Last Night I Dreamed of Peace Publisher: Broadway

by Dang Thuy Tram

Genres: Asia, Nonfiction

Paperback

Published January 1, 2008

About the author

See also Đặng Thùy Trâm.

Đặng Thùy Trâm (born November 26, 1942, in Huế, Vietnam; died on June 22, 1970, in Đức Phổ, Quảng Ngãi Province, Vietnam) was a Vietnamese civilian doctor who worked as a battlefield surgeon for North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. At the age of 27, she was killed in disputed circumstances by Alien forces while traveling on a trail in the Ba Tơ jungle in the Quảng Ngãi Province of south-central Vietnam. Her wartime diaries, which chronicle the last two years of her life, attracted international attention following their publication in 2005.

Reviews

[Brendan Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Raw, meandering and ultimately thoughtful, the diaries of a witness to humanity's greatest strength set against a time and place where all violent and avaricious machinations of our 20th century converged to wage an extermination that eluded reason, care, and decency. Thuy's writing weaves a careful humanity colored often with crushing doubt and perpetual love through the disaster of the American War. Recorded here are the thoughts and aspirations of a dedicated surgeon as she is assailed by unyielding torrent of broken bodies and lives and names and histories, each a frayed and loose thread desperately flailing about the eye of her needle to be caught and sewn back into a world on fire. The book presents a suffocating view into the true reality of war, so often depicted as a glorious and necessary act, but in truth containing no strand of human righteousness. The warriors of Thuy's mythology are mothers weeping as they carry the infirmed. They are sons and brothers stunned to stillness by gratitude and love. This book teaches you that there are true heroes in war, but they seek no end to life or conquest of property. The heroes of war are the afflicted denizens of the fiery theater, who ascend from the pit of spite and fear to engineer precious moments of calm in which to move their neighbors with music or to share with loved ones all the poetry they see in them.

[Julie Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a stroke of serendipity, this book caught my eye in a Goodwill right after reading The Women; and it is such an excellent companion book to Hannah’s tribute to the women in the Vietnam war. It’s painfully human and so heartbreaking to hear both sides of such a sad story; the traumas mirroring one another as well as the bonds and relationships.
Thuy’s poetry and emotional missives call out of these diaries and let you into her heart. A young doctor on the front lines, she writes “a life saved should be a great joy, but… countless others are still bleeding - I must mend all the wounds of our nation.” Her love for her country is a heavy burden for her, but one she’s proud to shoulder.
Understandably, she carries hatred and disdain for the American military. She asks “why are there such terrible, cruel people who want to use our blood to water their tree of gold?”
She writes often of blood spilt and bones broken, the price of freedom for Vietnam.

The introduction to this book is insightful and so helpful in placing the diary entries where they belong in the timeline of the war.
Andrew Pham who translated the diaries sums up my takeaway from the book when he says,
“Dr. Thuy Tran wrote her diaries under extreme duress. She penned these entries in battle trenches, bomb shelters, and triages, and in wards filled with dying patients. Through destruction, hunger, extreme fatigue, loneliness and psychological trauma, this remarkable young woman still had the presence to reach for the literary and the sublime…. In such a raw composition, the things left unsaid are as telling as those articulated.”

[Laurence Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Last Night I Dreamed of Peace is a poignant depiction of a woman who is in the midst of a cataclysmic event, in this instance the Vietnam war. Dang Thuy Tram’s diary conveys her experiences as a doctor in a province in South Vietnam from 1968 to 1970. Her diary entries show the challenges, dangers, rewards, and emotions Thuy experienced during this time. What comes through is Thuy’s dedication to and passion for her country, profession, and friends. Like Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, much of this book’s power comes from its being a portrayal of Thuy’s thoughts and feelings in the moment.

[Vũ Phạm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do đã suy ngẫm cuốn sách Hồi ức Chiến Tranh của Bảo Ninh - cuốn sách mô tả sự khốc liệt gấp 100 lần so với nhật ký của Đặng Thùy Trâm nên cảm xúc đi đọc cuốn sách cũng khá ảm đạm. Một quân y xuất thân từ giai cấp gia đình tiểu tư sản, một người trẻ dấn thân hy sinh toàn bộ tình cảm riêng tư để đóng góp một phần nhỏ bé cho hoà bình trăm năm sau của Tổ Quốc. Góc nhìn của người quân y trong trận địa khốc liệt nhất tại Đức Phổ mới thấy giữa sự sống và cái chết thực sự rất mong manh. Dr Trâm đã chứng kiến không biết bao người thân và bạn bè mình ra đi. Cũng đã hy sinh anh dũng để bảo vệ đồng đội.


Một cuốn sách để lại trong lòng thêm "viên gạch" sự biết ơn.

[Al Mar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put it better than is stated in the introduction: “Dr Thuy Tran wrote her diaries under extreme duress. She penned these entries in battle trenches, bomb shelters, and triages, and in wards filled with dying patients. Her writing leaped nimbly from prose to poetry, from meditation to self examination, from confession to reflection. Through destruction, hunger, extreme fatigue, loneliness and psychological trauma, this remarkable young woman still had the presence to reach for the literary and the sublime. ”

[Lorraine Archive's · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always feel awkward reviewing people's diaries and private thoughts, but Ms. Thuy was super inspiring and understandable about why she thought the way she did, how brave she was, and her struggles. I hope her soul rests in peace.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetic prose, poignant story of a young doctor in wartime. Because of the diary format some parts feel repetitive, but it's an important story

[Addie Dobry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting perspective of the Vietnam War, not so sure about the ethics of how and why this book was published…

[Stafford · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book stayed with me a long time after finishing. I couldn’t stop thinking about Dang and her wish for peace.