saigon by Anthony Grey

This is not a new book, but the 30th anniversary edition of an amazing novel centred on Vietnam. The action here takes place over 50 years from 1925 to 1975. At it's centre is the Sherman family, specifically Joseph Sherman. In 1925, at the age of 15, he came to Vietnam with his mother, father, and older brother Chuck to hunt. The hunting was to obtain specimens of rare animals for the Washington museum created by Joseph's grandfather. This first visit of Joseph to Vietnam also connects him to three other families that play an important role in the novel. One is the French Devraux family. The hunting guide that the Sherman's have hired is Jacques Devraux, and his son Paul is his assistant. Chuck, Paul, and Joseph are close in age and make a connection. Joseph's mother also makes a connection with the Devraux family that will have a lasting effect. Servants to Devraux family, Ngo Van Loc, his wife Mai, and their sons Dong and Hoc, are not treated well and their lifelong struggle to regain an independent life now includes a strong resentment against the Devraux men. In their first days, the Shermans also meet the Tran family. Tran Van Hieu is a mandarin and at one of the formal events, the Tran children have stayed in the palace grounds while the formal event takes place inside. Joseph makes the acquaintance of the three childen Tam, 12; Kim, 11; and their sister Lan, 10.
His experiences lead Joseph to a lifelong fascination with Vietnam, and he becomes a scholar in the history of the region. When he returns again in 1936, he again encounters the Devraux and Tran families and renews his friendship with Paul, while creating a different connection with Tran Van Lan.
Joseph returns to Vietnam again in World War II, first as a pilot and then as an OSS officer working with the Vietnamese against the Japanese. His experiences here form strong bonds with the Vietnamese revolutionaries and the reader sees a chance to avoid the future tragedies of this nation lost in the colonially oriented decisions of the war's aftermath.
When Joseph return next, it is as a reporter, and he covers the French struggle against the Vietnamese, in particular the battle at Dien Bien Phu.
As the Americans become more involved in the tragedy of Vietnam, Joseph returns many times, as a reporter, a government official, or a civilian who cares deeply about the country he has intimate ties with.
At almost 800 pages, this is not a light read, but the novel flows quickly, leading the reader on through the strong characters he creates. Each section begins with a short historical comment of what is going on politically in Vietnam at the time. This gives us context and a grounding in the forces that influence the characters in that section. I learned so much about Vietnam's history through the reading of this novel, and highly recommend it to those who may be visiting this country or just interested in history.

In the Garden of Beasts

Finished May 23
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
I had an advance reading copy of this from Library Journal and spent part of the long weekend reading it. It tells the story of William E Dodd, the first U.S. ambassador to Hitler's Germany and the story of his daughter Martha. Dodd became the ambassador in 1933, and was not Roosevelt's first choice. He took along with him his wife Mattie, his 26-year-old daughter Martha, and his 28-year-old son Bill.
This book is based on extensive research, including Dodd's diaries (published by Martha and Bill after his death), other Dodd papers, and Martha's papers.
It really focuses on the first year the family spent in Germany, and how they gradually realized the true nature of Hitler's aims. You can see the move from skepticism to disbelief to disgust in their outlook. Dodd could hardly force himself to interact with the German government after the Night of the Long Knives.
Martha had a different path, but ended up at the same place. She played the party girl, going to nightclubs, socializing with Nazis and diplomats from other countries. At first she defended the Nazis as setting their country right, but gradually began to see the harm they were causing to their citizens.
This was a fascinating read, and opened another viewpoint to this period in history to me.

Audio Fiction

Finished July 6
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See, read by Janet Song
This book follows two sisters from Shanghai, Pearl and May. When the book begins in 1937, Shanghai is the Paris of Asia, with a large international community and busy nightlife. Pearl and May work as "beautiful girls" modelling for advertisements of all kinds. This world begins to fall apart when their father reveals his financial problems have caused him to sell the two sisters as wives to "golden mountain men". The sisters fight against this at first, but when they realize the full story of their family situation, the city is already under attack by the Japanese. They must fight just to survive.
As the girls make their way out of Shanghai and to Los Angeles, they undergo a great deal, and these events seal their fate. In Los Angeles they struggle to begin new lives with men they don't know. But their strong bond as sisters carries them through.
From 1937 to the late 1950s, the sisters lives change enormously. See really makes the reader feel the reality of living as a visible minority in the U.S. at this time. It is a great story, and also a revealing one about the unsavory past of North American immigration.
Back in my undergrad days I took a course that looked at immigration to Canada from China and Japan from the beginnings until the early twentieth century and while their are differences, there are a lot of similarities as well. It is an interesting subject and this is a good book for a taste of it.

Possibly Nonfiction

Finished September 7
Where to Invade Next (part of issue 26 of McSweeney's)
This book, apparently based on a comment made General Wesley Clark about future plans by the United States, contains detailed analyses of seven countries that the U.S. considers dangerous and possible plans to deal with them.
The seven countries are Iran, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Syria, Sudan, and North Korea. The book is well-researched, reads as plausible, and therefore is rather scary.
The book includes no forward or introduction other than the quote by Clark, and that makes it come across even more as a government document, rather than as a creation (albeit a well-researched one).
The given possibilities for U.S. action against these countries is very interesting reading and it will be interesting to see if any of it comes to pass.