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Title: Memories of a Pure Spring by Thu Hng Dng, Nina McPherson, Phan Huy Duong, Duong Thu Houng, Huy Ng Phan, Duong Thu Huong ISBN: 0-14-029843-6 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.33 (3 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Wonderful but Tragic Story
Comment: This story combines ill fortune and personal tragedy that bring a noble soul to sorrow or ruin. In modern literature, tragedy like this is rare. The hero must live and prosper because Hollywood heroes always do. Not tragedy, but romance always reigns. Memories of A Pure Spring is a tragedy in the classical sense. Huong will take you through many tragedies in this story, but the way that they are told makes you want to keep reading.
Huong takes us on an emotionally intense journey, both in a political sense and a personal sense. The political sense appears throughout the entire story as it takes place during and after the Vietnam War. Suong, a young singer, marries Hung, a theater director older than she. Hung is removed as leader of the artistic troupe in a demonstration of the pettiness of arbitrary political power. Then we are brought to the political mess in the heart of the re-education camp. As you read, you begin to feel pity for the characters, but it is not the type of story that depresses you because you find yourself wondering what will happen next. Suong's attempt at suicide, Hung's addiction to alcohol and drugs, and Hung's constant struggle for artistic success all make the story more interesting to read. Sure the story has a few good things that happen, and although they create some happy moments, the emotions that the characters go through and the emotions you as the reader feel, are all inspired more by the tragedy that the characters are experiencing.
This book is written beautifully with lots of imagery and description. As you read, Huong's words constantly make you see or feel something, for example the sea: "It had no country, no fatherland, no nationality, that the sea was free...that belonged to no one else, that answered to no one, that was no one's slave"(99). Hung, the director, is inspired by the sea, and this description of the sea is now how Hung must write his music: "in a different light, in the howl of the sea, of freedom." Huong could have chosen to simply explain how Hung was now free from writing for the troupe. Instead she uses the beautiful metaphor to explain it. She uses metaphors and similes like this throughout the entire story. For example, she uses a neat simile to describe happiness. "It was a small, modest happiness, like a drop of honey that you spread on the tongue of a newborn babe." We are not just told that someone is happy, we are also told the type of happiness and to what extent. These descriptive words and metaphors throughout the entire book make it much more fascinating to read. The tragic events that are occurring are explained with such beauty that they create images and feelings within you that keep you wanting to continue to read.
The only weakness that I find about the story is that it has shifting time periods. Throughout the entire story we shift from past to present quite often. The shifts do not take place just at the beginning of chapters, but everywhere. They are not marked or distinguished in any special way. Sometimes you do not even realize you have shifted until you have read a few paragraphs. Huong, however, did throw in a big hint that helps at times which is the use of symbols. One symbol that is especially helpful is the ylang ylang flower. Huong uses the flower at different times in the story to symbolize a memory one of the characters is having. This is helpful at times and is a neat hint, but it does not occur at every time shift. These time shifts do cause confusion but they in no way ruin the story. They just make the story more challenging to read. The text is written in a way that is very easy to understand. The story is not at all difficult to read as long as you can work through the shifts from past to present. This is the only weakness that I discovered throughout my reading and most people might not even call it a weakness, but a challenge.
I really enjoyed reading Memories of A Pure Spring. Any reader who enjoys a book about love, and life after war, will enjoy this story. Of course not many people enjoy reading about tragedy, but the way it is written helps you to get past the tragedy and enjoy the story. It does not have the action-packed excitement of a horror story, but the beautiful description and whirl-wind of love and tragedy keeps you reading and wanting to know what more could happen next. This is not a story that I would normally read, but I am glad that I did and I would recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 4
Summary: Amazing flap copy!
Comment: Gripping and intriguing. Never would have thought to pick it up were it not for the amazing flap copy. Well crafted and rich, it captured my interest right away. Kudos to the editor who wrote that!
Rating: 5
Summary: A gripping drama on human rights
Comment: Though the War with the Americans engulfs the country, music composer Hung and his beloved wife singer Suong are happy. They enjoy working together as they entertain the troops with Suong singing Hung's compositions. When the war ends, Hung's friends drop him when he complains about the failure of the redistribution of the wealth among the people.
By accident, Hung ends up with boat people fleeing Viet Nam. However, the police catch the dissidents and send them to a re-education camp. Upon "graduating", Hung finds he remains a no man, turning to alcohol to survive and driving his cherished wife further away from him.
MEMORIES OF A PURE SPRING is a potent indictment of the misuse of power by the Communists when they united Viet Nam. The story line creates as powerful a human rights defender as one will see in a novel. The prime characters are intriguing and enlightening, but their soliloquies slow down the plot. Though the tale may lose some of its lyrical beauty in the translation, Duong Thu Huong shows why she is considered the Vietnamese voice of conscience.
Harriet Klausner
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Title: Paradise of the Blind : A Novel by Thu Huong Duong, Nina McPherson ISBN: 0060505591 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Novel Without a Name by Thu Hng Dng, Duong Thu Huong ISBN: 0140255109 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: June, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Stars, the Earth, the River: Short Fiction (Voices from Vietnam, No 1) by Bac Hoai Tran, Dana Sachs, Wayne Karlin, Le Minh Khue, Bachoai Tran ISBN: 1880684470 Publisher: Curbstone Press Pub. Date: May, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Beyond Illusions : A Novel by Duong Thu Huong, Phan Huy Duong, Nina McPherson ISBN: 0786864176 Publisher: Theia Pub. Date: January, 2002 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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Title: Behind the Red Mist: Fiction by Ho Anh Thai by Anh Thai Ho, Wayne Karlin, Nguyen Qui Duc, Qui C. Nguyen, Ho Anh Thai, Ho Anh Thai ISBN: 1880684543 Publisher: Curbstone Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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