St. Martin's Griffin
Featuring: Helen Adams; Linh; Sam Darrow
416 pages ISBN: 0312674449 EAN: 9780312674441 Kindle: B003DYGNU6 Paperback / e-Book (reprint) Add to Wish List
The title, THE LOTUS EATERS, refers to the land of the
same name in Homer's Ulysses where, once arrived, no one
wants to leave. For photojournalist Helen Adams, Vietnam
is much the same. Once she has arrived and become
acclimated, the country is in her blood, a part of her. At
first, she covers human interest pieces— being a woman —but
finally wrangles herself a place on more dangerous
missions and patrols. Photojournalists are fiercely
competitive, but Helen soon falls in love with Sam Darrow,
a former rival and one of the best combat photographers
but who is also emotionally unavailable.
In meeting Darrow, she also befriends his assistant Linh
and forms an even closer bond with him. Linh has a more
realistic, rather than glorified relationship with
Vietnam. Having suffered tragedies of his own, he too,
tries to keep love at a distance as well.
The story starts with the fall of Saigon with Helen and
Linh leaving Vietnam for a new life in the States. But
Helen, addicted to Vietnam, betrays one love for another
which sends us back 12 years to her arrival in-country.
Tatjana Soli has created a story of love and betrayal,
duty and ambition and love among chaos. Unfortunately, the
characters didn't have the depth to draw in this reader.
She paints vivid descriptions of landscape, battles and
the wreckage of combat that, whether fact or fiction,
certainly are realistic. This book received rave reviews
from a number of well-known publications, and I wanted to
like this book, so perhaps the fault is with me and not
with the book. Helen's pull to Vietnam began with the death
of her brother. Fearing she'd miss out on all the
action, she dropped out of college to learn photography.
After moving to Saigon, she taught herself the language.
For all her successes and her drive, to me we never got
beyond her surface. Linh had the most to offer character
wise. The concept of a love or need of
combat to the point where a "regular" life back in
California holds no purpose is fascinating in and of
itself. For fans of Vietnam stories, and fiction about
women succeeding in a man's world and those who are
curious, give this book a try.
A unique and sweeping debut novel of an American female
combat photographer in the Vietnam War, as she captures the
wrenching chaos and finds herself torn between the love of
two men.
On a stifling day in 1975, the North
Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As the fall
of the city begins, two lovers make their way through the
streets to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American
photojournalist, must take leave of a war she is addicted to
and a devastated country she has come to love. Linh, the
Vietnamese man who loves her, must grapple with his own
conflicted loyalties of heart and homeland. As they race to
leave, they play out a drama of devotion and betrayal that
spins them back through twelve war-torn years, beginning in
the splendor of Angkor Wat, with their mentor,
larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, once Helen's
infuriating love and fiercest competitor, and Linh's secret
keeper, boss and truest friend.
Tatjana Soli paints a
searing portrait of an American woman’s struggle and triumph
in Vietnam, a stirring canvas contrasting the wrenching
horror of war and the treacherous narcotic of obsession with
the redemptive power of love. Readers will be transfixed by
this stunning novel of passion, duty and ambition among the
ruins of war.
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