Monkey Bridge: A Novel

by Lan Cao

Hailed by critics and writers as powerful, important fiction, Monkey Bridge charts the unmapped territory of the Vietnamese American experience in the aftermath of war. Like navigating a monkey bridge—a bridge, built of spindly bamboo, used by peasants for centuries—the narrative traverses perilously between worlds past and present, East and West, in telling two interlocking one, the Vietnamese version of the classic immigrant experience in America, told by a young girl; and the second, a dark tale of betrayal, political intrigue, family secrets, and revenge—her mother's tale. The haunting and beautiful terrain of Monkey Bridge is the "luminous motion," as it is called in Vietnamese myth and legend, between generations, encompassing Vietnamese lore, history, and dreams of the past as well as of the future. "With incredible lightness, balance and elegance," writes Isabel Allende, "Lan Cao crosses over an abyss of pain, loss, separation and exile, connecting on one level the opposite realities of Vietnam and North America, and on a deeper level the realities of the material world and the world of the spirits."    • Quality Paperback Book Club Selection and New Voices Award nominee    • A Kiriyama Pacific Rim Award Book Prize nominee

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, School, War, Historical, Asian Literature, Literature

270 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Lan is the co-author (with her teenage daughter) of the forthcoming memoir Family in Six Tones: A Refugee Mother, an American Daughter (Viking, September 15, 2020). She is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel Monkey Bridge, published by Viking in 1997. Her second novel, The Lotus and the Storm will be published by Viking Press in August 2014. She is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College and Yale Law School and worked as a litigation and corporate attorney in New York City for many years until she joined legal academia as a law professor.

Reviews

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was one of the most boring books I have ever read. Every page was a slow and heavy with pointless descriptions and annoying tangents. If I didn't have to read this for class, I would have given up on it within the first ten pages. The characters are neither memorable nor relatable, and there is a very limited plotline, which could have been told efficiently with only 50 pages as opposed to 260. Terrible.

[Hannah Rosenthal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book.

[Chloe Bright · Rating 3 out of 5]

***2.75/5***

So here's the deal. I'm required to read this book for one of my classes and I'll actually have to do a group presentation on it. I had a long weekend this weekend so to prevent myself from stressing out trying to keep up with the readings for this week, I just read the whole dang thing this weekend. That being said, I admittedly kind of just tried to zoom through it to get it over with and didn't really absorb that much of what was going on which probably wasn't a good idea especially since I have to present on this and know a lot about it. But oh well, too late now.
I did absorb SOME information, and from what I did, I'll tell you this. I really appreciated learning about the Vietnam War from a refugee's perspective. I honestly knew close to nothing about the Vietnam War previous to reading this book, and the main character and her mother's narratives do a great job at giving you an idea of the trauma that was inflicted and how impactful this event was for people. It was a horrific event as it is, but learning of it from a refugee's perspective makes it all the more jarring because all of this is happening in their home country which they have to leave to find a better life for themselves. It's really sad but really informative and eye-opening especially since the American Veterans don't really talk about their experiences with it. Also, the American version of what they show about the war is so so so different from the Vietnamese perspective.
So I appreciated the novel for that, but I did find a lot of it to be pretty boring and again, I was just trying to get it over with. There were a few parts I found completely unnecessary to the plot, but I guess they were just there to describe the Vietnamese culture and the stark contrasts between Vietnam and the US which makes sense since that's the basis of this story. I did find the mother's entries to be a lot more interesting than the narrator's, but unfortunately those interceptions were few and far between (and written in a smaller font, which was annoying).
Overall, I probably should have paid more attention to what I was reading and been a little more analytical (though I did still mark up what I found pertinent and I was able to understand/participate in our class discussion so I'm not too bad off). My rating for this book is subject to change as I ~may or may not~ have a greater appreciation for this novel after more consideration, class discussions, and analyzing for my project.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.5. This is a beautifully written, semi-autobiographical novel about immigration, coming-of-age, love, mother-daughter relationships, and so much more.

The story is told from two views, mother and daughter, though the daughter’s view predominates. The mother’s story is conveyed in letters and diary entries and appears rarely, but is the more lyrical writing and very effective and affecting.

Both women escaped the war in Vietnam and went to the United States about three years prior to the beginning of the story, which is related in both real time and flashback. The daughter, Mai, was the first to leave Vietnam, accompanied by a U. S. soldier/family friend who housed her until her mother could join her. Mai’s assimilation of English and the U. S. culture was much quicker, both because she was younger and had more time to acquire Americanization, than it was for her mother. Also, her mother, Tran, being older and having lived in Vietnam for a much longer time, was not so willing to give up her Vietnamese superstitions and culture. Through Mai and Tran we learn both what it was like to live in Vietnam in the years of the U. S. war and to try to immigrate to a new country and culture. We also learn much about the women’s past lives and hopes for the future.

Recommended.

[Freddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing can feel very sentimental and occasionally bloated with adjectives which make this books feel tedious to slog through, but writing voice is also very strong that the book feels personal and honest.

[Beth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought I'd never get to the end of this short book; it dragged so! Perhaps it needed another revision, or a better hand at editing. As it is, it reads like a draft--disconnected bits of memory forced together to make a story that, in the end, isn't as engaging as it has the potential to be.

Ms. Cao is fond of jarring metaphors. Jarring metaphors can sometimes be powerful, but not in this book. They are simply alienating as Ms. Cao uses them. Here is a sampling:

"The sound of water flowing through the pipes settled like a hazy film over the stillness of five minutes past midnight" (p. 45).

"It was a tactic as smooth and sleek as hot wax on tender skin" (p. 61).

"Had my grandfather watched Saigon squirm, witnessed these unbreathable sights?" (p. 165)

"... the girl with a mind as ravenous as a periscope..." (p. 182).

"We were both in the space where all things linger, only to turn unpredictably with the exquisite swiftness of a hard flower" (p. 202).

Along with these tortured images are several moments of things that don't quite work. For example, the narrator mentions using NoDoz as a sleep aid. Does caffeine work that way for some people? Another example happens during the fairly inexplicable and really dull trip Mai and her friend take to the Canadian border--Bobbie twists open a bottle of Coke. Not in 1978 she didn't.

Trivia, I know. But it adds to the general confusion of the narrative and makes for the kind of book you read with your eyebrows raised. The story has such great potential; the writing just didn't achieve it.

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Should be a 4-star rating, but 3 stars overall.

I still don't know what to make of this book. It's been some years since I read it, and I've had a lot of time to digest it, but I still don't know what to make of it.

I went into this book with some expectations--how could I not? It's ambitious and has been praised for ground breaking achievements. While Cao's writing is great and full of subtle emotional intensity, the ending left me hanging. It felt uncomfortable and unsettling the way nonfictional accounts of tragedies tend to leave the audience in quiet disbelief. There's an uneasiness, a quiet disturbing sense of uneasiness that I felt after finishing the book and the feeling didn't go away. It just didn't dissipate. If that was the intended effect, then it's successful in that sense. But if it wasn't intended, then that's quite a peculiar byproduct of the story.

Let's talk about the writing. The prose is familiar to me because I've read many books that follow this kind of narrative. What makes Cao's story stand out is the subtle unease and tense silences that grew between mother and daughter as each gradually become a stranger to the other person and a stranger to even herself.

[Abrar Hossen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Monke

[Sumant Salunke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical and sublime in so many parts, with incredible insight into the refugee and migrant experience and the tense complexities of mother-daughter relationships. I enjoyed it immensely, and never found any part that rang false. My only complain would be that the structure of the story doesn't leave any room of a much more nuanced and detailed portrayal of Thanh's life, and the letters she leaves behind show such captivating eloquence that I feel like the three (maybe four?) chapters from her perspective do no justice to the full breadth and vastness of her experience.

[Steve Woods · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. Vietnam is an integral part of who I am. After a tour of duty with the Australian Army in 1970-71 I have been back many times. I made close friends with a number of people during my tour, among them soldiers, farmers, a scholar, a monk and many, many children. There is so much here that strikes a chord for me. The sense of something valuable, some continuity having been cut violently in 1975 is a mark that has never left me. I had a feeling of having lost so much, people who had been a blessing in my life placed so violently beyond my reach. I always wondered about how things might have been for them if they ever got out. The timbre of their experience. Such personal things were not the things often discussed with Vietnamese, even if one had the language, so impolite to be so up front about feelings. There is in the culture though this amazingly subtle and poignant way of being that gives expression to those feelings if a person has the key and the presence to see them. It is so very evident in their poetry particularly. That sensibility is here in this book as well as the conflicted identities of parents and children cast up on a foreign shore. It is a great read.

[Louann Reid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished this last night . . . incredible writing. I learned so much about Vietnam and the life of a child/teenage immigrant to America. But the book is about spirit, love, secrets withheld, landscape, life, and death. When I heard the author speak last November, someone asked her how it felt to live in a country that had occupied her home. How do you answer that? She said it was complicated, of course, because this country had given her so much, too. I think she was being polite; this book reveals the complexity much better than her short answer could.

[Barb · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two tales of the Vietnam war, one from a Vietnamese woman who immigrates to the U.S. bringing her culture, and secrets from the past, the other from her daughter, who attempts to make sense of her family history without the missing pieces of her mother's story.

[nhi · Rating 1 out of 5]

from her interview with diacritics:

And I remember many times having talks with American soldiers who had fought in Vietnam at little shops in Little Saigon in Virginia. And I thought well, you know, if they can’t even tell their story, if they can’t be accepted by this country, then there’s no way we, the refugees, will ever be.

her immense desire to be accepted by “this country” (who is she even referring to when she says this?) alongside many other Vietnamese refugees is not exactly unique but it also is not the innocent wish she makes it sound like. Vietnamese Americans vote more conservative (48%) than all other Asian American populations and i have no doubt, based on not only these numbers but my own family members and community members, that this is out of the desire to be accepted by what they perceive is the most successful population (white, wealthy) in this country.

just because you want to be accepted does not mean the story you have to tell is innocent.

additionally her active decision to omit the reason why activists protested against Vietnam war veterans turns this into some kind of liberal acceptance/rejection problem when activists were protesting the countless crimes against humanity being committed by US armed forces. directly from monkey bridge:

The American public indeed seemed quite willing to believe that men who returned from the original sin and primordial evil of Vietnam had a natural predisposition toward madness, and the assumption was natural enough to require no further exploration or investigation.

American ambivalence towards returning Vietnam war vets was not a “natural” phenomenon, as much as she really wants it to be.

with cao’s educational background it’s clear shes very learned, so her unwillingness to acknowledge that the war on Việt Nam was precisely the consequence of American imperialism + aggression against a third world country tells us who or how she wants to accept her (and stories + perspectives like hers): Americans who don’t want to ask questions, Americans who don’t want to imagine that Việt Nam exists post-1975, Americans who hate communism more than they hate imperialism.

all of this seeps into the written work itself. cao writes imprecisely, at least half of this work is the narrator, Mai, sitting and passively listening/reading stories being told to her. flowery language that just amounts to nostalgia and sitting around longing. her frequent descriptions of Vietnamese culture and also her mother often involve the use of the words “primordial” and “primeval” very unironically and that should tell you more than enough about this book

[Chaya Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

-The Reality of Home-
In Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao, the reader follows the juxtaposition of two stories between daughter and mother. Mai and her mother, Thanh, are immigrants from the Vietnam War trying to adjust to their new American life. The story goes back and forth from present issues, like Thanh’s illness and Mai going off to college, and the unresolved matters left in Vietnam, like the unknown whereabouts of Mai’s grandfather. Though the book is not one that leaves the reader in suspense and feels like you’re reading a diary of two different individuals, it addresses the struggles of cultural identity, being an immigrant family, and life in Vietnam.

Mai, being more Americanized than her mother, continually reflects on the differences the two worlds have and how her people are adopting the westernized mindset but still honoring their heritage. She says, “It was the Vietnamese version of the American Dream; a new spin, the Vietnam spin, to the old immigrant faith in the future” (40). Mai further explains this concept by later saying, “Rebirthing the past, we called it, claiming what had once been a power reserved only for gods and other immortal beings” (41). That is what immigration is, in a way, a rebirth of a new person. However, this concept can cause clashes between the different generations of a household, a battle between modern and traditional ideas.

While Mai has become quite accustomed to life in America, her mother, on the other hand still holds pretty true to their Vietnamese roots. Mai, like most children of immigrant parents, struggles with her self-identity and the one her mother wants her to have. Through their parallel stories, the reader learns about both sides and the impact it can have on a family. In a diary entry by Thanh, she addresses the differences between her daughter and herself. She writes, “She thinks I am a mystifier out to confuse her world, to make her see double where there are only simple mathematical answers” (56). This quote is only one of many great moments in the book where the reader really can see how the Melting Pot of America can divide families and the struggles they go through to understand the opposing views of the world.

The book's setting is during the Vietnam War, so the reader also learns a great deal of what the war was like and the effect it had on the culture. Thanh talks about her country from the wedding traditions to political tensions that tore up the place she once called home. She wrote, “But just as you can’t have a top without a bottom, or sun without a moon, you can’t have Americans without Vietcong…” (239) And “And so I can only hope that my act of sacrifice will give you the new beginning that you deserve, far from the concealing fields and free of a destiny that should never have been yours” (253). She further reveals the ugliness of living during a war, though this wasn’t her first. Through this character, Cao shows the reality of veterans of war who didn’t carry a gun and the wounds that they take without earning a medal.

This book does a tremendous job showing what immigrants of war go through while also showing what Vietnam culture was like. From the conflict between adapting to the struggle to keeping one's cultural identity, the book covers all aspects of war. It also discusses the strain a family goes through while trying to adjust, and the secrets that hover below the surface of reality.

[Kaytlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just when you think you're going to read a happy ending a dark twist appears. Monkey Bridge is a beautifully written tale about the lives of two Vietnamese refugees: Mai and her mother, Thahn. It takes place after the Vietnam War ends in a small Virginia town they call Little Saigon. Saigon was their home in Vietnam. The reader sees two perspectives intertwined into one big picture. Mai is a loving daughter although somewhat embarrassed by her mother who is stuck in her ways. When her mother injures herself she repeats "Baba Quan" in her sleep. So, Mai seeks to find Baba Quan who is her grandfather back in Vietnam. The problem is there isn't a way in America to reach Vietnam although the war has ended. Mai stays very determined throughout the story and she reveals to us Thahn's thoughts and past by reading her personal papers. I wanted to read this story because I felt like it would present a perspective that is very different from mine. It certainly accomplished that and gave a fresh view I don't think any American could grasp unless they were there themselves. In life it's important to understand that your past does not have to determine your future, that is what I took away from this book. I can connect my own family bonds to what Mai and Thahn have. I recommend this book because the twist at the end completely rips your heart out and leaves you in shock.

[Hadley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lan Cao's writing style is the one thing I loved about this book. However, I found the chapters repetitive. Even though the book is relatively short already, it felt long. To me, it's similar to Joy Luck Club in the fact that it centers its premise on the characters' familial relationships. Just not my taste, given that there isn't much plot at all and it's mostly just a collection and interpretation of memories and conversations between Mai and her mother, Thanh. Not for everyone, but I can see how the strong family ties theme could be appealing to others.

[Kelly Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a daughter of Vietnamese refugees, I loved the story because there were some many stories and emotions that are specific to this identity. The book was even more touching because it goes between Vietnam and Northern Virginia, where I grew up too, so I was able to truly imagine locations mentioned and better understand some of the experiences my parents faced.

I initially checked this book out from my local library but 30 pages in, I wanted to highlight and make notes so bought my own copy. Highly recommend if you want a memoir exploring topics of immigration, motherhood, and culture.

[Kirsty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not entirely sure how to feel about this novel. I enjoyed it. I am in love with the way Cao writes because it is some of the most beautiful writing I have ever read. I love the story. I love the exposure of the immigrant experience. I love the subject of the Vietnam war. I am not sure how to deal with my feelings on what Mai's mom did to her, though. I'll come back to it when I have more time (hopefully). I tend to forget to come back to things, but it is my intention to do so, as always.

[Natalie Ramos · Rating 3 out of 5]

It sort of just drags on. The plot isn't very organized, it flips between past, present, make believe, real, and between mother and daughter too fast and often for my liking. Each chapter feels like a new story, but then when you get to the end it does kind of have a nice resolution which is given in the mother's suicide note. The writing itself is good, the plot needs work, and it is hard to distinguish now that at the end the note was in italic what was written notes, what was just the mothers story, and what was the daughter telling the mothers story. 2.9/5

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5/5

The story was fine but nothing unique or special. However it was the writing that got me. I almost DNF’d the book during the first chapter as the writing was rubbing me the wrong way. Either the writing got better or I got used to it from chapter two onward but it was still not to my taste.

[literarilylizzy ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

tw: suicide, murder, panic attacks

Heavy stuff. A lot to digest. Liked it, but hated the ending.

[Abbie Nilius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty boring overall. The last chapter was interesting and brought the story together but you have to wait the whole book to get there. Lots of insight on a refugees journey in the Vietnam war.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.

The first half of the book is like reading a really convoluted dream sequence. I couldn't even tell if the main character was male or female for like 30 pages. Everything is from the point of view of the main character, Mai, who is a Vietnamese immigrant in her senior year of high school. On top of the hardships that go along with immigration, she's dealing with her mother's failing physical and mental health, the regular mother-daughter misunderstandings, as well as the sorrow of an unidentified event leaving her only remaining family member in Vietnam.

If I was going to rate this book on IDEAS alone, I would give it 3, maybe 4, stars. But the organization and flow of the content is frustrating, slow at points, and jumbled. And although the book was written in first person, I felt like I got to know Mai's mother by her journal entries better than I got to know Mai through her narrative.

I recommend refreshing your memory on the vietnam war before reading this book. You'll be a lot less confused once you do. The book doesn't remind you itself who was on who's side, or the history and timeline in plain terms. So be prepared to remind yourself of who fought the war, what each side stood for, the major battles, and the geography of Vietnam.

Beyond the organizational and structural items that bothered me, by the time I finished the book, I found Mai's main conflict to be satisfying. Throughout the book, she is confused about how to interact with her mother. This is in the normal way mothers and daughters have a hard time understanding each other's goals, desires, history, and life. But there's the added conflict between Mai and her mother that her mother is stuck in traditional Vietnamese ways, while they are living in America and Mai is willing to adapt. They are growing much further apart than I believe they would have if Mai had grown up only in Vietnam. In the beginning, Mai is resistant to her mother's ways and lifestyle centered around Karma. But by the end of the book, although there is a bitter end in some ways, Mai learns to appreciate her mother's ways and apply them to her life in ways she can accept.

While I don't agree that her mother HAD to do the things she did in order to give Mai a Karmatic "fresh start," I can appreciate Mai's appreciation, because she needed to learn her mother's heart.

There are often very visual metaphores and analogies that I found quite impressive.

If someone asked me if they should read this book, I would probably say yes. But more in a "go for it and see what you think" way. I would recommend that they stick around for the end, and try to read the book in 1 or 2 sittings to not get dragged down. Everything comes together in the end.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

here's the thing: I went into this book really expecting to like it. I was PUMPED. I was GAME. I was DESPERATELY BORED from the first page. Though the book's not very long, it feels like a complete slog until the last twenty or so pages. Who's the main character? Do we remember anything about her? Defining personality traits? the entire book was either sad flashbacks to the mother's past in Vietnam or sad flashbacks to her "uncle"'s time fighting in Vietnam or sad snippets from the present showing the mother failing to adapt to life in America...I remember there was very little dialogue, and ultimately, I regretted picking this book as my group read because I had to spend an unwieldy amount of time flipping back through pages with very similar dialogue/themes to find the quote I wanted.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

In light of the recent anti-immigrant sentiments swelling within the American politic, this very good story of refugees making a new, though troubled, transition to life in a new country is a powerful antidote. Although there were stretches I found laborious and that I swept through quickly, overall I really enjoyed the story. I worked alongside war refugees (several of whom were former officers who escaped) from Vietnam, and even married a war orphan, and therefore have read a good deal about the war; this piece of fiction is a good addition.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Monkey bridge is the narrow, swinging bridge that crosses rivers and ravines in Vietnam. It becomes a metaphor in this beautiful story that connects past and present, East and West through war and peace. It also connects the stories of a mother and her daughter as they forge a new life in the U.S. after the war in Vietnam. The book often reminded me of the lovely, misty scrolls as the writing is very visual. It is a good book to carry in a purse for long stays in waiting rooms!

[Leya Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was great and I thoroughly enjoyed the writing. I feel like more parts would have been more impactful if this wasn’t a book I needed to read for class. With that in mind, the last few chapters made me grow to appreciate the book. I would definitely need to read it again to truly appreciate the writing.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

literal tears

[julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for vietnam war literature @ ccc

[Ainsley Wade · Rating 1 out of 5]

Name one thing that happened in this book I bet you can’t