War Novel a Big Disappointment

Bike Tourist

Bike Tourist

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Hey, Bill —

I was looking forward to reading "The Lotus Eaters" by Tatjana Soli on my Kindle, a novel concerning a woman photojournalist during the Viet Nam War. So how did I like it?

I want my money back!

Here's my review on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Eaters-...?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&filterBy=addTwoStar

Plenty of others thought it was the definitive war novel. I thought it was funny. It seems to me if you intend to write about a subject, even fiction, that you should do your homework. Otherwise, the whole enterprise lacks credibility.
 
A nice critique! It's probably coincidental but within five minutes this morning I read Mike Johnson's review of using a Kindle and now yours.
Enough to convince me I don't want one. Maybe an iPad but not the Amazon thingo.
 
Reading the wording in the first Post, which is to Bill's attention, and has "It seems to me if you intend to write about a subject, even fiction, that you should do your homework. Otherwise, the whole enterprise lacks credibility" in it...

Just to be clear: Bill Pierce did not write this novel, the author is "Tatjana Soli". Looking at the other Amazon customer reviews, it received ~4.5 out of 5 stars. Many liked it.
 
I haven't read the book. But if I had to guess, I would say you were a Vietnam Vet and read the book with your own experiences in mind. If so, that is a problem. Vietnam is interpreted by when and where. A person in Saigon in 1970 knows a different Vietnam from a person who was in an infantry unit up country in 1967, and from the infantryman who was up country in 1971.

If I am wrong, sorry. But I had the fortune to be in Vietnam from 1967 to 1972. I served in two tactical brigades and in the fleshpots of Saigon and Da Nang. When and where made a big difference.

Now that still won't excuse bad writing. I can put up with a little, excusing such inaccuracies as you describe to ignorance, but not detracting too much from an otherwise good story. If it wasn't a good story (and from your's and Amazon's descriptions, maybe it just wasn't), so be it. It is hard for anyone who was there to write a good Vietnam story, much less someone who wasn't even there.
 
I have not read the book mentioned (and would not - totally off my personal interests), but I read the review and I can image that those issues mentioned would make it hard to digest or ignore to somebody who knows more about the subject.

This is something we often forgive to films which have 90 minutes to tell the story, but we often expect more from books where the author has all the powers to get the readers on his/her side without the impression of being "cheated". This is in particular true is the story is supposed to sound "real".
 
oftheherd said:
I haven't read the book. But if I had to guess, I would say you were a Vietnam Vet and read the book with your own experiences in mind. If so, that is a problem. Vietnam is interpreted by when and where. A person in Saigon in 1970 knows a different Vietnam from a person who was in an infantry unit up country in 1967, and from the infantryman who was up country in 1971.

If I am wrong, sorry. But I had the fortune to be in Vietnam from 1967 to 1972. I served in two tactical brigades and in the fleshpots of Saigon and Da Nang. When and where made a big difference.

Now that still won't excuse bad writing. I can put up with a little, excusing such inaccuracies as you describe to ignorance, but not detracting too much from an otherwise good story. If it wasn't a good story (and from your's and Amazon's descriptions, maybe it just wasn't), so be it. It is hard for anyone who was there to write a good Vietnam story, much less someone who wasn't even there.
Click to expand...

No, I had a chance to "volunteer" to go to Viet Nam as an "advisor" in 1962 but I told them I preferred to remain in Germany. Yes, my criticism had nothing to do with the war itself or the morality of it, one way or the other. I just thought it was a poorly executed novel.

By the way, see my post above. Have you read "Matterhorn"? I'd be interested in your opinion of that one.
 
As a slight remedy to this, if you have not already, Dispatches by Michael Herr, is well worth a read for a journalistic book about Vietnam during those years. With small but interesting parts within the book covering photographers he met and worked with.
 
This has nothing to do with Dick’s review or even “The Lotus Eaters.” I just wanted to express my absolute admiration for the women who photograph wars. They face all the dangers the rest of us do, plus one. If they are detained or imprisoned, they can be raped - repeatedly. This doesn’t happen to every woman, but it happens too often.

The women I have known don’t fit the Hollywood image of the dashing temptress. They were young and brave, but after the boys had finished beating their chests and telling stories of “looking into hell,” the women, WHO HAD GONE THROUGH EXACTLY THE SAME ADVENTURES, did things like cook dinner for everybody. Often, when we were behaving like little boys, their response wasn’t to tell us all that we were all idiots, but to behave like our moms. They were exceptional.
 
Bike Tourist said:
...If you want my recommendations for really excellent current writing with war themes, I suggest "War" by Sebastian Junger (Afghanistan) or "Matterhorn" by Karl Marlantes (Viet Nam).
Click to expand...

other suggested reading might be "The Good Soldiers" by David Finkel

Casey
 
Bill Pierce said:
I just wanted to express my absolute admiration for the women who photograph wars. They face all the dangers the rest of us do, plus one. If they are detained or imprisoned, they can be raped - repeatedly. This doesn’t happen to every woman, but it happens too often.
Click to expand...

This also happens to male prisoners too.

John
 
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