Review-The Lotus Eaters, by Tatjana Soli

I read this book for the Early Reviewer program on Library Thing. I had requested it as a possible choice thinking I would like to read it for the War Through the Generations Challenge. I was so happy when I had been given this as my ER book. This is my first book in this challenge and a great one to start off with. I loved it!! I felt like I was there, but safe in my own house. I can't even imagine how Helen must have felt covering the Vietnam War. I shudder to even place myself in her shoes. Here is my review.




THE LOTUS EATERS
Tatjana Soli, St. Martin’s Press, April 2010, $24.99/C$29.99,HC,400 pp,978-0-312-61157-6.

Helen Adams decides to journey to Vietnam to determine what really happened to her brother. She arrives in Saigon in 1965 as a photojournalist, inexperienced and eager to prove, with a distorted view of what Vietnam will actually reveal. It is a man’s world and Helen’s arrival is met with mixed reactions among the male dominated press. She soon meets and falls in love with Sam Darrow, a Pulitzer winning veteran photographer. His assistant Linh, a Vietnamese helps them both to navigate the divided world that exists in Southeast Asia during the war. They live in Saigon and when Darrow fears for Helen’s safety, he arranges for Linh to go work with Helen. All three accompany dangerous and deadly missions chasing the ultimate photos that will emerge as they are seen through the camera’s lens of this war’s fury. What they see is not always printable, but their mental survival is contingent on having the camera as a prop to shield them from the reality of the moment. Helen decides to return home to California, but soon realizes her mistake, only to fly back to the place where she felt most alive, Vietnam.

The story begins in 1975 during the fall of South Vietnam. Helen and Linh are trying to leave the country. Linh, wounded and delirious from medication is unaware when Helen makes the choice to stay behind and arranges safe transport for Linh. The author then takes the reader back about ten years as Helen, Linh and Darrow are introduced and the story of their interconnected lives begins.

Soli uses a variety of voices to tell this story. The point of view is sometimes difficult to switch back and forth, but with perseverance the reader will adjust to her writing style. You get a real sense of what it was like to be Helen, a female among the guys. Her strength and courage make this story possible as she settles in to live among the people. Through Linh, you will witness the harsh realities and price that was extracted by the Vietnamese villagers. You sense the soldier’s frustrations as they fought an illusive ghostlike enemy, the climactic conditions, wretched, foul and the oppressive heat. You gain a perspective that is unimaginable, the brutal fear and hopelessness brought by the scourge of the Vietnam War. This is a sensitive, harrowing and moving account of the war with a soul, where bodies are counted for more than a statistical tally. This is a war story with heart not to be overlooked.



DISCLOSURE: I received this book from the publisher through the Early Reviewers program on Library Thing.

Jantsen's Gift, by Pam Cope

JANTSEN’S GIFT
A True Story of Grief, Rescue and Grace
by Pam Cope, with Aimee Molloy
Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group
April 2009
978-0-446-19969-8

If you have ever wondered if one person can really make a difference, then you have not read Jantsen’s Gift by Pam Cope. After the tragic death of her son, Pam, a self described hairdresser, wife and soccer mom was unsure how she was going to live through each day. She was desperate, full of self-loathing, her grief was so enormous, she had no idea how she would ever get out of bed to carry on life without him.

One day, desperate, unable to cope, desolate with grief she has a chat with God,

“I cannot do this anymore. I cannot live this life....I cannot forge a life of meaning from this sorrow. Please, just take me. Or at least tell me: What do you want from me.”

Having learned from her husband Randy that the memorial fund established in her son’s name had grown to twenty five thousand, Pam decides to take a trip to Vietnam with a friend in order to visit orphanages. This initial leap of courage to take a trip that required traveling across the globe away from the comfort zone of Neosho, Missouri was the impetuous that Pam needed to begin her healing.

On her visit she met Vinh Thien a small infant boy, who had been abandoned by his mother. Despite all the many children Pam and Randy had met during their visit, Vinh stood out and without any explanation, she just knew she wanted to take him home. He would ultimately become Van Alan Cope. It was a long arduous process complete with red tape and bureaucratic double talk, but one that would help to show Pam what her path in life was to be. She was never, or seemingly never daunted by the insurmountable odds against everything she tried to implement. Her tenacious will seemed to be driven by a purpose unseen until her son’s death. Through Jantsen’s spirit she learned to live differently, perhaps that was his gift.

Throwing all her energy into saving children, Pam took on nascent roles of speaker, fund-raiser, administrator, Mom Pam (adopted mother), politician, and social worker and director to defend, protect and rescue neglected and abandoned children. She saved hundreds of children from the streets of Vietnam by providing shelter, basic needs and an education.

Pam founded the Touch A Life organization, it’s mission to help save at-risk youths globally. After reading an article in The New York Times in 2006, Pam headed to Northern Ghana to help save children forced into hard labor as slaves. Even though laws against child trafficking are in place, the practice continues without interference from authorities.
Brutally honest, inspirational without preaching, you feel the author’s pain and anguish, you feel her surrender and release, you feel her acceptance and grace.

In her words,

“I never thought that Jantsen’s death would lead me to grace, and it is my hope that nobody ever has to go through what I went through to arrive there. Even writing this book feels like another step away from Jantsen. I do take comfort in the idea that even one more person will get to know a little about him, but the fact that I can write about his death without crawling to my bed and staying there, curled up in my grief for weeks, shows how far I’ve come.”

Highly moving and emotional story of one woman’s struggle to endure loss. Pam Cope’s story is gut wrenching and sad yet offers hope for all of us who look for life’s purpose and what truly matters. Jantsen’s Gift should be on everyone’s wish list.

Disclosure: Thanks to Anna Balasi at Hachette Book Group for this review copy.

Teaser Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


Jantsen's Gift
Pam Cope
Grand Central Publishing
Hachette Book Group
978-0-446-19969-8
304 pp
April 2009

"I have a friend who likes to warn me after I return from a trip that I'd better not become one of those people who start reminding everyone else that for the cost of that cup of Starbucks, they could feed a village for three years. But part of me did struggle with this after returning home from that first trip to Vietnam." (85)