Last Night I Dreamed of Peace Publisher: Broadway

by Dang Thuy Tram

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

[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.

[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. ”

[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…