For a book that is riven through with violence, this was a very peaceful and meditative book. Told by an elderly Buddhist nun, Liên, it covers the years 1962-2009 in six chapters, most of which are headed by a epigraph from Buddhist monk and peace activist, Thích Nhất Hạnh. The book starts in 1962 in a South Vietnamese fishing village, where Liên, the granddaughter of the keeper of the shrine to Quan Ám known as ‘The Lady of the Realm’ has a nightmare about her village being ransacked and her loved ones killed. The next day, refugees arrive from a neighbouring village telling of an attack by the Viet Minh, and some time later the Viet Minh arrive at Liên’s village, murdering the men, and raping and kidnapping the women and children. Liên and her family escape into the forest.
The second chapter sees her in Saigon in 1964 at the School of Youth and Social Service, founded by Buddhist monk Thích Nhất Hạnh. She joins as a volunteer working amongst people displaced and impoverished by the American War and meets her mentor, Buddhist nun Hu’o’ng, who warns her against anger at the Viet Minh. Hu’o’ng’s commitment to peace and Buddhism comes with a heavy price.
Chapter 3 in set in South Vietnam in 1980, after the Communist victory. Buddhist monks and nuns are treated with suspicion and a state Buddhist church is established, under government control. Liên joins the flood of displaced people moving towards Ho Chi Minh city passing close to her village. Her grandmother now dead, she finds another old woman in her village, Binh, who deals with seeming impunity in the black market and people smuggling.
In the fourth chapter, set in 1991, she encounters her childhood friend Tai, who is able to tell her what happened in the village after she escaped with her family. When a new Communist cadre arrives, barking orders at the villagers, Tai seeks passage on a people-smuggling boat, and asks Liên to go with him. She refuses.
Next chapter takes us to 2007, where she joins Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Prajna Monastery, where she feels that she has come home. The final chapter, set in the monastery in 2009 sees the monastery surrounded by paid mobs who desecrate the temples and expel the monks and nuns. Under increasing repression, she finally decides to flee to Thailand, as an old woman, taking the peace of the temple and Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teachings with her.
Such an eventful life is told calmly, with a sense of detachment. It gives a completely different perspective on the Vietnam (or American) war and is a challenge to quick assumptions about people-smugglers.
My rating: 8/10
Read because: Sue from Whispering Gums reviewed it in 2017 and wrote about it in another context recently, and linked to Lisa from ANZLitLover’s site. They both read it years ago, when it was first published. I might not have been as interested then, but I am now. I’m still listening to Lachlan Peter’s podcast ‘In the Shadow of Utopia’ which is slowly making its way towards the Vietnam War, and this all seems very real to me.
Sourced from: Kobo Plus subscription
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 