2008 Blogs

Vaccines and more

09/01/2008

Novel Without a Name by Duong Thu Huong

This week I completed my four-part vaccine for typhoid. It was a bit unnerving, having the live typhoid vaccine in my refrigerator, inspecting each package and capsule to make sure it hadn't been punctured, then swallowing it with a glass of room-temperature water (too hot or too cold might kill the vaccine). I'm glad that is done. Of course I still need to return to the Travel Clinic for two more sessions of shots. Then I should be good to go!

I also went to the AAA office this week to speak with a travel agent. The tentative flight to Ho Chi Minh City (just under 20 hours), is by way of Hong Kong. The fare, which includes my return flight from Beijing, China, currently seems quite reasonable, around $2,200. Out of curiosity, though, I inquired about the cost of a first class ticket. $15,000! Can you believe that? Think of all the places you could see for the difference in the price of those two tickets!

A few days ago I finished reading Duong Thu Huong's Novel Without a Name (1995), which is told from the perspective of a North Vietnamese soldier after ten years of warfare. He and two idealistic childhood friends (Luong and Bien) enlisted together out of love for the Communistic Party, their country, and the prospect of its liberation. Over time, Luong rose through the ranks and Bien went mad. More of a reflection on the futility of war than an action story, this novel has been compared to All Quiet on the Western Front. Its author, born in 1947, led a Communist Youth Brigade by the time she turned twenty. Growing disillusioned, she began speaking out against the government in the 1980s, criticizing its bureaucracy and corruption. In 1991 she was imprisoned for seven months for sending state secrets abroad (actually the manuscript for this novel), and subsequently her books were banned in Vietnam. She still lives in Hanoi, but publishes her books outside the country. I've also read and enjoyed her Paradise of the Blind, which focuses on the story of three generations of Vietnamese women during the era of government-imposed land reform. That story left strong impressions about Vietnamese allegiance to family and ancestors, the symbollic value of food, class distinctions, and daily life under Communist rule during an earlier period. I recommend both!