A review by bract4813mypacksnet
A Bend In the River by Libby Fischer Hellmann

4.0

A Bend in the River derives its name from the Mekong River in Vietnam. In 1968 two young Vietnamese sisters witness the murder of all the members of their village, and the village is burned to the ground by American soldiers searching for Viet Cong. The sisters, Tam and Mai, flee to Saigon after their village on the Mekong River is attacked by American forces and burned to the ground. They steal a sampan and start paddling toward Saigon. Tam is older, more serious, scholarly while Mai is younger, flippant, and self-centered. Their personality differences lead them to very different life choices and ideologies. The bend in the river represents the vastly different turns their lives take after a relationship-ending argument. Tam heads into the jungle to help the Viet Cong while Mai becomes a bar girl, then a prostitute.

The reunion of the two sisters seems a bit too coincidental; however, I enjoyed the insights into the Vietnam War and seeing it “from the other side.”

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.