If you enjoyed @SpikeLeeJoint's superb new @netflix film "Da 5 Bloods" based in Vietnam, then I'd recommend a book by one of the greatest living authors about the Vietnamese experience of the war. Read Bao Ninh's coruscating, heartbreaking, humane book "The Sorrow of War". 
Last year I had a long conversation with Bao Ninh at his home in Hanoi. One thing he said really struck me. He said that he stopped going on book tours because for the most part he found the experience alienating. But the only people he felt some affinity with were US vets.
He feels that while the experience of war was shared, there remains a big gulf in understanding. American conversations about Vietnam have remained insular; while the Vietnamese experience remains silenced by the language barrier.
He also feels that the American conversation has remained stunted, while Vietnam has moved on. Vietnam doesn't have the luxury to remain trapped in the past. It takes pride in its triumph, but it also had to contend with the present.
I asked about the source of his avant garde style. He said he doesn't read a lot of modern literature. Few books are translated into Vientamese. So his references are still Homer, Dostoyevsky, Remarque. He finds modern writers skilled, but playing for low stakes.
He did enjoy Alice Munro's short stories however.
I'll have more to say later. Meanwhile, here is "Savage Winds", a superb short story he wrote for Grant, which, like his book, caused much controversy. This one is about the South Vietnamese experience. web.archive.org/web/2007020212…
I'll have more to say later. Meanwhile, here is "Savage Winds", a superb short story he wrote for Grant, which, like his book, caused much controversy. This one is about the South Vietnamese experience. web.archive.org/web/2007020212…
There's a lot to say on this and I was meant to visit Bao Ninh again this summer but the pandemic ruined the plans. But he's a real treasure of world literature and I'd love to see him celebrated more.
Meanwhile, let me leave you with this superb article that @RXinani_ wrote about his life and work. diacritics.org/2018/12/the-lo…
