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A review by jimmylorunning
Novel Without a Name by Dương Thu Hương
3.0
I don't think I've ever read a war novel, other than [b:The Red Badge of Courage|35220|The Red Badge of Courage|Stephen Crane|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327936136s/35220.jpg|2314709], and that was only because it was required reading for school. It simply does not interest me. But here I thought I'd give this one a chance, since it was written by a Vietnamese woman, i.e. not your typical war novel writer.
At first I was not sure what to make of the title Novel Without a Name. But then I realized that a name is an attachment. Once you name something, a pet, a baby, a vehicle, you start to get attached. Perhaps the name of this novel without a name is just that–an attempt to not be human. An attempt to distance oneself from the emotions that we would otherwise feel if we were human. An attempt to not hurt.
This was a good book. Don't let the mediocre star rating fool you, I enjoyed it more than I think I could have enjoyed any war novel.
“All [Hoang] had left was one arm, one leg, and a diary filled with gilded dreams. I remember ripping the [Communist] Party newspaper into shreds and throwing them into a stream. I never told anyone, of course. It was then that I realized that lies are common currency among men, and that the most virtuous are those who have no scruples about resorting to them. Since then, I've stopped reading newspapers, let alone bulletins from the front. I understood how those who didn't know this still felt joy, just as I understand their lust for victories, their fervor for drawing lines between true and false. Blindness gave them such extraordinary energy.”When we join Quan, the narrator, he's already a broken man, already seen way too much. He's already telling his men things they want to hear while knowing in his heart the dark truth. From there, the novel is a series of hazy episodes, not novelistic at all in that there was no story arc--but this I found to be a strength. There was none of that fake structure placed on it to suggest any kind of closure is even possible.
At first I was not sure what to make of the title Novel Without a Name. But then I realized that a name is an attachment. Once you name something, a pet, a baby, a vehicle, you start to get attached. Perhaps the name of this novel without a name is just that–an attempt to not be human. An attempt to distance oneself from the emotions that we would otherwise feel if we were human. An attempt to not hurt.
This was a good book. Don't let the mediocre star rating fool you, I enjoyed it more than I think I could have enjoyed any war novel.