I do lots of work for Vietnam Veterans' groups, and was intrigued by the title of this novella, seen in one of my daily Amazon Kindle emails, thinking of Nam as a place. Duong's characters painted me a vivid picture of one man's story of survival--a story of putting others first...of compassion. For certain, it was Quan Yin who carried Nam, just as the Blessed Mother or Jesus Christ might carry an American or European thru horrific ordeals.Many of the pictures saved in my head, from the news reports on the fall of Saigon In '75 came flooding back. A powerful little read, I did not realize this was part of a three book collection. As an educator, I appreciate the comments made regarding word painting, "show me, don't tell me" and the raw honest truth for so many of today's teens (and "not-so-teen") and the written word: "...the attention span of readers of the twenty-first century is measured by the size of the computer screen and how quickly links can be clicked and browsed." Take the time for this story...let it flow... When Vietnamese Mimi begins receiving hand-drawn postcards from someone named Nam in Thailand she is a successful lawyer in DC and doesn't know the sender. After several months of postcards she finally figures out who they're from. Nam, Mimi's childhood friend and neighbor in Vietnam, did not leave when Mimi's family did during the airlift. His story is told in snatches as Mimi tries to find out what happened to him. Her reminiscence also begins to make her evaluate her life choices. Nam's life is not pretty and the way he depicts it in simple line drawings on the postcards is poignant. A well done little book.
What do You think about Postcards From Nam (2000)?
Totally not what I was expecting. Read it anyway.
—carol
I don't really know what to say about this one...
—james_cameron
