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A review by royalfox
A Bend In the River by Libby Fischer Hellmann
5.0
~Thank you NetGalley and The Red Herrings Press for sending me an e-ARC for this book in exchange for an honest review.~
Rating: 5/5
Mai and Tam are two sisters in wartime Vietnam, 1968, who struggle for survival after their small village is destroyed by the Americans and their family is slaughtered. Mai and Tam, even before this tragedy, have not had the best relationship; tensions finally build and boil over, leaving the sisters estranged from each other, each taking separate paths to salvation: Mai, to become a bar girl hanging on the arms of American GIs, and Tam, to become a fighter for the North, to destroy the Americans who took everything from her.
I could not put this book down. Everything from the development of Mai and Tam from girls to women, to the story-telling, was impeccable. There was not a single moment that I found myself bored or skipping ahead to get to the "meat" of the story. It keeps you on your toes, always guessing and wondering what will happen to the sisters next; without spoiling anything, I can say that it was a very unpredictable ending.
Mai and Tam are so different and unique in their attitudes and actions and Ms. Hellmann portraited that perfectly. The way she describes the scenes make you feel like you're right there with the sisters, living through their hardships, your heart breaking when theirs do. She shows you the realities of what lives were like for the Vietnamese unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire of the "American War," how drastically things can change for the worst, and how quickly people can die.
This is the first novel I have ever read by Ms. Hellmann, and I can only hope the rest of her novels are as extraordinary. I absolutely recommend picking up a copy of A Bend in The River--you won't be disappointed.
Rating: 5/5
Mai and Tam are two sisters in wartime Vietnam, 1968, who struggle for survival after their small village is destroyed by the Americans and their family is slaughtered. Mai and Tam, even before this tragedy, have not had the best relationship; tensions finally build and boil over, leaving the sisters estranged from each other, each taking separate paths to salvation: Mai, to become a bar girl hanging on the arms of American GIs, and Tam, to become a fighter for the North, to destroy the Americans who took everything from her.
I could not put this book down. Everything from the development of Mai and Tam from girls to women, to the story-telling, was impeccable. There was not a single moment that I found myself bored or skipping ahead to get to the "meat" of the story. It keeps you on your toes, always guessing and wondering what will happen to the sisters next; without spoiling anything, I can say that it was a very unpredictable ending.
Mai and Tam are so different and unique in their attitudes and actions and Ms. Hellmann portraited that perfectly. The way she describes the scenes make you feel like you're right there with the sisters, living through their hardships, your heart breaking when theirs do. She shows you the realities of what lives were like for the Vietnamese unfortunate enough to get caught in the crossfire of the "American War," how drastically things can change for the worst, and how quickly people can die.
This is the first novel I have ever read by Ms. Hellmann, and I can only hope the rest of her novels are as extraordinary. I absolutely recommend picking up a copy of A Bend in The River--you won't be disappointed.