Don't Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Vietnam

by Susan O'Neill

In this powerful story collection―the first such work of fiction by a woman who served in Vietnam―Susan O'Neill offers a remarkable view of the war from a female perspective. All the nurses who served there had a common to attend to the wounded. While men were sent to protect America's interests at any cost, nurses were trained to save the lives of anyone―soldier or citizen, ally or enemy―who was brought through the hospital doors. It was an important distinction in a place where killing was sometimes the only objective. And since they were so vastly outnumbered, women inevitably became objects of both reverence and sexual desire.

For American nurses in Vietnam, and the men among whom they worked and lived, a common defense against the steady onslaught of dead and dying, wounded and maimed, was a feigned indifference―the irony of the powerless. With the assistance of alcohol, drugs, and casual sex, "Don't mean nothing" became their mantra, a means of coping with the other war―the war against total mental breakdown.

Each or these tales offers new and profound insight into the ways the war in Vietnam forever changed the lives of everyone who served there.

Genres: Fiction, War, Short Stories, Medical

252 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

Reviews

[Larry Bassett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I served as an army operating room nurse in Vietnam from May of 1969 to June of 1970. I joined the army for the money and the travel, and because I was naïve and had no idea what I would be getting myself into. It was one of the biggest learning experiences of my life.
. . .
The government doesn’t have hard figures for how many women it sent to Vietnam, but trust me: We were vastly outnumbered by men, and it defined us and governed our existence. We could have been ugly as toads; we could have dragged our knuckles in the dust and picked our noses in public. It wouldn’t have mattered. We were pulled by demand into a vast sea of men. Embraced, seduced, conquered, sometimes impregnated, and now and then wed.

There are eighteen short stories in this book and if they are all as bloody as the first one, I might not make it to the end. I’m the one who had to go sit in the hall when I almost fainted on a tour of the delivery room before my second son was born.

I had been told (and noted myself subsequently) that many of these individual short stories are related and can be seen as a single book. I was disappointed because I love short stories and hate to have any of them pulled out of my grasp. My ego was massaged when my memory whispered to me, “Remember that character Soriano from a couple of stories back?” and I actually did remember. I read The Yellow Birds with the same concept: short stories taped together to make a novel. Maybe it’s not all that rare. Since I am possibly entering into a short story era since I have quite a few lined up on my To Read shelf. GoodReads kindly tells me that I have 65 books on my short story shelf and most I have not read. Now, that might drag me away from mysteries for a while.

Is a war story written by a woman different than a war story written by a man? Could you read a story and tell? I’m reading Don’t Mean Nothing: Short Stories of Vietnam and the stories seem pretty much the same as those written by men. If two stories are different it is because they were written by two different people, not because of any difference in the genitalia. Would an infantryman write different than a nurse? Writers undoubtedly benefit and write from their experiences, but I think a good writer can create from a variety of points of view. But, can a man be a woman?

The point of view in this book is from behind the front lines in the medical units. That does make it different from most war stories that focus on the fighting. The medical people see the results of the fighting, delivered right to their door. I am actually surprised that there are not more gruesomely dead people here. I guess those don’t make it to triage in the medical tent.

Towards the end of the book there are quite a few references to anti-war and protest songs being played in the background. Each time it surprises me since I don’t think of those songs being popular right there in the midst of the war. Kind of like “Good Morning, Vietnam.” Just seems odd. Wonder what the commanding officers thought of that? The mixed feelings about the legitimacy of the war are dealt with:

“I’m sure there wasn’t any one of us [nurses] realized what we were getting into. But even those of us who have doubts, well, we’re not so – I don’t know – vocal maybe? Or unhappy? I mean, we are serving our country.” She patted the Lieutenant’s arm again. “Look, all I’m saying is, we’re not the experts. What do we know about the motives behind all this? So – the way I see it – most of us just kind of stay in the middle; we don’t go out and march for either side. We just do what we have to, to keep ourselves busy until it’s time to leave.”

And what about the title? Many of us want to know what the title is all about. Here it’s laid out in the introduction:

“Don’t Mean Nothing” was an all-purpose underdog rallying cry – a sarcastic admixture of “cool,” comedy, irony, agony, bitterness, frustration, resignation and despair. Work all day on a soldier who dies? Work on a soldier all day who gets sent back into battle? Get Dear-Johned? Get bit by a rat? Fall off a shipping dock and snap your spine? If you couldn’t control it, if it was FUBAR (fucked up beyond all recognition), you could at least declare that it “don’t mean nothing.” This hip, feigned indifference was the humor of the impotent, a small bunker in the real war – the war against insanity.

You don’t find many books about war that are written by women. Aren’t that many women out there in the wars – but there were the nurses. And some women do write about war: Laura Hillenbrand, Else Morante, Marge Piercy, Bobbie Ann Mason, Tatjana Soli, Kristin Hannah, Dang Thuy Tram.

I am going to give the book five stars after thinking about the overall impact of the book on me. Most of the time I was reading Don’t Mean Nothing, I was thinking about it as a good four star book. But I’m giving it the overall five stars because I think that the whole is greater than the sum of all the parts. This is a very good book. Thank you, Susan O’Neill!

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished this book a couple of weeks ago and I'm still staggering under the weight of so much beauty, tragedy, and truth. Every story is a gem, and they are all polished to perfection. This is near the very top of my list of best books I've ever read.

[Clarissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time getting through this book- not because of disturbing subject matter, or anything like that- I was simply bored. O'Neill was a nurse through the Vietnam War, and I suppose I expected this book to be more of a first person account of nursing in Vietnam. She states in the introduction that it is a collection of stories of pure fiction, and I think it felt very fictional to me. LIke there was something left out. Events she described that would normally cause a lot of emotional resonance for me fell flat. She isn't a bad writer- many of her descriptions are quite clever, but I felt she couldn't decide if she wanted all the stories to be interrelated and just kept waffling back and forth, leaving me very confused.

I will also say that I am probably disappointed because I wanted this book to be like "The Things They Carried" or " Home Before Morning: The Story of an Army Nurse in Vietnam" and it wasn't (both books are phenomenal by the way, and I would highly suggest reading them.).

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Remember the opening of the television show M.A.S.H., and the stoic, angelic grace with which the nurses ran toward the medevac chopper? That's just how Sue O'Neill's stories of Vietnam made me feel.

[Hulananni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reading about three different 'war zones' during the American War in Vietnam from a female's perspective, i.e. a nurse.

[Bruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an anthology of short stories about nurses and other medical personnel serving in Vietnam. 'Divided' into three sections, each in a different part of Vietnam, the stories have several characters in common which tie them together as the story of a nurses tour of duty. The situations described likely happened to several different people at various times during the long conflict. Some are humorous, a few are tragic. It is an enjoyable read.

[Anna Graham · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the beginning to nearly the end, I was mesmerized by these stories and characters linked by three different places in Vietnam. The tales were charming, others terrifying, nearly all sucking me in, not allowing me to be anywhere else but exactly where the story put me. The last two fell a bit short, but those were small blips; overall this collection stands with some of my favorite novels, as it feels like a novel, not just many brief tales. It's not only that characters wind from one hospital to another, but that these people are many facets of those who served and died there, also those who called Vietnam home. O'Neill's gift lies in depicting an abundance of lives, women and men, young and old. Nearly all the characters felt authentic, and while I'm a squeamish sort, this wasn't an overly bloody book. Recommended with deep appreciation for O'Neill's writing, stitching together a complex war and its far flung participants.

[Bec · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Had it on my TBR list for a while on the sole basis that it was about Vietnam and at the same time my parents were working/living/serving in the country. I didn't realise until I read the intro that it is fictional but based on an American nurses time in Vietnam. The basis is very similar to Tim O'Brien's books about Vietnam, there is a fine line between fiction and the truth and thye best stories have some sort of truth intertwined somewhere. The fact that it is fiction takes nothing away from the story being told.

If you liked The Things They Carried, then this is similar but from a females perspective of working and living in a war zone. Highly recommend it.

[Craig Werner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent collection of interrelated short stories--think Hemingway's In Our Time or O'Brien's The Things They Carried--focusing on a nurse's tour of duty in Vietnam. O'Neill is uncompromising in her picture of the costs of the fighting, both physically on the wounded (American, Vietnamese and, in a piece that's rare in Vietnam fiction, Cambodian) and psychically on the men and women in the operating rooms. The style matches the material--straightforward but smart and lyrical. Belongs on the short shelf of Vietnam classics.

[Koeeoaddi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know why I didn't expect these stories to be as good as they are, but Ms. O'Neill, I apologize. This is an excellent collection!

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fiction mirroring life. Written from the viewpoint of nurses who served in Viet Nam. Interesting stories (sad, funny) about their time spent in field hospitals during the war. Some profanity for those who would object.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A selection of stories about people, by people who served in Vietnam.
PTSD is nothing new, it's been around since the first ever conflict. It's too bad that it took so long for it to be recognized as a serious problem. Maybe if PTSD had been recognized earlier, the horrible treatment of our Vietnam vets would not have been quite so terrible. Let's face it, like any other soldier, these veterans were just doing as they were told but had to suffer in silence.