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Perfume River
From one of America’s most important writers, Perfume River is an exquisite novel that examines family ties and the legacy of the Vietnam War through the portrait of a single North Florida family.
Robert Quinlan is a seventy-year-old historian, teaching at Florida State University, where his wife Darla is also tenured. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam-war protests, now bears the fractures of time, both personal and historical, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee and solitary jogging and separate offices. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain under the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert’s own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy, who became estranged from the family as the Vietnam War intensified. Robert and Jimmy’s father, a veteran of WWII, is coming to the end of his life, and aftershocks of war ripple across their lives once again, when Jimmy refuses to appear at his father’s bedside. And an unstable homeless man whom Robert at first takes to be a fellow Vietnam veteran turns out to have a deep impact not just on Robert, but on his entire family.
Robert Quinlan is a seventy-year-old historian, teaching at Florida State University, where his wife Darla is also tenured. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam-war protests, now bears the fractures of time, both personal and historical, with the couple trapped in an existence of morning coffee and solitary jogging and separate offices. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain under the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert’s own family are more apparent: he has almost no relationship with his brother Jimmy, who became estranged from the family as the Vietnam War intensified. Robert and Jimmy’s father, a veteran of WWII, is coming to the end of his life, and aftershocks of war ripple across their lives once again, when Jimmy refuses to appear at his father’s bedside. And an unstable homeless man whom Robert at first takes to be a fellow Vietnam veteran turns out to have a deep impact not just on Robert, but on his entire family.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published September 6, 2016
151 people are currently reading
2611 people want to read
About the author
Robert Olen Butler
86 books453 followers“I’ll never stop believing it: Robert Olen Butler is the best living American writer, period.”
– Jeff Guinn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Robert Olen Butler has published sixteen novels—The Alleys of Eden, Sun Dogs, Countrymen of Bones, On Distant Ground, Wabash, The Deuce, They Whisper, The Deep Green Sea, Mr. Spaceman, Fair Warning, Hell, A Small Hotel, The Hot Country, The Star of Istanbul, The Empire of Night, Perfume River—and six volumes of short fiction—Tabloid Dreams, Had a Good Time, Severance, Intercourse, Weegee Stories, and A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, which won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Butler has published a volume of his lectures on the creative process, From Where You Dream, edited with an introduction by Janet Burroway.
In 2013 he became the seventeenth recipient of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature. He also won the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has twice won a National Magazine Award in Fiction and has received two Pushcart Prizes. He has also received both a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His stories have appeared widely in such publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Zoetrope, The Paris Review, Granta, The Hudson Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, and The Sewanee Review. They have been chosen for inclusion in four annual editions of The Best American Short Stories, eight annual editions of New Stories from the South, several other major annual anthologies, and numerous college literature textbooks from such publishers as Simon & Schuster, Norton, Viking, Little Brown & Co., Houghton Mifflin, Oxford University Press, Prentice Hall, and Bedford/St.Martin and most recently in The New Granta Book of the American Short Story, edited by Richard Ford.
His works have been translated into twenty-one languages, including Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Polish, Japanese, Serbian, Farsi, Czech, Estonian, Greek, and most recently Chinese. He was also a charter recipient of the Tu Do Chinh Kien Award given by the Vietnam Veterans of America for “outstanding contributions to American culture by a Vietnam veteran.” Over the past two decades he has lectured in universities, appeared at conferences, and met with writers groups in 17 countries as a literary envoy for the U. S. State Department.
He is a Francis Eppes Distinguished Professor holding the Michael Shaara Chair in Creative Writing at Florida State University. Under the auspices of the FSU website, in the fall of 2001, he did something no other writer has ever done, before or since: he revealed his writing process in full, in real time, in a webcast that observed him in seventeen two-hour sessions write a literary short story from its first inspiration to its final polished form. He also gave a running commentary on his artistic choices and spent a half-hour in each episode answering the emailed questions of his live viewers. The whole series, under the title “Inside Creative Writing” is a very popular on YouTube, with its first two-hour episode passing 125,000 in the spring of 2016.
For more than a decade he was hired to write feature-length screenplays for New Regency, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Disney, Universal Pictures, Baldwin Entertainment Group (for Robert Redford), and two teleplays for HBO. Typical of Hollywood, none of these movies ever made it to the screen.
Reflecting his early training as an actor, he has also recorded the audio books for four of his works—A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, Hell, A Small Hotel and Perfume River. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from the State University of New York system. He lives in Florida, with his wife, the poet Kelly Lee Butler.
– Jeff Guinn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Robert Olen Butler has published sixteen novels—The Alleys of Eden, Sun Dogs, Countrymen of Bones, On Distant Ground, Wabash, The Deuce, They Whisper, The Deep Green Sea, Mr. Spaceman, Fair Warning, Hell, A Small Hotel, The Hot Country, The Star of Istanbul, The Empire of Night, Perfume River—and six volumes of short fiction—Tabloid Dreams, Had a Good Time, Severance, Intercourse, Weegee Stories, and A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, which won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Butler has published a volume of his lectures on the creative process, From Where You Dream, edited with an introduction by Janet Burroway.
In 2013 he became the seventeenth recipient of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Award for Outstanding Achievement in American Literature. He also won the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. He has twice won a National Magazine Award in Fiction and has received two Pushcart Prizes. He has also received both a Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction and a National Endowment for the Arts grant. His stories have appeared widely in such publications as The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s, The Atlantic Monthly, GQ, Zoetrope, The Paris Review, Granta, The Hudson Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, and The Sewanee Review. They have been chosen for inclusion in four annual editions of The Best American Short Stories, eight annual editions of New Stories from the South, several other major annual anthologies, and numerous college literature textbooks from such publishers as Simon & Schuster, Norton, Viking, Little Brown & Co., Houghton Mifflin, Oxford University Press, Prentice Hall, and Bedford/St.Martin and most recently in The New Granta Book of the American Short Story, edited by Richard Ford.
His works have been translated into twenty-one languages, including Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Polish, Japanese, Serbian, Farsi, Czech, Estonian, Greek, and most recently Chinese. He was also a charter recipient of the Tu Do Chinh Kien Award given by the Vietnam Veterans of America for “outstanding contributions to American culture by a Vietnam veteran.” Over the past two decades he has lectured in universities, appeared at conferences, and met with writers groups in 17 countries as a literary envoy for the U. S. State Department.
He is a Francis Eppes Distinguished Professor holding the Michael Shaara Chair in Creative Writing at Florida State University. Under the auspices of the FSU website, in the fall of 2001, he did something no other writer has ever done, before or since: he revealed his writing process in full, in real time, in a webcast that observed him in seventeen two-hour sessions write a literary short story from its first inspiration to its final polished form. He also gave a running commentary on his artistic choices and spent a half-hour in each episode answering the emailed questions of his live viewers. The whole series, under the title “Inside Creative Writing” is a very popular on YouTube, with its first two-hour episode passing 125,000 in the spring of 2016.
For more than a decade he was hired to write feature-length screenplays for New Regency, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Paramount, Disney, Universal Pictures, Baldwin Entertainment Group (for Robert Redford), and two teleplays for HBO. Typical of Hollywood, none of these movies ever made it to the screen.
Reflecting his early training as an actor, he has also recorded the audio books for four of his works—A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain, Hell, A Small Hotel and Perfume River. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate degree from the State University of New York system. He lives in Florida, with his wife, the poet Kelly Lee Butler.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 286 reviews
October 31, 2016
This is a beautifully written and thought provoking novel that probes the repercussions of war on family, marriage, sons, and brothers. Robert is 70 years old, served in Vietnam, and whose marriage to Darla was born in the divisive anti war marches. Their marriage is now permeated with silence and routines. Jimmy, Robert's brother, was banished by his father for his resolve in being a conscientious objector. He forged a life in Canada with Linda for 46 years with no contact with his family. Their lives are at a crossroads and their father has an accident that brings death knocking at his door. A psychologically damaged homeless war veteran's mind is dangerously confused and reverts to his relationship with his father and war. Where this novel excels is in its insights into the jealousy, blame, betrayal, bitterness, insecurities, anger and regret experienced by the various characters.
Robert has flashbacks to his time in Vietnam, and his lover, Lien, who disappeared in the Tet Offensive. Like his father, he cannot forget the fear that drove him to kill a man. This has haunted him through the years. There are no war stories, only silence and a fear that if he talks, his life will collapse. A 70 year old man who still depends on the approval of his father, a father who put greater emphasis on the composure of a soldier than on his sons. Men sold wars on the basis of patriotism, politics, religion, and the ludicrous Domino theory to justify a country gone mad. Who have to face the depths of betrayal when their country quits the region. What was it all for? The destruction that men go on to wreak on their families and themselves. The mental health issues that proliferate. The story moves inexorably towards Robert's father's funeral.
There is an understated artistry in the prose and the narrative of the novel. The insights into the introspection of the complex and multi-dimensional characters render them authentic. For Robert and his father, all tenderness was swallowed in their barren emotional landscape that obliterated all passion. The Perfume River which has such a wonderful fragrance yet is underpinned by the stench of the rotten. Thankfully, Robert can face some of his fears. The unbearable and unforgiving nature of his father gives us food for thought, particularly as war begins to infect the next generation of the family. I thought this was an outstanding novel that brought back many of the anti war poets that I read when I was younger. This book made a unforgettable impression and it feels like a work of art that I would highly recommend others to read. Thanks to Oldcastle Books for an ARC.
Robert has flashbacks to his time in Vietnam, and his lover, Lien, who disappeared in the Tet Offensive. Like his father, he cannot forget the fear that drove him to kill a man. This has haunted him through the years. There are no war stories, only silence and a fear that if he talks, his life will collapse. A 70 year old man who still depends on the approval of his father, a father who put greater emphasis on the composure of a soldier than on his sons. Men sold wars on the basis of patriotism, politics, religion, and the ludicrous Domino theory to justify a country gone mad. Who have to face the depths of betrayal when their country quits the region. What was it all for? The destruction that men go on to wreak on their families and themselves. The mental health issues that proliferate. The story moves inexorably towards Robert's father's funeral.
There is an understated artistry in the prose and the narrative of the novel. The insights into the introspection of the complex and multi-dimensional characters render them authentic. For Robert and his father, all tenderness was swallowed in their barren emotional landscape that obliterated all passion. The Perfume River which has such a wonderful fragrance yet is underpinned by the stench of the rotten. Thankfully, Robert can face some of his fears. The unbearable and unforgiving nature of his father gives us food for thought, particularly as war begins to infect the next generation of the family. I thought this was an outstanding novel that brought back many of the anti war poets that I read when I was younger. This book made a unforgettable impression and it feels like a work of art that I would highly recommend others to read. Thanks to Oldcastle Books for an ARC.
July 16, 2016
4+ stars .
A powerful and painful story that had a somber and introspective tone right from the beginning. Philosophical questions are raised, rooted in perceptions of right and wrong , courage vs cowardice and decisions made in the past haunting them now . But at its heart this is a story of fathers and sons, husbands and wives with marriages at a standstill, dysfunctional families who keep the truth from each other.
Robert with his memories of the war in Vietnam even after 47 years, has flashbacks and the past always creeps up into his present. He has nightmares of a single event that burdens him even now that he has not ever shared with his father or his wife. Jimmy , his brother, a conscientious objector, a draft dodger and coward to their father still lives in Canada these decades later with his wife. Their marriage is also at a crossroads. A lot of the novel takes place in the thoughts of these brothers and there is also a homeless, unstable man with memories of his father whose dark thoughts we also become privy to and who crosses paths with this family. Butler keeps the tension and suspense of just how this man will impact this family until the very end.
A worthy story, well told that will move most readers, especially those who grew up in the Vietnam war era, as I did. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly Press , NetGalley and Edelwiss.
A powerful and painful story that had a somber and introspective tone right from the beginning. Philosophical questions are raised, rooted in perceptions of right and wrong , courage vs cowardice and decisions made in the past haunting them now . But at its heart this is a story of fathers and sons, husbands and wives with marriages at a standstill, dysfunctional families who keep the truth from each other.
Robert with his memories of the war in Vietnam even after 47 years, has flashbacks and the past always creeps up into his present. He has nightmares of a single event that burdens him even now that he has not ever shared with his father or his wife. Jimmy , his brother, a conscientious objector, a draft dodger and coward to their father still lives in Canada these decades later with his wife. Their marriage is also at a crossroads. A lot of the novel takes place in the thoughts of these brothers and there is also a homeless, unstable man with memories of his father whose dark thoughts we also become privy to and who crosses paths with this family. Butler keeps the tension and suspense of just how this man will impact this family until the very end.
A worthy story, well told that will move most readers, especially those who grew up in the Vietnam war era, as I did. Highly recommended.
Thanks to Grove Atlantic/Atlantic Monthly Press , NetGalley and Edelwiss.
January 21, 2019
Update: $1.99 Kindle special today. This book still resonates with me.
It’s a heartbreaking story — written with elegance. It’s one of those books where we are invited to look deep into the characters heads....their thoughts and experience their emotions. This is one of my favorite books exploring the aftermath of The Vietnam War
and how the war ‘still’ continues to haunt many American men who were there -
This novel is intimate- a raw introspective novel.
An emotional story - that stays with me!
I think this book is sooooo wondeful. I read it slow... Many parts -over and over -
pausing and thinking. This novel resonates with me personally and deeply. The past few days I've been re-visiting the
room in my brain exclusively reserved for "Perfume River". I have little conversations with the characters from this book -( no, I don't have a brain disorder) - but this story and these characters feel so real.
There are gorgeous sentences that had me PAUSE- STOP - cry - think - contemplate - then read them again.
I remember the killings at Kent State....during the Vietnam War. The year was 1970. I was a freshman in college.
Some men were leaving the country for Canada...like Jimmy did in this book. What it cost them and their family I hadn't really thought much one way or another. Now, I can't seem to 'stop' thinking about the issue.
I'm taken back to a time in history which I lived through but I'm getting a chance to look at things with new eyes - I just can't express enough what it is about this book that has me so emotionally attached..but I swear this story feels like it was written for me. I'm ready to nominate this novel for our small-group on Goodreads to pick for a discussion -- as I'm afraid it's going to be pulling at my heartstrings for sometime. Having a book discussion will be valuable. There are several themes to explore.
Aw... and I looked back:
I remember walking to class at U C Berkeley, one day, when some guy pulled my pony tail ( ouch), only to save me from walking blindly into the middle of a riot with cops, tear gas and angry protesters against the War. Its just a reminder to me that THIS BOOK IS MY GENERATION.
There is a feeling of oppression & suppression throughout this novel. We are invited into this world to disentangle threads - in our own mind. At least that's what I keep doing. I'm taking away different aspects associated with the Vietnam War that I hadn't thought too much about -( Fathers & sons ---brothers---Canada---long term marriage, and withheld communications from war and what that does to a relationship over time).
I will think about:
Robert & Darla ( the married couple),
Bob, ( the illusory Vietnam Veteran),
William Quinlan ( the aging father who dies - and his role in the family - things he passed down to both his sons, Robert & Jimmy),
Lien, (the Vietnamese woman Robert loved)
Peggy Quinlan, ( wife - mother ),
Jimmy ( Robert's brother & their relationship -plus his wife Linda- girlfriend Heather and the type of marriage Jimmy had and why).
I'll think about Robert's flashback memories - in Vietnam. --( the secret he kept during his marriage)
I'll think about the Banyan Tree.....( Robert's memory which haunted him -- and my own from two weeks ago when I was in Florida).
There are secrets - words unspoken - love not expressed - and a War that affected everyone.
Lovely writing - with some beautiful descriptions of "the perfume of this river".
Thank You Grove Atlantic, Netgalley, and Robert Olen Butler
It’s a heartbreaking story — written with elegance. It’s one of those books where we are invited to look deep into the characters heads....their thoughts and experience their emotions. This is one of my favorite books exploring the aftermath of The Vietnam War
and how the war ‘still’ continues to haunt many American men who were there -
This novel is intimate- a raw introspective novel.
An emotional story - that stays with me!
I think this book is sooooo wondeful. I read it slow... Many parts -over and over -
pausing and thinking. This novel resonates with me personally and deeply. The past few days I've been re-visiting the
room in my brain exclusively reserved for "Perfume River". I have little conversations with the characters from this book -( no, I don't have a brain disorder) - but this story and these characters feel so real.
There are gorgeous sentences that had me PAUSE- STOP - cry - think - contemplate - then read them again.
I remember the killings at Kent State....during the Vietnam War. The year was 1970. I was a freshman in college.
Some men were leaving the country for Canada...like Jimmy did in this book. What it cost them and their family I hadn't really thought much one way or another. Now, I can't seem to 'stop' thinking about the issue.
I'm taken back to a time in history which I lived through but I'm getting a chance to look at things with new eyes - I just can't express enough what it is about this book that has me so emotionally attached..but I swear this story feels like it was written for me. I'm ready to nominate this novel for our small-group on Goodreads to pick for a discussion -- as I'm afraid it's going to be pulling at my heartstrings for sometime. Having a book discussion will be valuable. There are several themes to explore.
Aw... and I looked back:
I remember walking to class at U C Berkeley, one day, when some guy pulled my pony tail ( ouch), only to save me from walking blindly into the middle of a riot with cops, tear gas and angry protesters against the War. Its just a reminder to me that THIS BOOK IS MY GENERATION.
There is a feeling of oppression & suppression throughout this novel. We are invited into this world to disentangle threads - in our own mind. At least that's what I keep doing. I'm taking away different aspects associated with the Vietnam War that I hadn't thought too much about -( Fathers & sons ---brothers---Canada---long term marriage, and withheld communications from war and what that does to a relationship over time).
I will think about:
Robert & Darla ( the married couple),
Bob, ( the illusory Vietnam Veteran),
William Quinlan ( the aging father who dies - and his role in the family - things he passed down to both his sons, Robert & Jimmy),
Lien, (the Vietnamese woman Robert loved)
Peggy Quinlan, ( wife - mother ),
Jimmy ( Robert's brother & their relationship -plus his wife Linda- girlfriend Heather and the type of marriage Jimmy had and why).
I'll think about Robert's flashback memories - in Vietnam. --( the secret he kept during his marriage)
I'll think about the Banyan Tree.....( Robert's memory which haunted him -- and my own from two weeks ago when I was in Florida).
There are secrets - words unspoken - love not expressed - and a War that affected everyone.
Lovely writing - with some beautiful descriptions of "the perfume of this river".
Thank You Grove Atlantic, Netgalley, and Robert Olen Butler
June 7, 2016
I have read so many novels about mother, daughter relationships, a common enough theme in fiction, that it was a welcome change of pace to read one about the relationships of father and sons. The Vietnam War is threaded throughout, Robert the son who went and committed an act he could never admit nor come to terms with and Jimmy, the younger son, who chose to flee to Canada rather than fight in a war in which he did not believe. The story is narrated by Robert, now in his early seventies, his backstory, his marriage to Darla and his thoughts about his father. The father he had always tried to please and despite following in what he thought were his Father's footsteps, he never could.
So fathers and sons and war experiences, but so wonderfully and clearly written. Wars which polarize and divide a family for over forty years. A mother who stands by her man at the expense of her sons. Common enough back then, women did this sort of thing, many probably still do. Hard choices. We learn of Jimmy's life in Canada, successful but now reaching a crisis point of its own.
There is also another man, another Bob, a vagabond with his own experiences with a father who had been in the war. His story will become part of the others and his actions will effect them all.
There was one line and a set of words in this novel that resonated. Emotionally obtuse, so applicable to my own husband's father, another father with two sons. I identified greatly with this novel because of the experiences of my husband and his brother, with a father set in his ways, unable to see outside himself to the damage he had wrought within his own family.
So a personal read for me though I did not know that when I started. A story about the damages war can cause, not just on the battlefields but in the family itself.
ARC from publisher.
So fathers and sons and war experiences, but so wonderfully and clearly written. Wars which polarize and divide a family for over forty years. A mother who stands by her man at the expense of her sons. Common enough back then, women did this sort of thing, many probably still do. Hard choices. We learn of Jimmy's life in Canada, successful but now reaching a crisis point of its own.
There is also another man, another Bob, a vagabond with his own experiences with a father who had been in the war. His story will become part of the others and his actions will effect them all.
There was one line and a set of words in this novel that resonated. Emotionally obtuse, so applicable to my own husband's father, another father with two sons. I identified greatly with this novel because of the experiences of my husband and his brother, with a father set in his ways, unable to see outside himself to the damage he had wrought within his own family.
So a personal read for me though I did not know that when I started. A story about the damages war can cause, not just on the battlefields but in the family itself.
ARC from publisher.
November 3, 2016
"Cowards die many times before their deaths.
The valiant never taste of death but once."
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar.
OK, full disclosure.
Despite eagerly anticipating this book, I didn't actually like it at first. The first three sentences alone were enough to make me wonder why this book was receiving such rave reviews.
See, I'm a chap who likes to feast on a banquet of sumptuous prose. The brevity of Butler's clipped syntax just wasn't my thing at all.
Oh, but pleasingly, all honour was restored. Not only did I get used to the timbre of his staccato sentences, I realised that that their frugality enhanced the honesty of the story.
Halfway through my read, I was even applauding the author for penning such a prismic and thought-provoking novel!
Our lead character, Robert Quinlan (he of the Monet-green eyes), went to war in Vietnam when he could barely shave. Like many young men, he never thought he'd ever engage in combat. Sadly, in his case, the war came to him, creating a situation that precipitates a deep shame that shadows him to the present day. In one fraught moment he became the killer he never intended to be.
So, for me the story was a slow, slow burner, then my initial disenchantment began to fade, like the gauziness of Robert Quinlan's remembrances.
The author powers on with an adroitly controlled insight into the human psyche. We, the readers, become voyeurs, peeking behind curtains to observe the frailty of marital and familial relationships that don't concern us. The way that he effortlessly switches the POV of the main characters is nothing short of genius.
Robert is tormented by guilt, but in trying to be all things to all people (mostly his father and his wife), he only succeeds in allowing the delusion to be shared by them both.
Despite its inauspicious beginning, Perfume River beat me in an arm wrestle and eventually won me over.
There is a melancholic, dreamlike quality to the piece, which for some reason reminded me of the subdued reflectiveness of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation.
I've deducted one star, only because the writing style wasn't to my personal taste and also (because of the title and the misleading book cover) I was expecting the story to be set mostly in Vietnam.
The valiant never taste of death but once."
-William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar.
OK, full disclosure.
Despite eagerly anticipating this book, I didn't actually like it at first. The first three sentences alone were enough to make me wonder why this book was receiving such rave reviews.
See, I'm a chap who likes to feast on a banquet of sumptuous prose. The brevity of Butler's clipped syntax just wasn't my thing at all.
Oh, but pleasingly, all honour was restored. Not only did I get used to the timbre of his staccato sentences, I realised that that their frugality enhanced the honesty of the story.
Halfway through my read, I was even applauding the author for penning such a prismic and thought-provoking novel!
Our lead character, Robert Quinlan (he of the Monet-green eyes), went to war in Vietnam when he could barely shave. Like many young men, he never thought he'd ever engage in combat. Sadly, in his case, the war came to him, creating a situation that precipitates a deep shame that shadows him to the present day. In one fraught moment he became the killer he never intended to be.
So, for me the story was a slow, slow burner, then my initial disenchantment began to fade, like the gauziness of Robert Quinlan's remembrances.
The author powers on with an adroitly controlled insight into the human psyche. We, the readers, become voyeurs, peeking behind curtains to observe the frailty of marital and familial relationships that don't concern us. The way that he effortlessly switches the POV of the main characters is nothing short of genius.
Robert is tormented by guilt, but in trying to be all things to all people (mostly his father and his wife), he only succeeds in allowing the delusion to be shared by them both.
Despite its inauspicious beginning, Perfume River beat me in an arm wrestle and eventually won me over.
There is a melancholic, dreamlike quality to the piece, which for some reason reminded me of the subdued reflectiveness of Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation.
I've deducted one star, only because the writing style wasn't to my personal taste and also (because of the title and the misleading book cover) I was expecting the story to be set mostly in Vietnam.
August 1, 2017
****4.5 Stars**** For me, this excellent novel was a slow climb in the beginning…likely because I tend to avoid war stories. My commitment to this book deepened as the story gradually unspools, and the effects of the Vietnam-War become apparent and very personal. I’m a contemporary of those that went to Vietnam; and, I still remember the fervor of the Vietnam-War protests…even within my own family.
The story details the deep complexities of a fractured family through the eyes of two estranged brothers and their World War II veteran father. The aging brothers are both still haunted, almost 50 years later after the end of the Vietnam-War. They took opposite paths in 1967. Robert was a soldier in Vietnam. Jimmy, the youngest, fled to Canada rather than serve in the war; and, remained severed from family for 50 years.
It’s a soul-searching and thoughtful novel…an multi-generational account on the meaning of valor, cowardice, unrealistic parental expectations and family love. It’s honest, heart-wrenching at times and well-written. I highly recommend this book to readers that enjoy a fine, character driven story.
The story details the deep complexities of a fractured family through the eyes of two estranged brothers and their World War II veteran father. The aging brothers are both still haunted, almost 50 years later after the end of the Vietnam-War. They took opposite paths in 1967. Robert was a soldier in Vietnam. Jimmy, the youngest, fled to Canada rather than serve in the war; and, remained severed from family for 50 years.
It’s a soul-searching and thoughtful novel…an multi-generational account on the meaning of valor, cowardice, unrealistic parental expectations and family love. It’s honest, heart-wrenching at times and well-written. I highly recommend this book to readers that enjoy a fine, character driven story.
September 26, 2019
I recently watched the brilliant ten part documentary about the Vietnam war and was keen to learn how it has been dramatized in fiction. There's actually very little of the war itself in this novel; it's more about the repercussions. It could have been a fascinating insight into machismo - the role it plays in a growing male's identity. And though it did make me think of this side of a male's sense of self it fell short in offering revelations perhaps because the author was too tied to his own personal story to embrace wider opportunities for exploring the male psyche.
The father is a proud WW2 veteran whose hero is General Patten. The kind of man who would approve of slapping a soldier suffering from shellshock and calling him a coward. Mr Macho in other words. The kind of father with a narrow stifling principle of manliness. The elder son, to please his father, volunteers for the Vietnam war but secures a safe office job behind the lines; the younger son spits in the face of the father and flees to Canada to evade the draft, never to speak to his father again. The novel doesn't dramatise these events except in brief flashbacks. Mostly, we see the characters as ageing individuals still dealing with the repercussions of these decisions. The premise for most of the introspection in the novel is that the father is proud of his elder son and ashamed of his younger son. It doesn't frankly come as much of s surprise that this isn't the case. A cushy office job behind the lines is hardly going to impress Mr macho male. More likely he's going to be secretly prouder of his younger son who at least showed courage in his convictions. To provide some dramatic tension the author drafts in the mentally damaged son of a Vietnam veteran, a ploy sat a bit awkwardly for me in terms of artistry.
It's a well written novel which held my interest from start to finish but I kept thinking there was a much better novel buried in the material. It has an average rating here of 3.61 and I'd say that's right on the money.
The father is a proud WW2 veteran whose hero is General Patten. The kind of man who would approve of slapping a soldier suffering from shellshock and calling him a coward. Mr Macho in other words. The kind of father with a narrow stifling principle of manliness. The elder son, to please his father, volunteers for the Vietnam war but secures a safe office job behind the lines; the younger son spits in the face of the father and flees to Canada to evade the draft, never to speak to his father again. The novel doesn't dramatise these events except in brief flashbacks. Mostly, we see the characters as ageing individuals still dealing with the repercussions of these decisions. The premise for most of the introspection in the novel is that the father is proud of his elder son and ashamed of his younger son. It doesn't frankly come as much of s surprise that this isn't the case. A cushy office job behind the lines is hardly going to impress Mr macho male. More likely he's going to be secretly prouder of his younger son who at least showed courage in his convictions. To provide some dramatic tension the author drafts in the mentally damaged son of a Vietnam veteran, a ploy sat a bit awkwardly for me in terms of artistry.
It's a well written novel which held my interest from start to finish but I kept thinking there was a much better novel buried in the material. It has an average rating here of 3.61 and I'd say that's right on the money.
September 7, 2016
Edit: Available now in the US!
Powerfully elegant, Robert Olen Butler’s writing flowing with simplicity and grace, “Perfume River: A Novel” grabbed my heart and my mind from the start.
Sons trying to please their fathers, going off to war or running away from it despite their father’s shame in that, how that changes everything about their view of the world from then on.
PTSD, for those who went to any war, Vietnam, WWII, the only difference is the location and the memories that haunt them. Butler reaches into their hearts and minds and weaves together the stories of these men, their families and hands you this remarkable story. All you need to do is read it.
My head is still spinning, my heart is still breaking ….
Publication Date: 06 September 2016
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic, NetGalley, and to the author, Robert Olen Butler
Powerfully elegant, Robert Olen Butler’s writing flowing with simplicity and grace, “Perfume River: A Novel” grabbed my heart and my mind from the start.
Sons trying to please their fathers, going off to war or running away from it despite their father’s shame in that, how that changes everything about their view of the world from then on.
PTSD, for those who went to any war, Vietnam, WWII, the only difference is the location and the memories that haunt them. Butler reaches into their hearts and minds and weaves together the stories of these men, their families and hands you this remarkable story. All you need to do is read it.
My head is still spinning, my heart is still breaking ….
Publication Date: 06 September 2016
Many thanks to Grove Atlantic, NetGalley, and to the author, Robert Olen Butler
September 4, 2016
This is the story of a family torn apart by a fathers expectations of his sons, and other stories that lie within, of the effects of war on families. This novel will touch on World War ll and the Vietnam war, desertion, and present day problems of family ties, love, and aging. Very good.
August 18, 2016
Perfume River was a mixed bag for me. It had some beautiful writing, and a really interesting set up. But it failed to keep me present and engaged throughout -- perhaps because it tried to do too much over the course of a fairly short novel. Perfume River tells the story of an elderly dying father and his two aging sons, and the complex dynamic between them. Their relationships are largely informed by their records as veterans -- or lack thereof. The patriarch William is a stern and proud veteran of WWII. Eldest son Robert served in Vietnam, and has a couple of secrets that haunt him. And youngest son Jimmy moved to Canada to avoid going to Vietnam and has avoided his father and brother for many years since. See -- a great set up. But the author adds Bob to the mix -- a vagrant who lurks in the background with his complicated history and feelings. And then William, Robert and Jimmy each have spouses and relationships that are complicated too. At times, I felt my attention drifting in reaction to so many narrative threads and a feeling of being overloaded with too many taught emotions. But when the book focused on Robert or Jimmy, and their thoughts and feelings about their father and each other, I definitely got pulled back into the story. I would be remiss in not mentioning that one of the idiosyncratic things I did love about this book is the depiction of Jimmy's life in Canada -- he lives in Toronto in a neighbourhood very familiar to me and has a house on Georgian Bay in an area that is just a few kilometres from where I spend much vacation time including the time I spent reading this book -- it's always a treat to read a book that does a good job depicting a familiar place or two. Again, this was definitely a mixed bag for me. But many GR friends really liked it, so I would make sure to read a few reviews before deciding whether to read this one. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
March 26, 2017
I actually chose to read this book because of the amazingly beautiful cover and in this instance you CAN judge a book by its cover! Perfume River Nights is one of the best books I have read so far in 2017. It is primarily the story of a father and his two sons and their relationship with one another. However, on a deeper level this book is about generations of men who have been sent to war, generally under false pretenses, and the effects the horror of war has on these men's lives, their personality, relationships and ultimately our entire society as a whole. Generations of men who come home with PTSD untreated who raise sons and daughters who are traumatized as well who then marry and have children.....it is a never ending cycle.
This book is about those relationships and it forces you to ask questions about war and the messages we tell ourselves about war. If you ever ask yourself why America is the way it is , this book offers a great glimpse into some of those answers.
This book is about those relationships and it forces you to ask questions about war and the messages we tell ourselves about war. If you ever ask yourself why America is the way it is , this book offers a great glimpse into some of those answers.
October 3, 2016
In most serious novels where mature adults reflect upon their relationships with a parent - now elderly and at death's door - we readers generally find out that it is a convoluted story we will have presented to us. We will find that things are not always as they appear to be. And in most cases, a story about family relationships revolves around women. Not so here, and that elevated my interest. This is not your average tale.
Perfume River features three adults - men - who are each living a very different existence, but all of them have been intensely affected by their fathers. The men's lives criss cross in the far past and at present, but it is the aged WWII vet who is father to two of these men and another off-curtain dad - also a vet - who are the suns around which the "boys'" life philosophies revolve.
One thing that kept the serious content from starting to drag was the popping around of timelines. Robert, an FSU professor of history in his late 60s, may be gazing at a massive oak in his North Florida backyard, but with a breath he is instead next to a banyan tree in Vietnam, just outside the home of the young girl he so adores. His brother Jimmy lives in Canada, but with a whiff of coffee, we are transported to New Orleans where chicory and beignets make breakfast intensely rich. I should share here that I lived in Tallahassee while attending undergraduate studies at FSU and am a New Orleanian. The little comments about driving up Third Street to Magazine or passing a primitive Baptist church way out on Apalachicola Parkway rang incredibly true. It was as if I was in the car with him
The third son in the story is Bob, seemingly homeless, who has his own flashbacks to growing up with a father who admired his son's incredible marksmanship. Yet with that admiration, was there also some sort of jealousy?
Overlaying this story is what war means to men and to the women who lose them to it. From some of the monuments erected by Daughters of the Confederacy to free-loving girls who protested for peace in the 60s, we see the filmy coating of war even there.
This is truly a character based novel, but there is also some mounting tension with action that threatens to erupt in the final chapters. The writing and the thoughts here are beautiful. 5 stars.
Perfume River features three adults - men - who are each living a very different existence, but all of them have been intensely affected by their fathers. The men's lives criss cross in the far past and at present, but it is the aged WWII vet who is father to two of these men and another off-curtain dad - also a vet - who are the suns around which the "boys'" life philosophies revolve.
One thing that kept the serious content from starting to drag was the popping around of timelines. Robert, an FSU professor of history in his late 60s, may be gazing at a massive oak in his North Florida backyard, but with a breath he is instead next to a banyan tree in Vietnam, just outside the home of the young girl he so adores. His brother Jimmy lives in Canada, but with a whiff of coffee, we are transported to New Orleans where chicory and beignets make breakfast intensely rich. I should share here that I lived in Tallahassee while attending undergraduate studies at FSU and am a New Orleanian. The little comments about driving up Third Street to Magazine or passing a primitive Baptist church way out on Apalachicola Parkway rang incredibly true. It was as if I was in the car with him
The third son in the story is Bob, seemingly homeless, who has his own flashbacks to growing up with a father who admired his son's incredible marksmanship. Yet with that admiration, was there also some sort of jealousy?
Overlaying this story is what war means to men and to the women who lose them to it. From some of the monuments erected by Daughters of the Confederacy to free-loving girls who protested for peace in the 60s, we see the filmy coating of war even there.
This is truly a character based novel, but there is also some mounting tension with action that threatens to erupt in the final chapters. The writing and the thoughts here are beautiful. 5 stars.
September 8, 2016
This is melancholy tale of a family divided by a father’s fixation on war: his own service as part of Patton’s force that crossed the Rhine in 1945 and the desire for his sons to follow in his footsteps. Ok, it’s more than that but this is the theme drives the narrative and we never move far from it. It’s looks closely at the mindset of the key characters, their relationships and the impacts of the passing of time and of ageing.
The two sons choose different paths when it comes to Vietnam. Robert decides to enlist (mainly to avoid the gamble of being drafted and having no control over the role he will play once thrown into the war), Jimmy is stridently anti-war and he chooses to complete his education and then do a runner to Canada. The main focus of the book is on what happens when, many years later, the father has an accident and is hospitalised. Will the event bring the family back together or will it reinforce old enmities? The female figures – largely the long-term partners of the three men – received less focus, but there is examination of their relationships with the men and exploration of how the unions changed and matured over time. There is also a sub-story of a mentally disturbed man, the son of a son of a war veteran, who stumbles into the tale - but for me this is really no more than a minor (and unwanted) diversion from the main text.
It’s a short book but it took me ages to finish it, I kept picking it up reading a section and then putting it down again. It certainly has power but I seesawed between being drawn into the lives of the protagonists and then being alienated by the way the story was told. I just couldn’t adapt the flow of it. After a while it dawned on me that my problem with it was the way the author kept interpreting how people were reacting to situations. Discussions were fleshed out with insights into what participants were thinking after each exchange or a minor event would be picked apart forensically to establish its impact on a particular character. I found myself wishing that I’d been left some space to work some of this out for myself – it was almost as if Butler wanted to exercise control over the reader’s thought process.
As a tale of the impact war can have on individuals I’d regard this book as a success: many sections were though provoking and moving, in equal measure. And as a study of relationships and how easily they can break down or simply dwindle to nothing it also has a lot to commend itself. It’s a small book that packs a big punch. I just think that it could have been an even smaller book that might have delivered a knockout blow.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
The two sons choose different paths when it comes to Vietnam. Robert decides to enlist (mainly to avoid the gamble of being drafted and having no control over the role he will play once thrown into the war), Jimmy is stridently anti-war and he chooses to complete his education and then do a runner to Canada. The main focus of the book is on what happens when, many years later, the father has an accident and is hospitalised. Will the event bring the family back together or will it reinforce old enmities? The female figures – largely the long-term partners of the three men – received less focus, but there is examination of their relationships with the men and exploration of how the unions changed and matured over time. There is also a sub-story of a mentally disturbed man, the son of a son of a war veteran, who stumbles into the tale - but for me this is really no more than a minor (and unwanted) diversion from the main text.
It’s a short book but it took me ages to finish it, I kept picking it up reading a section and then putting it down again. It certainly has power but I seesawed between being drawn into the lives of the protagonists and then being alienated by the way the story was told. I just couldn’t adapt the flow of it. After a while it dawned on me that my problem with it was the way the author kept interpreting how people were reacting to situations. Discussions were fleshed out with insights into what participants were thinking after each exchange or a minor event would be picked apart forensically to establish its impact on a particular character. I found myself wishing that I’d been left some space to work some of this out for myself – it was almost as if Butler wanted to exercise control over the reader’s thought process.
As a tale of the impact war can have on individuals I’d regard this book as a success: many sections were though provoking and moving, in equal measure. And as a study of relationships and how easily they can break down or simply dwindle to nothing it also has a lot to commend itself. It’s a small book that packs a big punch. I just think that it could have been an even smaller book that might have delivered a knockout blow.
My thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
December 2, 2019
This book is not about Vietnam as much as it is about how war can affect individuals and families, fathers and sons. Butler explores a number of questions that remain after any war, but particularly after Vietnam, one being what does it mean to those men who actually fought it. Was it worth the losses and sacrifices? What constitutes bravery? cowardice? How much of what we do in life is driven by our desire to live up to the expectations of our parents? At what point is it a braver act to stand up to a parent, or to follow one's convictions, than to blindly follow the path that has been set out for you?
Vietnam was the war of my generation. I knew the men who fought it, and without exception, it changed them. I could easily relate to both Robert and Jimmy, the sons of World War II vet, William. It was a complicated time and it left scars on the American psyche. I do not think we were ever the same afterward. Butler has captured that dichotomy and the lingering effects on families perfectly. Beautifully written; surprisingly realistic.
Vietnam was the war of my generation. I knew the men who fought it, and without exception, it changed them. I could easily relate to both Robert and Jimmy, the sons of World War II vet, William. It was a complicated time and it left scars on the American psyche. I do not think we were ever the same afterward. Butler has captured that dichotomy and the lingering effects on families perfectly. Beautifully written; surprisingly realistic.
October 12, 2016
Wow, what a beautiful story! I hadn't previously read anything by Robert Olen Butler, so I was taken by surprise from the very first pages when I realized that this was going to be a beautifully written novel about different destinies and the way you can grow old with a person and still struggle with a lot of questions about life and relationships.
"Perfume River" deals with Robert who is a 70-year-old Vietnam vet. When we meet him on the very first pages, he's dining with his wife Dalya when they discover a homeless man entering the cafeteria. Destinies and thoughts entertwine, and this book becomes a book about identity, regrets, loss and family.
On the surface, the people of this novel live a mundane life based on routines, but when these routines are broken the story evolves into a deep narration where the lines between destinies and thoughts are blurred. The mundane lives are amazingly depicted because they are so simple and yet so honest. And the doubts that enter the characters' heads are so interesting and appealing to read about.
I loved a lot about this novel, and I loved how it wrapped up beautifully in the end. If this is how Robert Olen Butler usually writes his story, I'm a fan, and I'm looking forward to reading lots more of his in the future.
"Perfume River" deals with Robert who is a 70-year-old Vietnam vet. When we meet him on the very first pages, he's dining with his wife Dalya when they discover a homeless man entering the cafeteria. Destinies and thoughts entertwine, and this book becomes a book about identity, regrets, loss and family.
On the surface, the people of this novel live a mundane life based on routines, but when these routines are broken the story evolves into a deep narration where the lines between destinies and thoughts are blurred. The mundane lives are amazingly depicted because they are so simple and yet so honest. And the doubts that enter the characters' heads are so interesting and appealing to read about.
I loved a lot about this novel, and I loved how it wrapped up beautifully in the end. If this is how Robert Olen Butler usually writes his story, I'm a fan, and I'm looking forward to reading lots more of his in the future.
July 6, 2019
This novel explores the angst hidden in the souls of the Vietnam War generation viewed from the perspective of having lived a lifetime with its consequences. The psychic toll of time and secrets on marriages and father-son relationships are portrayed. The plot is built upon a cast of characters, mostly within one family, that serves as a literary surrogate that's symbolic of the divisions and tensions experienced within many families and society as a whole during the Vietnam War era.
The following is a list of characters involved in this story along with short descriptions which provide hints of the social relationship issues elaborated upon within the book. Note that I have included the Perfume River as a character both because of the book's title and the metaphoric shadow it casts on a generation that came of age in that era.
Perfume River is a river that runs through the city of Huế, Vietnam that plays a role as part of an indelible memory within Robert Quinlan's mind.
Robert Quinlan is a seventy-year-old college professor who in his youth was the "good" son and enlisted to serve in the war. He met his wife Darla during war protests after his service. Some of his memories of the war have remained unshared with others, including his wife.
Darla is Robert's wife and also a college professor who after forty some years of marriage is not quite sure she has grasped all of what the war experience did to her husband.
Jimmy Quinlan is the younger brother of Robert's who was the "bad" son and fled to Canada rather that serve in the war. He has remained estranged from this family ever since. When informed of this father's imminent death by telephone call, it is the first time he's had a conversation with his brother in forty-six years.
Linda is Jimmy's wife in an "open marriage" that started from their "hippy flower children" beginnings in the 1970s, but now their relationship is growing apart.
William Quinlan is Robert and Jimmy's father who is a WWII veteran and treats his sons in the style of General Patton under whom he served. The book's description of his thoughts while dying reveals long repressed war memories, and the narrative goes on to provide a short glimpse into that of his father's war experience in WWI (involving a scar both psychological and physical).
Peggy Quinlan is wife of William (mother to Robert and Jimmy) who tries to gather the reluctant and resentful family together after her husband's death. The narrative includes a flashback to her experience as a WWII war bride, bringing to the book an insight into the prior generation's experience.
Bob Weber is a homeless person who is the son of a Vietnam War veteran but gives the appearance of being the stereotypical Vietnam vet who's down on his luck. Inclusion of this character who's unrelated to the others in the book is at first puzzling, but the reader's anticipation of the coming intersection of his life with the others brings an element of foreboding threat to the book's plot.
In my opinion the inclusion of the unrelated Bob Weber in the story is a literary device introduced by the author to create a symbolic statement about the life-sapping psychological baggage the boomer generation has carried from the Vietnam War. Book group discussions will perhaps find additional meanings. As I neared the end of this book I experienced the book's metaphorical reaching out and grabbing my attention and saying, "I'm trying to tell you something!"
The writing style is exquisite, the sort of text to be pondered for additional meanings. It exposes the corrosive effects of war on the internal lives of those who survive as well as those who witness it from afar.
An advisory to potential readers of this book to consider:
If you have unresolved issues from the Vietnam War era, this book may be cathartic or it may bring unwanted memories to life. Proceed at your own risk.
The following is a list of characters involved in this story along with short descriptions which provide hints of the social relationship issues elaborated upon within the book. Note that I have included the Perfume River as a character both because of the book's title and the metaphoric shadow it casts on a generation that came of age in that era.
Perfume River is a river that runs through the city of Huế, Vietnam that plays a role as part of an indelible memory within Robert Quinlan's mind.
Robert Quinlan is a seventy-year-old college professor who in his youth was the "good" son and enlisted to serve in the war. He met his wife Darla during war protests after his service. Some of his memories of the war have remained unshared with others, including his wife.
Darla is Robert's wife and also a college professor who after forty some years of marriage is not quite sure she has grasped all of what the war experience did to her husband.
Jimmy Quinlan is the younger brother of Robert's who was the "bad" son and fled to Canada rather that serve in the war. He has remained estranged from this family ever since. When informed of this father's imminent death by telephone call, it is the first time he's had a conversation with his brother in forty-six years.
Linda is Jimmy's wife in an "open marriage" that started from their "hippy flower children" beginnings in the 1970s, but now their relationship is growing apart.
William Quinlan is Robert and Jimmy's father who is a WWII veteran and treats his sons in the style of General Patton under whom he served. The book's description of his thoughts while dying reveals long repressed war memories, and the narrative goes on to provide a short glimpse into that of his father's war experience in WWI (involving a scar both psychological and physical).
Peggy Quinlan is wife of William (mother to Robert and Jimmy) who tries to gather the reluctant and resentful family together after her husband's death. The narrative includes a flashback to her experience as a WWII war bride, bringing to the book an insight into the prior generation's experience.
Bob Weber is a homeless person who is the son of a Vietnam War veteran but gives the appearance of being the stereotypical Vietnam vet who's down on his luck. Inclusion of this character who's unrelated to the others in the book is at first puzzling, but the reader's anticipation of the coming intersection of his life with the others brings an element of foreboding threat to the book's plot.
In my opinion the inclusion of the unrelated Bob Weber in the story is a literary device introduced by the author to create a symbolic statement about the life-sapping psychological baggage the boomer generation has carried from the Vietnam War. Book group discussions will perhaps find additional meanings. As I neared the end of this book I experienced the book's metaphorical reaching out and grabbing my attention and saying, "I'm trying to tell you something!"
The writing style is exquisite, the sort of text to be pondered for additional meanings. It exposes the corrosive effects of war on the internal lives of those who survive as well as those who witness it from afar.
An advisory to potential readers of this book to consider:
If you have unresolved issues from the Vietnam War era, this book may be cathartic or it may bring unwanted memories to life. Proceed at your own risk.
Read
May 20, 20187.0/10
Let's call this Vietnam-Guilt-Lite.
The story flows easily; the characters are somewhat-engaging, if one-dimensional; I don't even much object to the jingoism disguised as post-Vietnam-guilt. In fact, it's a great script for a made-for-TV movie that one could enjoy in a few hours when there's not much else to do. A few tugs of the heart here; a few tears shed there, and voilà: perfect TV viewing.
There is no shame in that.
I do object to it being labelled the "conscience of America" , as one reviewer said, -- as well as other such loaded tripe. Why does everything have to be labelled "a masterpiece" and a "tour de force" and "conscience of a nation"? Isn't it enough to just tell a decent story, anymore, without all the meaningless accolades? Because this is what this is: a decent story. Not a magnum opus on the conscience of war, not a monumental work of America's lost voices.
I have more than a bit of a quibble with the title, 'though. Perfume River suggests the war itself might figure more prominently than it does; in fact, the City of Hue, in Vietnam, (and the war itself) appears for about 37.4897 seconds within the context of the story (if this had been turned into its TV movie counterpart) and so leaves the reader wondering, just why such a title was chosen. Hint: it's going to pluck every heart string in America, people of a certain age, who hear that word and are immediately thrown back to 1968 ... and that kind of nostalgia, you can quite literally take to the bank with the sales that would generate. Just a teeny bit cynical on my part. This has nothing to do with Perfume River, nor its aftermath. More than a bit disingenuous, I would suggest.
It might have rated bit higher if it hadn't been for feeling that, as a reader, I was being played.
I understand every book ever written plays on the reader's emotions -- else, what would be the point? But, being played for a sap, as Gomer Pyle might say, "Well, that just ain't right, Sarge!"
Let's call this Vietnam-Guilt-Lite.
The story flows easily; the characters are somewhat-engaging, if one-dimensional; I don't even much object to the jingoism disguised as post-Vietnam-guilt. In fact, it's a great script for a made-for-TV movie that one could enjoy in a few hours when there's not much else to do. A few tugs of the heart here; a few tears shed there, and voilà: perfect TV viewing.
There is no shame in that.
I do object to it being labelled the "conscience of America" , as one reviewer said, -- as well as other such loaded tripe. Why does everything have to be labelled "a masterpiece" and a "tour de force" and "conscience of a nation"? Isn't it enough to just tell a decent story, anymore, without all the meaningless accolades? Because this is what this is: a decent story. Not a magnum opus on the conscience of war, not a monumental work of America's lost voices.
I have more than a bit of a quibble with the title, 'though. Perfume River suggests the war itself might figure more prominently than it does; in fact, the City of Hue, in Vietnam, (and the war itself) appears for about 37.4897 seconds within the context of the story (if this had been turned into its TV movie counterpart) and so leaves the reader wondering, just why such a title was chosen. Hint: it's going to pluck every heart string in America, people of a certain age, who hear that word and are immediately thrown back to 1968 ... and that kind of nostalgia, you can quite literally take to the bank with the sales that would generate. Just a teeny bit cynical on my part. This has nothing to do with Perfume River, nor its aftermath. More than a bit disingenuous, I would suggest.
It might have rated bit higher if it hadn't been for feeling that, as a reader, I was being played.
I understand every book ever written plays on the reader's emotions -- else, what would be the point? But, being played for a sap, as Gomer Pyle might say, "Well, that just ain't right, Sarge!"
February 7, 2017
so i got this from netgalley, as a pdf, and it was some work to read it cuz in order to fit my kobo's screen the pdf needed a super tiny font, and making the font readable required moving the pdf all around the screen. but i did it. cuz the book was great. and then, and then.... after reading netgalleys for about 3 months, oblivious to all but the largess of publishers, i encountered the brutal fact that THERE IS A TIME LIMIT. and my kobo ran out of juice. and we lost power for 6 hours.
so you see where this is going right? i had some 20 pages to go and when i finally charged my kobo and settled down to savor the book's finale, i discovered that I HAD LOST THE BOOK. THE BOOK HAD TIMED OUT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
and no, i am not going to fork $20 for 20 pages. nope.
but since i have a feeling that i have enough of the book in my belly to talk about it, talk about it i will.
first of all, i don't read white men, almost never. white men who talk about white men, nope, not interested. but netgalley is kind of changing all that, and as i was reading this guy i realized that the prose was just so lovely, and the writing so gentle and thoughtful, that i didn't quite care that it was just men and their rapport with each other.
and war. cuz men talk a lot about war, and typically (but thankfully not always) war books are written by white men. and i understand all that, that white men need to talk about the wars that have maimed them, but i am not going to read them, because i am an asshole bitch feminist and i prefer to read about the pain of women and people of color, if i have to read about pain at all. okay, truth: i am not an asshole bitch of any kind, but:
our culture re-tells the narrative of white men brutalized by war over and over and over, and i don't need to spend my precious reading time reading about it too when i already have tremendous exposure to it.
but i read this one cuz netgalley, and it was beautiful writing, and in particular i liked:
a. that the mentally hurt man, the man whose psyche is all fractured, is not described with diagnostic terms (i won't use them either), and we get a very nice, very respectful look into his head, and what is going on in his head makes perfect sense from his point of view, which, thanks to books like this one, respectful books, we can actually learn a little about, and so know that when we meet people like this man, like bob, what happens in their heads and what comes out of their mouths makes sense, and if we educate ourselves we'll be able to understand it some too.
b. that sometimes you think you know what is going on with the other person, someone so very close to you that you feel that you pretty much get everything they think without their having to open their mouths, and that is simply false, and what you need to do is assume that you don't know a damn thing, and if you do that maybe you will ask, and then maybe you will learn, if the other is willing to share, but at the very least you will know that you don't know.
c. that some parents are fucking assholes out to destroy their kids, and even though you know that already, this book makes it so palpably evident, you recoil in horror at the cruelty. so, people of the planet who go around feeling like shite cuz you disappointed your parents: it's not your fucking fault and you must must must find a way to learn this, this basic fact, that it's not your fucking fault, otherwise there will be this wound at the heart of you and this wound will surface in your dreams and your daydreams and your relationships, however diligently you sweep it under the rug.
d. that the reasons why parents hurt their children like fucking assholes is that they themselves are hurt, but that's none of your concern, cuz, the same way as you learn to deal with your shit and not inflict it on your kids, they should have done too.
did i say lovely writing? lovely writing. i will read all his other work now. i'm not kidding.
thank you publisher for the free copy, but not very thank you for timing it out.
so you see where this is going right? i had some 20 pages to go and when i finally charged my kobo and settled down to savor the book's finale, i discovered that I HAD LOST THE BOOK. THE BOOK HAD TIMED OUT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
and no, i am not going to fork $20 for 20 pages. nope.
but since i have a feeling that i have enough of the book in my belly to talk about it, talk about it i will.
first of all, i don't read white men, almost never. white men who talk about white men, nope, not interested. but netgalley is kind of changing all that, and as i was reading this guy i realized that the prose was just so lovely, and the writing so gentle and thoughtful, that i didn't quite care that it was just men and their rapport with each other.
and war. cuz men talk a lot about war, and typically (but thankfully not always) war books are written by white men. and i understand all that, that white men need to talk about the wars that have maimed them, but i am not going to read them, because i am an asshole bitch feminist and i prefer to read about the pain of women and people of color, if i have to read about pain at all. okay, truth: i am not an asshole bitch of any kind, but:
our culture re-tells the narrative of white men brutalized by war over and over and over, and i don't need to spend my precious reading time reading about it too when i already have tremendous exposure to it.
but i read this one cuz netgalley, and it was beautiful writing, and in particular i liked:
a. that the mentally hurt man, the man whose psyche is all fractured, is not described with diagnostic terms (i won't use them either), and we get a very nice, very respectful look into his head, and what is going on in his head makes perfect sense from his point of view, which, thanks to books like this one, respectful books, we can actually learn a little about, and so know that when we meet people like this man, like bob, what happens in their heads and what comes out of their mouths makes sense, and if we educate ourselves we'll be able to understand it some too.
b. that sometimes you think you know what is going on with the other person, someone so very close to you that you feel that you pretty much get everything they think without their having to open their mouths, and that is simply false, and what you need to do is assume that you don't know a damn thing, and if you do that maybe you will ask, and then maybe you will learn, if the other is willing to share, but at the very least you will know that you don't know.
c. that some parents are fucking assholes out to destroy their kids, and even though you know that already, this book makes it so palpably evident, you recoil in horror at the cruelty. so, people of the planet who go around feeling like shite cuz you disappointed your parents: it's not your fucking fault and you must must must find a way to learn this, this basic fact, that it's not your fucking fault, otherwise there will be this wound at the heart of you and this wound will surface in your dreams and your daydreams and your relationships, however diligently you sweep it under the rug.
d. that the reasons why parents hurt their children like fucking assholes is that they themselves are hurt, but that's none of your concern, cuz, the same way as you learn to deal with your shit and not inflict it on your kids, they should have done too.
did i say lovely writing? lovely writing. i will read all his other work now. i'm not kidding.
thank you publisher for the free copy, but not very thank you for timing it out.
April 6, 2017
It was a bad time for me to choose this depressing book about post war depression and how it affects individuals and their family. But what beautiful writing. I need to read more from this author.
November 15, 2016
Butler writes beautifully! His words are very poetic/lyrical. Regrettably, I wanted more from this book and the past/present and character switch didn't work for me. I would certainly read another of Butler's books, though.
July 16, 2017
A deep and insightful novel that is never over sentimental but is full of the emotions of family, expectations and regrets.
Having met the author at Crimefest in Bristol 18 months ago it was a real joy to spend time in one of his books. He writes how he talks, and he speaks with great authority about his passion for writing and the ability to tell stories. Since he experienced the war in Vietnam at first hand and lived through the political fall out of that conflict upon those who went to fight and their treatment returning home as venterans.
This considered novel sums the American psyche up through the lives of one family. Four generations of men. The patriarch saw action in world war II and therefore when his sons were of age he wanted nothing more for them to do their duty and go off to fight the communist threat in South East Asia. The older boy, Robert, wanting his father's approval enlists but chooses a desk job guaranteed to be away from front-line combat. While his brother, Jimmy refuses to fight and dodges the draft by fleeing to Canada.
The Father hasn't spoken to his younger boy in 46 years and his disappointment in Robert remains an unspoken reality that has stifled their relationship ever since.
Everything however will change because of two current events. Robert meets a homeless man he assumes is a fellow vet. He is also a Bob, his issues are also with his dad who bullied him and never recovered from his tours of duty in Vietnam. Secondly, his own Dad has had a fall and requires surgery also a risk in someone so old. In light of this his Mum tries to reach out to her other son but Jimmy remains beyond his Father's love in many way like Robert whose own war is a barrier in his own relationship.
Beautifully constructed. Robert and his own wife lead quite seperate life as scholars and often their intellect gets in the way of their true emotions, overthinking and dismissing words, that remain unsaid and leaving feelings unexpressed.
How they deal with events is also very perseptive and it all brings a honesty to the whole story that is rich in language and evokes a world of memories and imagination.
I would like to meet author Robert Olen Butler again and shake his hand, I now know he is the author he thinks he his and the storyteller he wants to be. It was a pleasure and a joy to become fully acquainted with Perfume River a tale of unspoken words and hidden scars of conflict.
Having met the author at Crimefest in Bristol 18 months ago it was a real joy to spend time in one of his books. He writes how he talks, and he speaks with great authority about his passion for writing and the ability to tell stories. Since he experienced the war in Vietnam at first hand and lived through the political fall out of that conflict upon those who went to fight and their treatment returning home as venterans.
This considered novel sums the American psyche up through the lives of one family. Four generations of men. The patriarch saw action in world war II and therefore when his sons were of age he wanted nothing more for them to do their duty and go off to fight the communist threat in South East Asia. The older boy, Robert, wanting his father's approval enlists but chooses a desk job guaranteed to be away from front-line combat. While his brother, Jimmy refuses to fight and dodges the draft by fleeing to Canada.
The Father hasn't spoken to his younger boy in 46 years and his disappointment in Robert remains an unspoken reality that has stifled their relationship ever since.
Everything however will change because of two current events. Robert meets a homeless man he assumes is a fellow vet. He is also a Bob, his issues are also with his dad who bullied him and never recovered from his tours of duty in Vietnam. Secondly, his own Dad has had a fall and requires surgery also a risk in someone so old. In light of this his Mum tries to reach out to her other son but Jimmy remains beyond his Father's love in many way like Robert whose own war is a barrier in his own relationship.
Beautifully constructed. Robert and his own wife lead quite seperate life as scholars and often their intellect gets in the way of their true emotions, overthinking and dismissing words, that remain unsaid and leaving feelings unexpressed.
How they deal with events is also very perseptive and it all brings a honesty to the whole story that is rich in language and evokes a world of memories and imagination.
I would like to meet author Robert Olen Butler again and shake his hand, I now know he is the author he thinks he his and the storyteller he wants to be. It was a pleasure and a joy to become fully acquainted with Perfume River a tale of unspoken words and hidden scars of conflict.
September 25, 2016
This book helped me understand the ravages of war without it being a book about a war. It told of the impacts upon family and individuals, when the decision about whether or not to be involved was divisive. The fallout from these decisions which permanently changed lives and caused gaping holes in families. The torment that resulted from being involved in a controversial war.
Written in a gentle pace with a unique take on a story about families and the destruction caused not so much by weapons as by individuals attitudes toward war. Also, a story about love. The enduring love between husband and wife, mother and son and to an extent between brothers. A story about fathers and sons and how strongly held attitudes can cause lifelong rifts in that relationship. It provided an insight into what happens when long held convictions are reassessed and found wanting.
I read this book at an unusually slow pace due to a busy schedule so perhaps did not feel as invested as I might have felt if I'd read from beginning to end in one session as I normally do. However the characters and the story remained with me and each time I returned go the book I immediately found myself settling back into the point where I last left off. Reading an electronic version I was not cognisant of my place in the story so found I was taken unawares when I read the last page, but with hindsight I shouldnt have been. The loose ends had been tied and the story had a fitting end.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free electronic copy of this book.
Written in a gentle pace with a unique take on a story about families and the destruction caused not so much by weapons as by individuals attitudes toward war. Also, a story about love. The enduring love between husband and wife, mother and son and to an extent between brothers. A story about fathers and sons and how strongly held attitudes can cause lifelong rifts in that relationship. It provided an insight into what happens when long held convictions are reassessed and found wanting.
I read this book at an unusually slow pace due to a busy schedule so perhaps did not feel as invested as I might have felt if I'd read from beginning to end in one session as I normally do. However the characters and the story remained with me and each time I returned go the book I immediately found myself settling back into the point where I last left off. Reading an electronic version I was not cognisant of my place in the story so found I was taken unawares when I read the last page, but with hindsight I shouldnt have been. The loose ends had been tied and the story had a fitting end.
Thanks to NetGalley for the free electronic copy of this book.
May 1, 2016
This novel takes awhile to come together. The first 30% is somewhat disjointed. But then it coalesces into the story of a family blown apart by the Vietnam War- the son who enlists, but wrangles a job away from the fighting, the draft dodger who moves to Canada, the father who fought in the “Good War”. 46 years later, the father falls and breaks a hip and the mother attempts a reconciliation. But the men struggle to communicate.
This novel is poignant. You feel the pain of the various characters. Because the story is told from an omniscient viewpoint, you know the lies that are told, the tales that are left untold. This is not a fast paced book. And there's more thought than action. I wish I could say I liked it better, but it seemed to be missing something. And the tale of homeless Bob seemed superfluous. More added to create a little drama or tension to the story.
Thanks to netgalley for an advance copy of this novel.
September 22, 2016
What a beautiful cover!
I've thought about how to write a review because of the many topics covered in this book and I'm not sure if I will do it justice or not. A novel told in memory that is powerful and devastating. Vietnam War, all war, PTSD, father son relationships, aging, familiarity after years of marriage, religion, regrets and I'm sure I missed a few. How can a book with so many topics be so elegantly written? I'm in awe of Mr. Butler's talent. The writing flows like a river on a lazy afternoon. I highly recommend this book especially if you are of an age to remember the Vietnam war.
What I take away from this book is the importance of communication and the art of forgiveness. Life is short and can change in the blink of an eye.
I've thought about how to write a review because of the many topics covered in this book and I'm not sure if I will do it justice or not. A novel told in memory that is powerful and devastating. Vietnam War, all war, PTSD, father son relationships, aging, familiarity after years of marriage, religion, regrets and I'm sure I missed a few. How can a book with so many topics be so elegantly written? I'm in awe of Mr. Butler's talent. The writing flows like a river on a lazy afternoon. I highly recommend this book especially if you are of an age to remember the Vietnam war.
What I take away from this book is the importance of communication and the art of forgiveness. Life is short and can change in the blink of an eye.
March 9, 2024
The Vietnam War provides the backdrop to Perfume River and it has cast a shadow over the lives of all the book’s characters.
Robert signed up to serve in Vietnam, believing this was what his father, a veteran of World War II, wanted. The refusal of Robert’s brother, Jimmy, to do the same has caused a rift that has never been healed.
Although assigned a non-operational role in Vietnam, Robert’s part in an incident which brought him unexpectedly face-to-face with the human cost of war has haunted him. It’s a memory he’s tried to suppress but which periodically rises unbidden to the surface. ‘But he still thinks: I was not meant to be here. I was not meant to live this life I’ve led. I was meant to die long ago. Long long ago.’ It’s a secret he’s felt unable to share with anyone, including his wife, Darla, especially since she was violently opposed to the Vietnam War – and believed he was too. Unbeknownst to him, he has misinterpreted her feelings about his involvement.
The author deftly sketches a portrait of a marriage which has staled but not decayed beyond repair. Robert and Darla lead largely separate lives, each engrossed in their own area of academic interest, working in their separate studies on different floors of their house. Yet perhaps the emotional distance is not so great than it cannot be bridged.
Perfume River is a story of misunderstandings and of seeking to live up to the expectations of others – or rather what you believe are the expectations of others. There are no chapter breaks and the book moves seamlessly between different points of view, but I was drawn into the lives of the characters and the consequences of the choices they’ve made.
Robert signed up to serve in Vietnam, believing this was what his father, a veteran of World War II, wanted. The refusal of Robert’s brother, Jimmy, to do the same has caused a rift that has never been healed.
Although assigned a non-operational role in Vietnam, Robert’s part in an incident which brought him unexpectedly face-to-face with the human cost of war has haunted him. It’s a memory he’s tried to suppress but which periodically rises unbidden to the surface. ‘But he still thinks: I was not meant to be here. I was not meant to live this life I’ve led. I was meant to die long ago. Long long ago.’ It’s a secret he’s felt unable to share with anyone, including his wife, Darla, especially since she was violently opposed to the Vietnam War – and believed he was too. Unbeknownst to him, he has misinterpreted her feelings about his involvement.
The author deftly sketches a portrait of a marriage which has staled but not decayed beyond repair. Robert and Darla lead largely separate lives, each engrossed in their own area of academic interest, working in their separate studies on different floors of their house. Yet perhaps the emotional distance is not so great than it cannot be bridged.
Perfume River is a story of misunderstandings and of seeking to live up to the expectations of others – or rather what you believe are the expectations of others. There are no chapter breaks and the book moves seamlessly between different points of view, but I was drawn into the lives of the characters and the consequences of the choices they’ve made.
August 16, 2016
I received this book in a giveaway and I usually never give a one star however with this book I had to give it a one star. I think the only thing I truly liked about the book was the cover, this book lost my interest right from the start and by the 3rd chapter my eyes started to glaze over I was so bored with it. I had high hopes that this book was going to turn out wonderful but was incredible disappointed I don't recommend this book!
September 17, 2017
A strange and disjointed tale about memories of war.
June 28, 2020
My first from this talented author, greatly impressed. My brothers and I just missed being of draft age for the Vietnam war, but it was always in our mind. Then the movies came (The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Full Metal Jacket), which further rekindled the interest and controversy. I could never really believe vets came home to derision from “leftist hippies” as murderous child killers – the people I knew respected anyone going to war, including these vets. But they did not receive the accolades and respect of those from prior wars (Korea, especially WWII), and that is what this book is about. And unrequited love between estranged brothers and emotionally estranged parents, especially fathers. Butler has my attention, I’ll read another of his novels, especially since I’m still obsessed with this war and what it did to people on all sides.
I recently learned of this author as an authentic voice of the Vietnam War era, so I naturally gravitated toward this book (it was a Goodreads review that drew my attention). Still I am obsessed by this war, as I wonder what I would have done had I been born a few years earlier, and being a natural skeptic of the American domino theory (Kissinger being wrong, Nixon and Reagan taking political advantage). But were I just 18 years old, likely I would have signed up – to avoid shame of seeming cowardly and to garner the love of an embedded patriarchy. At its heart, that is what this book is about – the inner conflict of a brother who served and one who fled.
The story is told from multiple points of view, often switching unperceptively within a page or even a paragraph (my only criticism of this book). The two brothers are 70 and 68 years old, a decade older than myself and I was pleased to see that intelligence and passion and vitality are still possible 10 years in my future. The author, I suspect, is also of this age, and writes beautifully and meaningfully, more hope. The wives of the brothers, and their mother, also tell their story. So one gets all angles and knows where the secrets are. This was excellent as they all have complex inner lives and struggle with insecurities and fear, along with love. It is a book about the struggle to be more honest with our loved ones (spouses, parents, children) and how the walls we defend ourselves with can destroy us. Somewhat reminiscent of the family turmoil found in Franzen's The Corrections.
And then there is Bob, a homeless man who is mentally damaged yet trying to reconcile his life as a son of a Vietnam veteran who committed suicide after damaging his boy emotionally in tragic ways. Bob is a generation younger than I, so would likely have less intellectual interest in the pollical aspects of Vietnam than my generation, yet as the son of a veteran, felt the pain and the damage through the father. That’s the way it is with war, the wartime mentality (the horror, as well as the uniquely male camaraderie of serving and suffering and fearing death together), persists and is passed to the sons. Bob is on the periphery of the story, and serves as physical action to drive the plot. His in-head reveries of long-lost and much hated father are well described.
One brother goes to war but signs up for a research position, far from the action, but an enlistee to earn the love of a father. The younger son is morally and intellectually opposed, and flees as a young man to Canada and starts a life. But life is not what it seems, and the brother at war gets caught up in the Tet Offensive and ends up in combat after all and carries a secret with him for life, one that gets heavier and heavier. Both brothers contend with the old man, a WWII vet, rigid and domineering – the brother who left for Canada can’t forgive his older brother who did not defend him when he stood up to the father – and then walked out of their lives forever. Oddly, neither brother feels loved by the father, and both resent the mother who is hopelessly in the middle.
The story builds and finally explodes at the funeral of the father, where the brothers finally meet. I won’t spoil it, it is surprising and authentic how these complex human beings resolve and, in some cases, do not resolve their conflict and their desire for love and acceptance.
Growing up with three brothers and a strong father figure, I can relate. Had we been born during wartime, I can imagine our story line following some of these patterns.
P. 104, Darla, the wife of Robert (the brother who went to war), musing over the daughters of the confederation commemoration in Florida, the setting for this book: “How did these women, fair and faithful, preserve their passion? No just preserve. Amplify. And she knows. Their passion was for the dead. And being dead, those men could never disappoint.” Just before this, Butler describes how the post war veterans become smaller & ordinary & insignificant over time.
I recently learned of this author as an authentic voice of the Vietnam War era, so I naturally gravitated toward this book (it was a Goodreads review that drew my attention). Still I am obsessed by this war, as I wonder what I would have done had I been born a few years earlier, and being a natural skeptic of the American domino theory (Kissinger being wrong, Nixon and Reagan taking political advantage). But were I just 18 years old, likely I would have signed up – to avoid shame of seeming cowardly and to garner the love of an embedded patriarchy. At its heart, that is what this book is about – the inner conflict of a brother who served and one who fled.
The story is told from multiple points of view, often switching unperceptively within a page or even a paragraph (my only criticism of this book). The two brothers are 70 and 68 years old, a decade older than myself and I was pleased to see that intelligence and passion and vitality are still possible 10 years in my future. The author, I suspect, is also of this age, and writes beautifully and meaningfully, more hope. The wives of the brothers, and their mother, also tell their story. So one gets all angles and knows where the secrets are. This was excellent as they all have complex inner lives and struggle with insecurities and fear, along with love. It is a book about the struggle to be more honest with our loved ones (spouses, parents, children) and how the walls we defend ourselves with can destroy us. Somewhat reminiscent of the family turmoil found in Franzen's The Corrections.
And then there is Bob, a homeless man who is mentally damaged yet trying to reconcile his life as a son of a Vietnam veteran who committed suicide after damaging his boy emotionally in tragic ways. Bob is a generation younger than I, so would likely have less intellectual interest in the pollical aspects of Vietnam than my generation, yet as the son of a veteran, felt the pain and the damage through the father. That’s the way it is with war, the wartime mentality (the horror, as well as the uniquely male camaraderie of serving and suffering and fearing death together), persists and is passed to the sons. Bob is on the periphery of the story, and serves as physical action to drive the plot. His in-head reveries of long-lost and much hated father are well described.
One brother goes to war but signs up for a research position, far from the action, but an enlistee to earn the love of a father. The younger son is morally and intellectually opposed, and flees as a young man to Canada and starts a life. But life is not what it seems, and the brother at war gets caught up in the Tet Offensive and ends up in combat after all and carries a secret with him for life, one that gets heavier and heavier. Both brothers contend with the old man, a WWII vet, rigid and domineering – the brother who left for Canada can’t forgive his older brother who did not defend him when he stood up to the father – and then walked out of their lives forever. Oddly, neither brother feels loved by the father, and both resent the mother who is hopelessly in the middle.
The story builds and finally explodes at the funeral of the father, where the brothers finally meet. I won’t spoil it, it is surprising and authentic how these complex human beings resolve and, in some cases, do not resolve their conflict and their desire for love and acceptance.
Growing up with three brothers and a strong father figure, I can relate. Had we been born during wartime, I can imagine our story line following some of these patterns.
P. 104, Darla, the wife of Robert (the brother who went to war), musing over the daughters of the confederation commemoration in Florida, the setting for this book: “How did these women, fair and faithful, preserve their passion? No just preserve. Amplify. And she knows. Their passion was for the dead. And being dead, those men could never disappoint.” Just before this, Butler describes how the post war veterans become smaller & ordinary & insignificant over time.
September 21, 2016
Perfume River – Another Modern American Classic
Robert Olen Butler in my mind is one of the best American authors of the moment, whose novels and short stories are second to none and easy to see why he is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Once again Olen Butler tackles a subject many would like to shy away from, our personal relationships, and especially amongst those in our own families. The reaction to a family member that you have not seen in nearly 50 years, with a background of the Vietnam War, that has torn your family apart.
Robert Olen Butler has woven together a complex but beautiful story, where many years after the Vietnam War, along with the PTSD of the former combatants has caused a rift in the family. With an elderly parent dying one brother still refuses to come to his father’s bedside in his final hours. While at the same time a homeless man, with mental health issues, has a devastating impact upon the entire family.
Robert Quinlan and his wife Darla both teach at Florida State University, is now starting to bear the scars of over 40 years of marriage, stuck in a rut and with their own separate studies in the house, things do not look good. Coupled with Robert’s flashbacks to the Vietnam war, his past always seems to disturb the present.
Even though this is a short book, and some may say read quickly and easily, it is not an easy read as it is thought provoking, challenging. Our perception to war, how a family can divide over it, one going to war, the other escaping to Canada. How one child lives up to a father’s expectations and another does not attain the same level of respect in the father’s eyes.
Some may say that this book is rather too melancholic but I think that adds to the atmosphere of the book. The book named after a river in Vietnam reflects the symbiotic relationship Americans have with the country, in part to the war and its legacy. It also questions the dysfunctionality of family, and that memories can be timeless whether we like them or not.
A challenging and emotional book, and this is yet another book in the Vietnam related fiction, a welcome and fresh addition.
Robert Olen Butler in my mind is one of the best American authors of the moment, whose novels and short stories are second to none and easy to see why he is a Pulitzer Prize winner. Once again Olen Butler tackles a subject many would like to shy away from, our personal relationships, and especially amongst those in our own families. The reaction to a family member that you have not seen in nearly 50 years, with a background of the Vietnam War, that has torn your family apart.
Robert Olen Butler has woven together a complex but beautiful story, where many years after the Vietnam War, along with the PTSD of the former combatants has caused a rift in the family. With an elderly parent dying one brother still refuses to come to his father’s bedside in his final hours. While at the same time a homeless man, with mental health issues, has a devastating impact upon the entire family.
Robert Quinlan and his wife Darla both teach at Florida State University, is now starting to bear the scars of over 40 years of marriage, stuck in a rut and with their own separate studies in the house, things do not look good. Coupled with Robert’s flashbacks to the Vietnam war, his past always seems to disturb the present.
Even though this is a short book, and some may say read quickly and easily, it is not an easy read as it is thought provoking, challenging. Our perception to war, how a family can divide over it, one going to war, the other escaping to Canada. How one child lives up to a father’s expectations and another does not attain the same level of respect in the father’s eyes.
Some may say that this book is rather too melancholic but I think that adds to the atmosphere of the book. The book named after a river in Vietnam reflects the symbiotic relationship Americans have with the country, in part to the war and its legacy. It also questions the dysfunctionality of family, and that memories can be timeless whether we like them or not.
A challenging and emotional book, and this is yet another book in the Vietnam related fiction, a welcome and fresh addition.
September 25, 2017
"You share a war in one way. You pass it on in another." Robert Olen Butler has written a lean book, beautifully distilled, leaving what is real about how a family is affected by ‘war stories’. In many families it is the violence of combat that defines a veteran’s life and legacy as it ripples through life back home. The spoken and unspoken, the true and the false, these experiences have an enormous impact on the young men, and now women, who will face choices about their own service. What is heroism and cowardice?
Butler is brave, honest and thorough as he delves bone deep into his characters as they each navigate these choices that ultimately can only be defined by the individual. The most important test in defining these terms is being true to one’s self. The people with the strength to persevere in their lifelong quest to get these answers right, not comfortably hiding behind half truths and slogans, emerge in Perfume River as the real heroes.
I like to include quotes from a book I'm reviewing to illustrate certain impressions the book made on me. Perfume River has several distinct characters making it much more important to read the quotes in context. So I will simply offer some passages I highlighted and hope you will read the novel to get their full effect.
“Their passion was for the dead. And being dead, these men could never disappoint.”
“ …the very waging of a righteous war, even the very winning of that war, can trigger the dark gene. So the winners go on to fight unrighteous wars. And maybe that's the real gene that causes all the trouble. The one encoded for righteousness. Politics and religion and just the pure waging and winning of wars all share that.”
Butler is brave, honest and thorough as he delves bone deep into his characters as they each navigate these choices that ultimately can only be defined by the individual. The most important test in defining these terms is being true to one’s self. The people with the strength to persevere in their lifelong quest to get these answers right, not comfortably hiding behind half truths and slogans, emerge in Perfume River as the real heroes.
I like to include quotes from a book I'm reviewing to illustrate certain impressions the book made on me. Perfume River has several distinct characters making it much more important to read the quotes in context. So I will simply offer some passages I highlighted and hope you will read the novel to get their full effect.
“Their passion was for the dead. And being dead, these men could never disappoint.”
“ …the very waging of a righteous war, even the very winning of that war, can trigger the dark gene. So the winners go on to fight unrighteous wars. And maybe that's the real gene that causes all the trouble. The one encoded for righteousness. Politics and religion and just the pure waging and winning of wars all share that.”
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