PARADISE OF THE BLIND provides Western readers with our first fictional glimpse into the internal political struggles of Vietnam from the 1950’s through the 1980’s from the very human perspective of those who suffered most, the working-class people caught in the chaos of changing ideologies and socioeconomic experimentation.

Hang, the central character, represents many of those victimized by the circumstances of the times. Daughter of a schoolteacher and small village property owner from a respected family who is branded by the communists “an exploiter of the people,” Hang is raised by her mother alone after her father is forced to abandon his family, village, and position, escaping into the anonymity of the northern hinterlands rather than face execution or a labor camp. In Hanoi, Hang’s formerly middle-class mother makes a living as a street vendor, supporting not only her daughter but also—in good Confucian fashion—her petty Communist cadre leader brother and his family. The fruits of capitalist entrepreneurship allow Communism to survive.

Amidst the politics and economics is the story of a young woman’s coming of age. Shamed by her fatherlessness and poverty, Hang nevertheless thrives in the back alleys of Hanoi, making friends, attending school, and delighting in life as she finds it. At ten, she learns of her parents’ past, visits their home village, and is introduced to the family matriarch, her father’s sister Tam, who becomes Hang’s benefactor and role model—an independent woman who survives and succeeds despite the circumstances the communists, fellow villagers, and family members confront her with. Through Aunt Tam’s hard work, Hang attends university, eats well, and wears fashionable clothing. But her mother’s poverty sends Hang to a Soviet factory, where she works with thousands of fellow emigres for the little money they can send home. When her mother is injured and can no longer support herself, Hang returns to Hanoi. Only then does she fully realize that her fulfillment cannot come through politics, economic or social theory, or even Confucian family loyalties. Hang chooses, instead, her self, her independence.

Le Ly Hayslip’s autobiography, WHEN HEAVEN AND EARTH CHANGED PLACES, provided American readers with a perspective on events that occurred in North Vietnam that we had not yet seen. Duong Thu Huong’s PARADISE OF THE BLIND can now be placed alongside it in a growing body of literature that will allow us insight into a people and a country only now being revealed to most Americans. Duong’s novel is a wonderful entree into that world and its literary tradition.

Sources for Further Study

The Christian Science Monitor. April 28, 1993, p.13.

Far Eastern Economic Review. CLVI, June 24, 1993, p.37.

Library Journal. CXVIII, February 15, 1993, p.190.

Los Angeles Times Book Review. March 7, 1993, p.1.

The Nation. CCLVI, April 12, 1993, p.491.

The New York Times Book Review. XCVIII, May 30, 1993, p.14.

The New Yorker. LXIX, June 7, 1993, p.113.

Publishers Weekly. CCXL, January 18, 1993, p.451.

The Wall Street Journal. March 22, 1993, p. A12.

Women’s Review of Books. X, July, 1993, p.24.