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Catinat Boulevard (211)
Beginning in Saigon during the Vietnam War and ending in present day New York, Catinat Boulevard tells the story of two friends Mai and Mai Ly. While Mai flirts with American GIs in rowdy bars along Catinat Boulevard, Mai Ly joins the communist resistance in the jungle. The story also follows Nat, Mai’s half Vietnamese-half African-American son abandoned in a Saigon orphanage.
467 pages, Paperback
Published September 30, 2023
22 people want to read
About the author
Caroline Vu
6 books7 followersThe author grew up in Saigon during the height of the Vietnam War. She now lives in Montreal, Canada after extended stays in the US, Latin America and Switzerland. She is the mother of two girls and works as a family physician in a community health clinic. She has published two novels: "Palawan Story" - finalist for the Concordia University First Book Prize and "That Summer in Provincetown". Both novels deal with the psychological effects of war and displacement.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 27, 2024
By far the worst book I read this year.
July 27, 2024
This is a dense and complex novel spanning many decades, countries and definitive political events in the 20th century. Long by the standards of the day, here, Vu does a great job of portraying a range of characters and their interrelationships in-depth.
There are no straightforward hero/heroines or villain/vamps in this book, but rather people who are flawed, often shaped, and driven to action, or lack thereof, by their difficult circumstances. Her skill as a writer lies in making their humanity come through, evoking sympathy and understanding from the reader. Another positive feature is the humour, whether just naughty and bubbly or sarcastic. This makes for a serious novel that is by no means grim.
No less commendable, Vu does not take sides, pointing out the racism inherent in Vietnamese society as squarely as in white America. The parallel descriptions of repression and malaise in pre-revolution as well as communist dominated Vietnam, and the "free and democratic" USA are well wrought. Vu also contrasts the lives of the privileged (Mai) and the poor (Mai Ly, her friend), in Saigon, to good effect.
The protagonist is a rejected child left to fend for himself in a Catholic orphanage. He is the bastard offspring of Mai, and Michael, a mixed race American GI serving in Vietnam. The child, Nat (one of many names he is called by), is a living, breathing, wriggling symbol of the wrenching effects of war, abandonment, bias and displacement.
Vu's writing style includes repetition and circling around events. The characters visit and revisit the impactful moments in their lives. This often works as the memory of and the reflections on the past bring depth and a compelling rhythm to the narrative. And this parallels real life. However, this device could have been reined in at times. For example, it feels overused to describe the life of adolescent, lust-driven, fun-loving, Mai in Vietnam.
That said, kudos are due for creating this sex positive character. Vu seems to want to rip into the stereotypes laden on Asian women; a worthy endeavour indeed.
She also writes about writing (both Mai and Nat write their stories; Mai even takes a writing class) and points to the difficulties faced by non-conforming writers (read BIPOC, first generation immigrants, etc) in America. (Admittedly there is finally a bit of a positive change in this regard, at least in mid-21st century Canada.)
There are no straightforward hero/heroines or villain/vamps in this book, but rather people who are flawed, often shaped, and driven to action, or lack thereof, by their difficult circumstances. Her skill as a writer lies in making their humanity come through, evoking sympathy and understanding from the reader. Another positive feature is the humour, whether just naughty and bubbly or sarcastic. This makes for a serious novel that is by no means grim.
No less commendable, Vu does not take sides, pointing out the racism inherent in Vietnamese society as squarely as in white America. The parallel descriptions of repression and malaise in pre-revolution as well as communist dominated Vietnam, and the "free and democratic" USA are well wrought. Vu also contrasts the lives of the privileged (Mai) and the poor (Mai Ly, her friend), in Saigon, to good effect.
The protagonist is a rejected child left to fend for himself in a Catholic orphanage. He is the bastard offspring of Mai, and Michael, a mixed race American GI serving in Vietnam. The child, Nat (one of many names he is called by), is a living, breathing, wriggling symbol of the wrenching effects of war, abandonment, bias and displacement.
Vu's writing style includes repetition and circling around events. The characters visit and revisit the impactful moments in their lives. This often works as the memory of and the reflections on the past bring depth and a compelling rhythm to the narrative. And this parallels real life. However, this device could have been reined in at times. For example, it feels overused to describe the life of adolescent, lust-driven, fun-loving, Mai in Vietnam.
That said, kudos are due for creating this sex positive character. Vu seems to want to rip into the stereotypes laden on Asian women; a worthy endeavour indeed.
She also writes about writing (both Mai and Nat write their stories; Mai even takes a writing class) and points to the difficulties faced by non-conforming writers (read BIPOC, first generation immigrants, etc) in America. (Admittedly there is finally a bit of a positive change in this regard, at least in mid-21st century Canada.)
November 13, 2023
📖 Bᴏᴜʟᴇᴠᴀʀᴅ Cᴀᴛɪɴᴀᴛ
Une autrice et une maison d’édition que je ne connaissais pas et un sujet des plus fascinant. C’est d’ailleurs le résumé qui m’a incité à vouloir absolument lire ce roman.
Un récit à plusieurs voix, mais qui ont tous un lien entre eux. Il s’agit d’une belle évolution à travers les années. Le tout commence au Vietnam dans les années 60, ce poursuit durant la guerre du même nom et s’étend jusqu’aux États-Unis des années plus tard. Le chemin de plusieurs personnages s’entrecroise et petit à petit on découvre la vérité en lisant la version de chacun d’eux, parfois écrit à la première personne, parfois à la troisième. On parle de guerre, de mensonges, d’abus, de jeux de pouvoir, d’abandon, d’exil, de violence, d’insécurité, de solitude, de racisme, de politique, mais aussi d’amour.
À chaque chapitre, je me demandais si c’était vraiment une œuvre de fiction ou bien si c’était inspiré d’une histoire vraie. La ligne est très mince, voire inexistante, puisque le récit raconté est tout à fait plausible, d’autant plus que certains lieux mentionnés, comme le titre « boulevard Catinat » pour ne nommer que celui-ci, a vraiment existé dans le Saigon d’autrefois. Aujourd’hui, il se nomme Dong Khoi à Hô Chi Minh-Ville.
C’est un récit brillant et touchant que nous offre Caroline Vu sur des aspects véridiques et plutôt laids de notre société moderne et sur le résultat d’une guerre sanglante et cruelle qui aura duré en tout et partout plus de 19 ans. Des personnages blessés, brisés et tourmentés sur un fond où l’amour et l’amitié sont tout de même présents. La fin est complètement fabuleuse. J’ai adoré ce roman.
Une autrice et une maison d’édition que je ne connaissais pas et un sujet des plus fascinant. C’est d’ailleurs le résumé qui m’a incité à vouloir absolument lire ce roman.
Un récit à plusieurs voix, mais qui ont tous un lien entre eux. Il s’agit d’une belle évolution à travers les années. Le tout commence au Vietnam dans les années 60, ce poursuit durant la guerre du même nom et s’étend jusqu’aux États-Unis des années plus tard. Le chemin de plusieurs personnages s’entrecroise et petit à petit on découvre la vérité en lisant la version de chacun d’eux, parfois écrit à la première personne, parfois à la troisième. On parle de guerre, de mensonges, d’abus, de jeux de pouvoir, d’abandon, d’exil, de violence, d’insécurité, de solitude, de racisme, de politique, mais aussi d’amour.
À chaque chapitre, je me demandais si c’était vraiment une œuvre de fiction ou bien si c’était inspiré d’une histoire vraie. La ligne est très mince, voire inexistante, puisque le récit raconté est tout à fait plausible, d’autant plus que certains lieux mentionnés, comme le titre « boulevard Catinat » pour ne nommer que celui-ci, a vraiment existé dans le Saigon d’autrefois. Aujourd’hui, il se nomme Dong Khoi à Hô Chi Minh-Ville.
C’est un récit brillant et touchant que nous offre Caroline Vu sur des aspects véridiques et plutôt laids de notre société moderne et sur le résultat d’une guerre sanglante et cruelle qui aura duré en tout et partout plus de 19 ans. Des personnages blessés, brisés et tourmentés sur un fond où l’amour et l’amitié sont tout de même présents. La fin est complètement fabuleuse. J’ai adoré ce roman.
November 8, 2023
I requested an advance review copy of this book because I’d read and enjoyed Vu’s first novel, Palawan Story. Although I saw that the author’s writing had certainly matured since her earlier effort, the content of this new work of fiction did not engage me in the least. I was not interested in reading about a schoolteacher-father preying on his 16-year-old student (which reads like pornography), and I was even less taken with the story of the teenage protagonist’s sexual liaison with a stinking, eagle-tattooed American soldier in 1970s Saigon. The author was a great deal more interested in providing a play-by-play of these characters’ antics than I was in reading about them. Unwilling to invest more time in this slow-moving, sex-focused story with its dull, superficial characters, I abandoned the book with relief at page 61. I had already settled into irreversible resentment after having read only a portion, and Vu had provided me with no reasons to plod through a few hundred pages more. A disappointment.
December 11, 2023
Caroline Vu's Catinat Boulevard is a powerful, humorous novel about war, sexual relations, racism and childhood trauma. The book challenges both Confucianist and bourgeois values, not to mention more recent sexual mores and propriety. A thoroughly enjoyable read and highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews