Late Blossom – Memories of life, loss, and love in Viet Nam by Laura Lâm
The tragic irony of America’s military adventure in Viet Nam lies in the fact that the two countries were fighting different wars. The Americans were fighting to sever the head of a communist monster they saw as intent on world domination and enslavement to the State. The Vietnamese, in contrast, were fighting to reclaim their right to self-determination and self-rule, a war of independence.
From the perspective of the Vietnamese people, how Viet Nam would be governed and whether it would prosper were not issues for outsiders to decide. For them, the issue focused on the decisive return of its self-evident right to be free from imperialist domination. In waging their crusade against Communism, the Americans were seen as new imperialists clinging to an old position.
Late Blossom is a moving book about how ordinary people cope with extraordinary circumstances, and how a few, in spite of unimaginable horror and constant fear, somehow manage to reach deep within themselves and survive the despair and dark of night to embrace the hope and light of day. In these pages we are taken into a world where personal insecurity, sudden ruin and the real possibility of torture and violent death are as perfunctorily taken for granted as tomorrow’s sunrise. We are introduced to a cast of real-life characters caught up in and struggling against the sweeping tides of history. And through the eyes of a most remarkable woman, we come to better understand a most remarkable people and their long fight for freedom.
Late Blossom is, quite simply, a beautifully told story of life, loss and love in a war-torn Viet Nam.
Reviews:
“A haunting account of a young, indomitable Vietnamese woman’s life and love that describes the two inter-twining wars coexisting in Viet Nam — the American war against Communism and the Civil war between those supporting the Americans and the authoritarian South Vietnamese regime and the ‘nationalists’ who supported Ho Chi Minh’s struggle to regain independence and freedom for Viet Nam. Ms Lam emphasizes the profoundly negative impact of the ‘strategic hamlet’ program and the US bombing that stirred fierce opposition to the South Vietnamese regime and empowered the ‘nationalists’. Late Blossom also provides extraordinary descriptions of the great events at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, the ‘Tet offensive’ in 1968, and the fall of the Sai Gon regime in 1975, illuminating insights into the reactions of ordinary South Vietnamese. ” – Desaix Anderson. Charge d’ Affaires, 1995-1997, US Embassy, Ha Noi, Viet Nam.
“For me a good book is one that leaves its mark on you. Late Blossom does that. I couldn’t put it down. It’s what I call an accompaniment story – that you read again and again. Like a favourite teen title that you read again as an adult, but as an adolescent at heart. It’s an exceptional book that describes the war in Viet Nam without obscuring it, with an epic dimension, much like ‘Gone with the Wind’ and the ‘Thibaults’ of Roger Martin, with the same themes of war, sacrifices, bombings and destinies that cross. The characters are captivating and we share the dreams and disenchantments of the heroine.” Badia Hadj-Nasser, French best selling author.