The Dust Child

4.5⭐️ Rounded up.

Dust Child is a work of historical fiction centered around individual lives impacted by the Vietnam War. Through their depiction, the reader a deeper sense of some of the many ways the War caused deep pain, both then and now- and especially for Vietnamese women and the “children of the dust”- the oft-discarded children born to Vietnamese women and American soldiers.

This book really did a great job of giving an empathetic face to those who grew up in or even from this conflict. I definitely grew to care for these characters and was eager to find out where the story would take me.

Author Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai did a great job with both the historical and the fiction sides of Dust Child, providing fully realized characters, an interesting story, and a sense of deeply-researched history. The narrator, Quyen Ngo, did an excellent job with the narration as well.

*This review is based on the audiobook provided by NetGalley and @Bolindaaudio in exchange for an honest review.

Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

I absolutely adored this book - a part of the war history’s long term impact that I’ve not really had much of an awareness of or explored nearly enough.

The story was told across a dual timeline switching between 1969 and nearer present day to explore the impact that US presence had on those living in South Vietnam - particularly Amerasians. The chronology of 1969 was so well explored in a way that made it completely accessible for those who perhaps aren’t as well versed in the various military operations and events of the Vietnam War. I found the exploration here completely captivating and was gripped and invested in the narrative of Trang and Dan.

The present day narrative was so interesting - I really need to find out more about this aspect of Vietnamese history - it feels obvious to me now having read this story that this would have happened, but I’ve not read around the topic at all in my studies despite a dissertation focus on Veteran experience! I loved the way the author’s own experiences in becoming involved in Veteran experiences of searching for Amerasian children inspired this story.

The narration of the audio was excellent, the narrator was wholly engaging and I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. This is a story that will stay with me and that I’ll recommend wholeheartedly.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my audio copy.

Told during the Vietnam war and in present day, the story of two young sisters who travel to Saigon during the war, to work in a bar, frequented by American soldiers, so that they can send money back to their village for their family.

In the present day, we are touched by the story of Dan, an American veteran, who travels to Saigon with his wife, Linda, to try and lay his demons to rest. Dan hasn’t told Linda everything though and when the truth is revealed, their relationship will undergo its biggest test. They meet with Phong, a young man desperate to find his American father, so that he can travel to America to give his own young family a better life.

This beautifully written book brought out so many different emotions as I listened to the audio version. Love, hope, heartbreak, joy and so much more.

The author masterfully weaves the past and present together, skilfully combining factual history with his own fictional characters. Aside from the horrors of the war itself, tens of thousands of Amerasian children were born as a result of the war, many of them orphaned and abandoned, labelled “The Dust of Life”.

A stunning story, brilliant narrated by Quyen Ngo.

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I happened to have this novel both in audiobook and in hardback and I decided to listen to some chapters on audiobook - whilst I was out on a walk or doing household chores - and then continue and pick up reading from where I left off. I alternated between the two until I finished the novel. I had always wanted to try this but thought that there was perhaps too much organisation involved and in fact there isn't. In the audiobook version the chapters are clearly marked and it was then easy to move to the relevant chapter in the book. The wonderful aspect of doing this with this particular novel was that you could hear what the Vietnamese sounded like, as there are a fair few words and sentences in the narrative which add authenticity and poignancy.

'The Vietnam War' was a conflict between North (Communist) Vietnam and the South that started in 1955 and continued until the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. The Americans entered on the southern side in 1964, essentially to 'stop the spread of Communism'. It was a terrible war that inflicted casualties on all sides, with a level of brutality that is beyond comprehension, including chemical warfare, torture and targeted destruction. The story gives voices to different characters during the war years and examines the legacy and both psychological and emotional harm of the terrible years.

The story stretches from the late 1960s to more or less present day. Back in 1969, Trang and Quynh were two young sisters living in the countryside who were convinced they would find good work in Saigon in order to help their impoverished parents. It turns out that they had been lured into bar work, entertaining American GIs.

Dan falls for one of the bar girls, whom he knows as Kim. They set up home together, so that he has somewhere to relax and call home between missions. Long after the war has ended, he decides to return to Saigon with his wife to try and find 'Kim', whom he unceremoniously abandoned when she told him she was pregnant with his child. He has suffered from PTSD and other psychological harm since the war, and the effects of what he had witnessed were already becoming all too evident in the last period of their time together, as the war raged and damaged so many people in its wake.

The fourth character is Phong, who is the child of Vietnamese woman and a black American GI, who was abandoned in an orphanage when he was very young. Children who had distinctly different features and colour to the Vietnamese were known as dust children - Amerasians -  and were subjected to discrimination, bullying and generally existed on the margins of society. Phong is desperate to find out more about his heritage and runs foul of a family, who suggest they adopt him so that they can all file papers to go to a better life in America. It doesn't happen and he remains in the country of his birth, eking out a living.

There are several threads in this novel which are interwoven and offer an effective overview of the war from when the Americans entered. This is an informative story and a timely and poignant reminder of the long lasting effects and damage of war. It also filled a few gaps in my own personal knowledge of the war years.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. So much so I finished it in two days. It was a completely new subject for me, but one I found fascinating. The story of lost innocence, lost children and lost families is so desperately sad. History shows how women have always been there, serving the needs of men at war. This book explores the very real hurt, disappointment, abuse and exploitation caused by those relationships. This book is packed with emotion throughout. I rarely give five stars, so it is a testament to this very talented author that I am able to give a five star recommendation. My sincere thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest unbiased review.

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Quyen Ngo
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars

This novel contains several stories. Two sisters are forced to leave their home village for Saigon to help their parents pay their debts. They become »bar girls« that entertain American soldiers. Decades later, we follow the stories of Phong and Dan. Phong, an Amerasian, was raised in an orphanage and wants to find his father and a better life in America. Racism and poverty marked his life in Vietnam, and he doesn’t want that for his children. Dan, a war veteran, returns to Vietnam to deal with his PTSD.

The narration was great. Once again, Quyen Ngo brought a Vietnamese story to life.

Thanks to Bolinda Audio for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

A touching and intimate reading experience.
I was born in ‘69, and while I don’t remember the Vietnam War, I do remember the fall-out, years later. The songs of Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen touch the deepest parts of me, and Paul Hardcastle’s 19 was an iconic song in my formative years.
From the beginning, the story of Trang (pronounced Shjang) and her younger sister Quỳnh (pronounced Gwinne) enchanted me. Trang’s POV was, for me, the pivotal perspective of the story and the sisters’ circumstances illustrated the wider consequences of war so poetically.
Phong’s story, as a child of a Vietnamese woman and American GI was heartbreaking. So desperate to make a better life for himself and his family, Phong bounces between barely suppressed aggression when anyone tries to cross him, and a more gentle, compassionate and loving nature which shines through in his love for his family and the woman who raised him. There were parts of his story that almost felt reported at points; at times it read more like a documentary than a work of fiction. I felt like we skipped over some of his very formative stages in his late teens, and would have appreciated a fuller immersion, although I appreciate this would have had a big impact on the overall length of the book.
The author’s note reveals that this story is a result of her PhD research and based on the stories of the people she interviewed for her PhD, which explains the documentary feel at points in this story.
I loved the final chapters and the way the protagonists stories intertwined.
This was an insightful, educational and touching story.
Written by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai and narrated by Quyen Ngo, Dust Child was published on 1 May. With grateful thanks to Bolinda audio and NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow... I don't even know how do justice to this book.
This is the kind of book that will change your life. I feel like it's such a necessary read if you're even remotely interested in how our modern day present has been shaped by the past, by wars by proxy between colonising countries and all their ramifications you didn't even consider, by the racism that STILL exist in this day and age.
Yes, this book deals with a lot of heavy topics but they are very much important ones. We need more books like this one to further educate ourselves and to understand our world better.
I'll admit, I don't know much about the Vietnamese war (and even Vietnamese culture and history). We talked about all of 30 minutes in High School and I hadn't gad the opportunity to learn more about it until now. But having heard only rave reviews for this book, I had to request it when I saw it on NetGalley. And boy am I glad I did.
I'll be honest, this book brought me to tears so many times, broke my heart into tiny pieces. The characters touched me in a way that very few book characters have in the past. Their stories, their pain, their hope and their search for a better life (during the war and in the present day) united them in such a beautiful and powerful way. They taught me lessons I will never forget and this book will stay with me for a long time. I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and I still think about it every day.
I remain purposely vague about the plotlines of the book, and the structure of it because I do feel like it's best to go in blind (other than checking the TWs; please do check them as they are quite a few).

From the little research I did, I understand that the author is Vietnamese herself. That's something that I find very interesting and you can see it in her voice. She has a clarity and a point of view about the Vietnamese war, about colonisation and about racism, you can feel the research she's done and the life experiences she has gone through. Moreover, she's not afraid to say it like is and I LOVE that. Here she critizes openly why the US went to war in Vietnam, what they're supposed goal was vs what they actually accomplished. More often than not, with Western authors, you tip toe around the line, you infer ideas that can be seen as "controversial". But here, the author is not afraid to actually say the words. It reminds me in that way of Babel and Yellowface by RF Kuang, and it is something that I truly appreciate in my reading.

I did the audiobook and to me it was the perfect way to read this book. The narrator is excellent. She performed the story beautifully, and I have to say that it was really nice to have someone familiar with Vietnamese. Having all the names and sentences spoken in a perfect Vietnamese added authenticity to the book, but I also felt that it was a beautiful mark of respect to the author and her work.
I think this is also amazing in physical or ebook format, but here, I really felt as if each of the characers were telling me their stories directly, Their pain and struggles cut me even deeper, but I felt with them their joy in the little things in life, and their hope. It truly was inspiring.

If this review has not convinced you to pick up this book yet, then please let me know and I will go into HEAVY detail as to why you ABSOLUTELY have to.