Reviews

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

emmaturningpages's review

dark emotional sad slow-paced

4.0

A sweeping tale of splintered families in war-torn Vietnam. Told from multiple POV and over several timelines, Dust Child is a compelling historical fiction with family at its heart. 

It’s emotional, harrowing, and shines a spotlight on the plight of the Vietnamese during the war. Particularly the Amerasians after the war had ended. 

Fans of The Women by Kristin Hannah should check this out.

suzehint's review

adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

amyjayexo's review

challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

aimeereadsthebooks's review

emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

luxjudit's review

adventurous dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

youk0101's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

mattypreads's review

dark emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

4.5

A touching yet painful detailing of how war is never just responsible for the number of lives lost, but an entire landscape of people over generations. Plus I'm always a sucker for multiple POVs/stories within a story, and seeing how they influence each other. 

beverlie's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

abooknbrew2's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I chose to read this as my historical knowledge is very limited. I had no idea what the Vietnam war was about, how it started but particularly why the US was involved. The book tends to assume the readers knowledge, so I had to do a bit of research to find out the background. To be honest I wasn’t that much the wiser, it sounded very complicated.

This book sets out to show the effects of war on ordinary civilians. People from rural farming communities who earned their money from rice. Various story lines involving different characters who eventually come together long after the war when they all seek to find answers, find parents, find children, above all find a sense of belonging and forgiveness.

The tragic stories of Trang and Quynh who leave their almost destitute family to make money in the Saigon bars where they meet up with and provide ‘companionship’ to US soldiers. Phong’s story is a poignant one, it goes back in time to when he was abandoned as a new born outside an orphanage, to Phong as a married man with a family, still looking for his parents and hoping to take his family to live in America under the Amerasian Homecoming scheme, where he hopes his fortunes will change. And later Dan, an American Vietnam veteran, who allows his wife to talk him into coming back to Vietnam in the hope it will help with his PTSD. But Dan has a secret and a desire to find out what happened all those years ago and what happened to one of the bar girls he had a relationship with at the time.

It’s a story that covers many years, much misfortune and suffering but ultimately ends with hope and forgiveness. It’s fictional but based on many real life stories the author has listened to during her research for a PhD and took 7 years to write.

I enjoyed it very much, though perhaps ‘enjoy’ isn’t the right word. I think it makes it all the more poignant knowing the book tells the story of many of those whose lives were affected long after the war had ended. 

rw246's review against another edition

challenging sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75