Dust Child
Dust Child
By Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
An Important Historical Fiction ~ Read With Care!
Reviewed by HoangChi Truong, Author.
Professional Reader & Reviewer, a NetGalley Member
Rated: 4/5 Stars
Dust Child tells three stories set in Việt Nam in two time periods, pre and post-1975 (Fall of Vietnam), and the intersections of their lives.
In 1969, two sisters, Trang and Quỳnh, left their impoverished home in the Mê Kông Delta for better job opportunities in Sài Gòn to support their family and pay off a family’s debt.
In 2016, a black Amerasian man, Phong, a child of a Vietnamese mother and an American GI (government issue) soldier, traveled to Sài Gòn with his family, determined to seek unification with his father.
During the same period, Dan, a former GI, and his wife Linda traveled to Việt Nam from their Seattle home, seeking closure and treating his PTSD at their friend’s and therapist’s recommendations.
Each group encountered challenges and heartaches while searching for answers and successes at high personal costs.
The sisters traveled to Sài Gòn, naive and optimistic, after learning from their visiting high school friend, Hân, about a lucrative and quick way to make money. The three took the bus to the capital as Trang and Quỳnh looked forward to paying off the family’s crippling debt while their Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) father was bedridden. They fell into a vortex of unsavory situations, entangled with dangerous liaisons, and woes ensued.
Phong and his wife, Bình, and their two children, Tài and Diễm, suffered prejudices and racism throughout their lives, but they determined to prosper, despite all odds. Phong emptied their savings to find his father in America, his ticket out of poverty, persecution, and a better future for his children. In his search, Phong stumbled upon Dan and Linda, taking them on a twisty plot of more adventures, truth, deceptions, and reckoning.
Dan didn't want to return to Việt Nam initially, but his wife convinced him to face his demons to overcome his PTSD. Once he agreed and boarded the plane, he couldn't shake the thoughts of his former Vietnamese girlfriend, Kim, whom he mistreated toward the end of his tour, Especially how he walked away from her when she told him she was pregnant with their child. Dan felt remorse for mistreating her and leaving his unborn baby and felt desperate to find them. His pursuit caused marital stress when Linda discovered his secret plan to locate Kim with the help of their tour guide, Thiên, a former ARVN Captain.
Evaluation of Dust Child:
In Dust Child, the sense of place was clear, the pace was on point and suspenseful, and the dialogues were mostly fluid. And here is a note of caution for readers, the author used Vietnamese words and expressions in their full diacritic format on almost every page without footnotes or a glossary for reference.
In addition, the overused word comrade in Dust Child triggered me as a Vietnamese refugee fleeing communism at age thirteen in 1975. Since I was born and raised during the war, I have first-hand knowledge of this word usage and its identification with political affiliation.
For example, in South Vietnam, before the Fall of Saigon, the word comrade, or đồng chí, was exclusively and categorically used for communists, việt cộng or cộng sản. The ARVN soldiers and officers would NEVER call each other comrades, yet in Dust Child, ARVNs and GIs repeatedly referred to and addressed each other this way.
I cringed and found the word jarring and alienating. Words matter. They can manifest biases and political views if the goal is to foster peacebuilding and reconciliation between former enemies of the war. I wholeheartedly agree with the author, “words can be the most dangerous traps,” when Hồng, a fellow Amerasian lady, warned Phong as he looked for his GI father against scammers.
Besides these sidebar observations, Dust Child told important stories of the war's overlooked and forgotten casualties, Dust Child, the Amerasian kids, now adults, and the enduring racism they faced daily. The in-depth research brought solid storytelling for Phong and his family, Trang and her sister, Dan, and his wife, and the fundamental human needs not only for safety and survival but also connection, love, belonging, acceptance, identity, and community.
Dust Child is an essential work of historical events, their fallout, and the consequences of war. The novel is entertaining, fast-paced, compelling, and a page-turner, and it will be eye-opening to most readers outside Việt Nam.
Recommendations and Rating: I recommend Dust Child and rate the novel a solid and enthusiastic four-star in the historical fiction genre.