Dust Child

by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai

Named a Best Book of Spring 2023 by the Los Angeles Times , Amazon, the Chicago Review of Books , Ms. Magazine , BookPage and BookBub

A Most Anticipated Title according to Sydney Morning Herald , Salon , NB Magazine and SheReads

Four lives, entwined forever by decisions made in a time of conflict. But what happens decades later when they unexpectedly converge once more?

Trang and sisters who leave their rural village for the bustling city of Saigon, desperate to find work to help their impoverished parents. When they take jobs as ‘ bar girls’, paid to flirt with American GIs, they must decide whether they are willing to turn their backs on the people they used to be.

Phong : one of the thousands of mixed-race children abandoned by their American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. Phong grows up surrounded by rejection, insulted as a ‘Black American imperialist’, and a ‘child of the enemy’. But he never gives up hope of finding his parents and proving he is more than a ‘bui doi’: more than the ‘dust of life’.

Dan : A former American helicopter pilot still plagued by regrets about his actions during the Việt Nam war. Now he has returned in the hope of confronting the demons that refuse to fall silent.

Set between the Việt Nam war and the present day, Dust Child is a sweeping epic of family secrets and hidden heartache, from an internationally celebrated author.

'Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is one of the most unique storytellers of our time.' Natalie Jenner, internationally bestselling-author of The Jane Austen Society

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Book Club, Audiobook, Asia, War

353 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 14, 2023

About the author

Born and raised in Việt Nam, Dr. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai is the author of the international bestseller The Mountains Sing, runner-up for the 2021 Dayton Literary Peace Prize, winner of the 2020 BookBrowse Best Debut Award, the 2021 International Book Awards, the 2021 PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award, and the 2020 Lannan Literary Award Fellowship for Fiction. She has published twelve books of poetry, fiction and non-fiction in Vietnamese and English and has received some of the top literary prizes in Việt Nam including the Poetry of the Year 2010 from the Hà Nội Writers Association. Her writing has been translated into twenty languages and has appeared in major publications including the New York Times. She has a PhD in Creative Writing from Lancaster University. She was named by Forbes Vietnam as one of 20 inspiring women of 2021. Her second novel in English, Dust Child, is forthcoming in March 2023.

Reviews

[Mai Nguyễn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dear Readers,

I am thrilled that my second novel, DUST CHILD, has been published.

The seed of this novel was planted many years ago, when I grew up in Southern Việt Nam, where during the late seventies and in the eighties I got a glimpse of the discrimination faced by Amerasians born from the wartime unions between American men and Vietnamese women. Over the years, I kept thinking about those Amerasians and hoping that life had treated them more kindly.

In April 2014, I read a story which moved me deeply. Jerry Quinn, an American veteran, traveled back to Hồ Chí Minh City with an album of old photos, looking for his girlfriend and their son. They had been separated in 1973, forty-one year earlier. Mr. Quinn’s story made me realize the urgency to find their lost children that some American veterans, now in their sixties and seventies, were feeling.

Via an organization that helped unite Amerasians with their parents, I got in touch with American veterans who had been searching for their Amerasian children. I interviewed them and wrote about them for a national newspaper in Việt Nam. I got involved in real-life searches for family members. While I could help several people unite with those they were looking for, after more than forty years, I realized the complexity and the trauma involved. I also learned about the incredible challenges that Amerasians and their family members have had to face.

This novel, Dust Child, took seven years to write and is a result of my PhD research with Lancaster University. It fictionalized my real-life interviews, journalistic experiences, readings, and academic research. While characters are fictional, their life stories are inspired by real-life events such as the implementation of the Amerasian Homecoming Act as well as the buying and selling of Amerasians.
Dust Child also aims to demonstrate the effects of wars and armed conflicts beyond the resultant deaths and injuries.

Dust Child is my love letter to those who have been discriminated against, mistreated, misunderstood. It is my attempt to decolonise literature in English about Việt Nam.

It is my call for empathy, compassion and for humans to love humans more. It is my explorations of pathways to healing via hope, kindness, food, music, conversation, literature.

Thank you for picking up this book, for reading, and for sharing. It means the world to me.

THANK YOU!

If you are on social media, please connect with me.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/nguyenphanquemai_/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/nguyen_p_quemai
Facebook: www.facebook.com/quemai.nguyenphan/
Author newsletter: http://tinyletter.com/nguyenphanquemai

With warmest wishes,
Quế Mai
--
Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai
Website: nguyenphanquemai.com

[Mai H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved THE MOUNTAINS SING. This was one of my most highly anticipated reads. It took me a while to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked. The title, Dust Child, translated to bụi đời ("life of dust" or "dusty life"), generally refers to the mixed race children born during and after the Vietnam War.

This hits extremely close to home. I have several mixed race cousins born in Vietnam during this time period. While my aunt married her GI, I know many of these babies were either products of rape, or abandoned by their fathers. While babies with white features were still known as whores’ children, it is nothing like what the children with black features felt.

Phong is one of those children, and one of the POVs we read about in this book. Dan is one of the GIs that abandoned his pregnant girlfriend, only to go home and marry his white fiancée. Trang and Quỳnh are bar girls. We eventually learn how each of these people know the other, and it’s so fascinating to watch it unravel.

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Algonquin Books

[Canadian Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this was harsh. Like slap in the face. The reality of the collateral damage done by such a grievous and dirty war. The exploitation of women; Amerasian orphans abandoned after American GI's left; the discrimination and torment these mixed orphans experienced for being born with the features of the enemy.

A dust child is a homeless orphan in Vietnam. Many of these babies and children left dying on the streets.

It’s told from 3 perspectives. Kim, a Vietnamese girl, who leaves the village with her sister to earn an income by prostituting herself to American soldiers. Dan, a Vietnam vet, returning to the country 40 years later in an attempt to recover from PTSD. Phong, the Amerasian orphan, who fought against odds to survive on his own quest to find his parents. Each story unique. Each traumatic.

The stories interconnected. The aftermath of a war that impacted countless children, families, citizens. Themes of abandonment, trauma, grief and redemption.

A well written story to acknowledge a shameful and sad history.
I love the fact this author took the time to explore and interview all victims: women, children & soldiers.
4.25⭐️

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: Reveals some great insights about Vietnam and the aftermath of the American war on the country. The plot was somewhat predictable, but overall, a worthy OwnVoices work.

Story Synopsis:

2016. Middle-aged Phong is the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese mother, but as he grew up in an orphanage, he doesn’t know anything about his parents except their race. He has now decided to search for his father and using his help, escape to the US with his family to avoid the drudgery of Vietnam.
2016. Dan, an American veteran, has returned to the country where he served during the war, in the hope that his PTSD will improve, but unknown to his wife Linda, he has a secret agenda as well.
1969: Sisters Trang and Quỳnh follow their friend’s advice and leave their rice fields to work as ‘bar girls’ in Sài Gòn, hoping to earn enough to repay their parents’ debts. As Sài Gòn is filled with American GIs, the bar girls are supposed to drink ‘Sài Gòn tea’ and flirt with the GIs in exchange for money. Unknown to the two, the interactions don’t stop at just flirting and the sisters are forced to make a tough decision. Things get even more complicated when one of them falls for an American helicopter pilot.
The lives of these four characters are interlinked. How? You will need to read the book and find out.
The story comes to us mostly in the 3rd person limited perspective of the above four characters.

Bookish Yays:
✔ The authenticity of the Vietnamese voice and culture. Not surprising considering the author’s background.

✔ The title: ‘Dust Child’ refers to the mixed race children born during and after the war. While many of these babies were treated as outcasts, the ones with Black fathers and born with prominent Black features were treated the worst. Learning about this unseen side of the war was saddening and yet illuminating.

✔ The narrative choices: A white man, two Vietnamese women, and an Amerasian man, with each voice being given an equal weightage and no sides being taken and no fingers being pointed against either country. Loved the fairness of it. I also appreciate the point raised about the hypocritical attitude of the country that welcomes returning ex-American GIs but shuns ex-Viet Cong soldiers as enemies.

✔ Trang’s character arc – handled the best in terms of emotions as well as development.

✔ This is a war story where the war stays in the background. What we get to see is the human cost of the war for those not actively involved in the fighting. Appreciate this approach as it adds a novelty to the plot.

✔ The themes, ranging from PTSD to single motherhood to rape to prostitution to poverty to racial discrimination to gender discrimination. All handled well. None over the top. (These do create plenty of triggers, so proceed with care. It’s a story set during wartime, so don’t expect an easy, trauma-free read.)


Bookish If Onlys:
⚠ Phong’s character arc: Had so much potential in terms of depicting how Amerasian children left in Vietnam felt about fitting in neither here nor there. But somehow, his arc shoves in too many of some things and too little of others, leaving me feeling like I didn’t get to know him well. I still liked his arc, but wish it had been more streamlined.

⚠ I wish the approach towards this story had been more literary than commercial. The general fiction vibes reduce the impact of the emotions.

⚠ The ending: While most of the ending was good, some part was just too exaggerated and coincidental. A layer of realism would have made me happier as this wasn’t supposed to be a happy story anyway.


Bookish Nays:
❌ Dan’s character arc: Feels quite ad hoc. The changes in his behaviour aren’t written smoothly, and as such, he is quite tough to like and not at all a compelling character. Even if I make allowances for his PTSD, he doesn’t come across as consistent.

❌ Disliked the ‘white saviour’ vibes coming from the contemporary storyline, regardless of how genuine a part of it might be.

❌ The predictability: Most historical fiction readers will be able to see where most of the story is going. Except for a couple of plot points at the end, it is quite guessable and offers no major surprises.


🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 12 hrs 27 minutes, is narrated by Quyen Ngo. She does perform well, and her voicing of the Vietnamese words left me in awe of how musical the language actually is. As I have no idea how most diacritics are pronounced (except for the ones appearing in Devanagari scripts), I tended to gloss over the unknown sounds while reading. But her pronunciation--and the author’s writing--made me realise the importance of diacritics, especially in the Vietnamese language.
That said, I feel that a part of my disconnect with the book is because I heard the audio version. Listening to the American accent voicing Vietnamese characters was quite distracting. While the narrator does try to voice the characters’ dialogues in a partially (Vietnamese) accented manner, it isn’t consistent.
The author’s note at the end is read by the author herself, and while the content is brilliant, her authentic Vietnamese accent makes the contrast with the narrator’s voice even more prominent.
While I would still recommend the audiobook, especially if you want to hear the musicality of the Vietnamese language, a part of me wants you to read it rather than listen to it. Now you decide!
(PS: This is the kind of audiobook where I wish there was a separate chapter saying, “Dear Reader/Reviewer, this is how the character names are spelt”, going on to give the right spellings for all the major Vietnamese characters. Seeing ‘Quỳnh’ in the blurb gave me a jolt because I had written ‘Qin’ in my review notes. 😵)


I’ve heard a lot about this author’s debut work, ‘The Mountains Sing’, but as I haven’t read it yet, I cannot compare the two. A friend of mine who has read both warned me that this isn’t as good as the earlier book. I guess that means I have the better book to look forward to.

Regardless, this book did manage to satisfy me to a great extent. My expectations were quite high, especially as this is an #OwnVoices work. Despite the qualms I had with some of the plot points, I relished reading an insider perspective of the US-Vietnam war.

Definitely recommended to historical fiction readers.

3.75 stars.

My thanks to Bolinda Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Dust Child”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook.



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[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1969 after seeing their friend helping her family by making lots of money from her job in Saigon.. two South Vietnamese sisters leave home to follow her so they can work to get their parents debts paid off after they lost their home.
Well… the job is at The Hollywood Bar where they entertain American GI’s
The story goes back and forth between 1969 and recent days as the aftermath from the fleeting love affairs ,and Amerasian children and American fathers searching for each other and the stories of how they came to be.
This was a fast read for me, love this kind of story.

[Jeneane Vanderhoof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recently I went to the post and found my Goodreads win, a copy of Dust Child. It was a surprise as I didn’t remember winning it (I did though). The publisher had been so nice to include a note and a small package of Vietnamese coffee (I'm assuming as it wasn't mentioned in the note, what it was, in particular, that was included, and I couldn't read the writing on the package as it was not English). As I have never read the author, Nguyen Phan Que Mai and never had coffee, I was excited. (and I apologize for not using the diacritics, which are the markings above certain letters, as it changes the meaning of the word, not using them, but I do not know where or how to find them, on my computer. This is something I actually learned reading this book). The coffee, or maybe it was a latte, as it tasted that good and made in my home, was superb but as I sat down and started the book and now after, I found, the book was better. The Dust Child is a book that is a must read, do not miss book, as it deals with major life issues that are in some people’s lives and their experiences, and, if not, you are lucky as to live such an ideal life and read books such as these to know and appreciate how good you have it!

In Dust Child we are taken back to the years, 2016 and 1969 respectively and as the story goes back and forth we learn of how some of the dust children, who are the children of Vietnamese women and VietNam soldiers, came to be. Two, in particular. And, while this story could be told in any way and really, be made interesting, the way in which this author has told the story, created, weaved the tale for readers, places it in an arena of literature from which we pick the books our children and their children will one day read. This really isn't a book but a work of art in words. And the writer took seven years to research the topic so that she could present a story as close to real life as she could make it!

When readers learn of what life was like for the dust children told from the view of Phong, as he was left at an orphanage, raised by a nun until the age of twelve and then left to fend for himself we can only image how many of these children survived and how hard it must have been to do so. Because the discrimination for children with Western features was so bad for these youths, Americans had a program in which, based on their features, they could immigrate to the country. America was called their Fatherland. I thought the name was quite cute (in an ironic, dark way) as they were all on this earth, basically, because of their fathers. When you have women who have suffering families and then, men come into their cities with money unlike they have ever seen, how can you blame some of them for taking advantage of that, as they do in the book, with prostitution.

At first, they are told they will just “drink tea” with the men. You only need to imagine (and read the book) to find out how the rest goes. In Dust Child, the females struggle with prostituting themselves, it is not something they want to do. And, when one of them places hope that in giving her heart to one of the soldiers, that he will save her, provide for her now and in the future, readers are left to learn the tale of what happened to these women through one woman, who was promised so much and left with only a burden, really.

And, while I hate to say, even as a mother myself, that a child can be a burden, it is the sad fact in life that, when a woman is not prepared to have a child, when she doesn't have the resources, she has a burden on her hands. There is no way we can always lay all the blame on the mother for this fact, either. Women in this situation, I am sure of it, do not want their child to be a burden. Every woman who finds herself with child wants to be happy. It is the sad fact that, in our world, at this time, not every woman can enjoy that feeling. But, is that not a reflection on the mother but on our society? Dust Child really highlighted the fact of the blame that is placed on the individual rather than the blame we should place on the whole, whoever that whole may be, society, parents, governments, even other individuals. How can a child be blamed, spit on, urinated on, for what his parents did, in making him? Have to struggle through life, with nowhere to turn and no help? As the story focuses on a boy living as a Dust Child and some of the women who made dust children, the time period, what their life was like with the soldiers, as, essentially, prostitutes, I only am left to imagine how hard it would have been like as a female dust child growing up, how hard that was. Sadly, not something we hear about directly here. But, Nguyen Phan Que Mai still has many more tales to tell, I am sure as this is her second book.

Dust Child is a book that will lead you to tears, in the end, as the story comes full circle and wraps itself up. The writer really did a superb job and I want to thank them and the publishers for the Goodreads win, my favorite, above all I have one. I have found an author I will follow forever as she presents life to readers without any varnish, even, stripped bare, to the bone. That is how I like to see life as that is how I feel I have, at this time, led mine (or have had to lead it). Of everything I thought about and learned I think that, most of all, this writer has taught me that sometimes the stories we construct in our minds about the events in our lives that happen, that we tell others, if we put bows and ribbons where there weren’t any, make a story sweeter when it was really sour, so that others do not suffer, maybe even so that we no longer suffer, that is okay. It's a part of life and living it. Something that needs to be done to be able to move on to the next part of life.

To every reader, no matter the genre you like or read, Dust Child is a must. I promise it's a story you won’t forget, it will stick with you and hopefully, become a part of you, a better part. However, that will only happen if you take a part of the story or all of the story and learn something from it. Something that makes a better you. Because I know this story made me a better person as I learned many things and could really, go on forever about them, in this review. I think I’ll end here, as it's long enough, and, hopefully, encouraged others enough to pick up a copy. As I promised, it will be worth it!

Thank you again to the author, and publisher for the Goodreads win, the best ever and the awesome (I assume) Vietnamese coffee (or latte, as I can't read Vietnamese)!

[theliterateleprechaun · Rating 5 out of 5]

"She had tried to live an honest life, but war had given her no choice."

I'm an emotional wreck. I wasn't expecting this book to affect me this way.

Review to follow in a few days.

[Natalie Jenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky to receive a very early copy of the manuscript from the author and cannot wait until this book is out in the world next year. In DUST CHILD, Nguyen Phan displays the same tenderness and compassion for her characters, hard-earned understanding of human trauma, and poetically evocative language that made her debut novel THE MOUNTAINS SING an international bestseller beloved around the world. With characters who will stay with you forever in their desperation to make peace with the past and reconstitute their families whole, Nguyen Phan shines a light in DUST CHILD on how people behave in the most tragic of circumstances. This is the best kind of book: atmospheric, propulsive, lyrical and heartbreaking, with a plot that is Dickensian in its breadth and mastery. Probing the complex emotional challenges of living in a world full of disruption and displacement, Nguyen Phan's books are a tremendous contribution to our shared humanity and understanding; as a story that begged to be told, DUST CHILD surpasses expectations of an author already firmly established as one of the most important voices and unique storytellers of our time.

[Dusk · Rating 3 out of 5]

What if you were born from the ashes of war, and your very existence was a reminder of the horrors that befell your country? What if you had to search for your parents and your identity in a land that rejected you? What if you had a chance to escape, but it meant leaving behind everything you loved? These are some of the questions that haunt the characters of Dust Child, a powerful and poignant novel by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai, the internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing.

Dust Child tells the story of two Vietnamese sisters, Trang and Quỳnh, who leave their rural village in 1969 to work at a bar in Sài Gòn, where they meet and fall in love with American soldiers. Decades later, an American veteran, Dan, returns to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda, hoping to heal from his PTSD and find closure. Meanwhile, Phong, the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman, embarks on a quest to find his biological parents and a way out of Việt Nam, where he faces discrimination and poverty as an Amerasian, or "dust child".

The novel alternates between the perspectives of these four characters, weaving together their personal histories, their hopes and fears, and their connections to each other. Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai masterfully portrays the complex and tragic legacy of the war in Việt Nam, as well as the resilience and courage of the people who survived it. She also explores the themes of family, identity, love, forgiveness, and redemption, showing how they can transcend the boundaries of time, culture, and geography.

One of the strengths of the novel is the rich and vivid depiction of Việt Nam, both in its beauty and its brutality. The author draws from her own experience as a Vietnamese who grew up during and after the war, as well as her extensive research and interviews with veterans and Amerasians. She brings to life the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of the country, as well as its history, culture, and traditions. She also does not shy away from exposing the harsh realities of the war and its aftermath, such as the violence, the corruption, the poverty, the environmental damage, and the human rights violations.

Another strength of the novel is the emotional depth and complexity of the characters, who are flawed but sympathetic, and who struggle to overcome their traumas and find their place in the world. The author does not paint them as heroes or villains, but as human beings who make mistakes and who have regrets, but who also have dreams and who seek happiness. She also shows how they are affected by the war in different ways, and how they cope with their losses and their guilt. She also portrays the diversity and the solidarity of the Vietnamese people, as well as the challenges and the opportunities of the Amerasians.

One of the weaknesses of the novel is the lack of proofreading and editing, which results in several awkward phrases and unclear paragraphs. For example, the following passage from the book does not have a clear focus or purpose:

“Inside, the air was cool and smelled of rose perfume. Linda gasped at the impressive entrance hall. At the long counter to the left, two receptionists looked stunning in their áo dàis. Dan searched their faces. They were young enough to be his grandchildren but had no Caucasian features"

“They passed a school. A group of girls dressed in white áo dài and matching white pants chased ”

Cái đệch gì thế =)) is what comes to my mind. It is unclear what the author is trying to convey with this description of the entrance hall. The sentence “Dan searched their faces” is vague and confusing. The final sentence, “They were young enough to be his grandchildren but had no Caucasian features,” is kì quặc and potentially offensive. Moreover, adding s to áo dài is incorrect and unnecessary, since Vietnamese does not have plural nouns. Còn nếu thật sự muốn thêm thì nó phải được thêm đều đặn trong cả tiểu thuyết chứ chữ được chữ mất để làm gì?

Another drawback of the novel is the exaggerated depiction of the Vietnamese accent on English words, which makes the dialogue sound unnatural and absurd.

“By the way, this is my wife, Lin-đà.”

“Yes, we are. From a city called Xi-át-tồ”

These are dialogues from a white American born character, who should not have a Vietnamese accent. There is no reason to write the Vietnamese accent in this way. Some words are unnecessarily translated into Vietnamese, which does not add any meaning or beauty to the text, but only makes it ridiculous. By over-translating the pronunciation of English words, the text becomes awkward and cringey.

There are many more examples of such errors throughout the novel, which distract readers from the reading experience and undermine the credibility of the author. While I respect the author’s efforts to maintain the cultural heritage of Vietnam by incorporating a lot of Vietnamese proverbs, I feel she overdid it, which made the dialogue seem unnatural and strained. Foreigners may not be aware of it, but as a Vietnamese, I know we don’t use that many proverbs in casual conversation. The novel also has the problem of double translating an English translated Vietnamese proverb, which makes the sentence long and clumsy. All these issues could have been avoided with better editing and proofreading.


Dust Child is a powerful and poignant novel that offers a unique and insightful perspective on the war in Việt Nam and its consequences. It is a novel that will make you cry, laugh, and think, and that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. It is a novel that will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction, family saga, romance, and social commentary, and who are interested in learning more about Vietnam and its people. It is a novel that deserves to be read and appreciated by a wide and diverse audience, but it also needs to be revised and improved to avoid the mistakes and flaws that mar its quality.

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had wanted to read ‘The Mountains Sing’, but grabbed the chance to read/listen to this book. While I did not find the plot to be path-breaking, but the characters really come alive in this beautiful story – filled with tragedy as well as hope.

In the present time, Phong, an Amerasian – born to an American father and a Vietnamese mother during the Vietnam war is trying unsuccessfully to obtain a US visa. There is Dan, who was a helicopter pilot during the war, now in the US, and the events of that time continue to haunt him. He and his wife Linda are making a trip to Vietnam. There are secrets Dan has which Linda does not know about which he hopes he can resolve with this visit. In another past timeline - during the war, two sisters Trang and Quynh start working as bar girls in the absence of any other option. While they are initially led to believe they just need to offer tea to American soldiers and keep them company, it turns out to be far more than that and quite painful for the sisters. The focus is mostly on Trang who gets involved with an American soldier, who she believes naively would support her for many years to come.

The storytelling is such that you feel drawn to the characters – especially Trang. A lot of what she goes through is painful and her experience really comes alive. In the present timeline Dan’s turmoil as he understands the impact of war on people he had been in touch with in the past is captured very well. The convergence at the end is good, though with its share of continuing pain. Though the book does not focus on the fighting in the war, the impact it has on so many comes across very well.

My rating: 4.25 / 5.

The audiobook narration by Quyen Ngo was very good. Thanks to Netgalley, Bolinda Audio and the author for providing a free audiobook for a review.

[Elle]

All I know is The Mountains Sing was one of my favorite books of 2020, so I’m beyond excited to see what the follow-up is going to be!!

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a young girl, my mother took me to an operatic performance of Madame Butterfly – a tragic tale of a young Japanese girl who falls in love with American naval officer Pinkerton. It shattered me to my very core.

This may seem a strange segue into Dust Child, which gives voice to the “dust children” of Vietnam – those Amerasians born to the American GIs and Vietnamese women in the shadow of the Vietnamese war. Yet once again, the echoes of American GIs, who may (or may not) have had good intentions, shattering the lives and dreams of innocent Asian girls is powerful.

I suspect that is not the main goal of Que Mai’s novel, although it is one that reverberates. This talented author (I read her previous book, The Mountains Sing, which made me want to be an early reader of her new one), is most interested in exploring families lost and found and how the need for healing and forgiveness never ceases.

With her Vietnamese heritage and her understanding of human trauma, Que Mai works with three intersecting narratives. One is of two teenage sisters, Trang and Quynh, who leave their rural village to become bar girls in Sai Gon. Their purpose is laudable -- to help their parents pay off crushing debt – but the emotional cost of becoming intimate with American GIs in exchange for money is crushing. The author has researched well, and the lives of these two sisters are brilliantly brought to life.

Interspersed with this story is that of Phong, the child of an unknown Black American GI and a Vietnamese mother. Spurned, ridiculed and abused, he fights back mightily to claim a better life and hopefully, immigrate to the U.S. The final leg of the book is that of a helicopter pilot, Dan, who is now much older, and continually haunted by the love affair he had while in country, and the cowardly way he left. He and his wife are determined to achieve closure.

Combining the lives of her Amerasian, Vietnamese and American characters, the author drills down to depict the legacy of war from a very human standpoint. I found it fascinating and poignant. Thank you to Algonquin Books for enabling me to be an early reader in exchange for an honest review.

[Jax · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The story sounded like a fairytale, too good to be true.”

Phong might be onto something, but I’ll start at the beginning. Two young Vietnamese women are deceived by a friend and discover too late that tea drinkers also do short and long times. The inevitable happens. Children are born and abandoned. Decades go by. Four of them. One parent of each child will have comfortable lives eventually. In real life, as in Phong’s, many of the orphaned children lived lives of misery, hunger, rejection, uncertainty, fear. Phong, and others, live in the streets as homeless dust children. They will be taunted, ostracized, shuttled to the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. Below it, actually. How many of them are Cinderellas?

Can a passionate, RITA-worthy romance slather a burnishing veneer on an exploitative relationship? Does it abrade the shine a bit when the guy later says it occasionally crossed his mind to search the internet for his lover and love child, but he resisted the urge because it would cause him more pain? I’m curious. Did he consider how much pain this woman and child suffered in a war-torn country because the safe, supported, financially secure father was disciplined in resisting urges? I’m sure he resisted that thought too. It is impossible to recount the many, many selfish and self-serving things this man thinks and says without giving away too much. They are in plain sight. Readers will find them. I was unable to ignore them. They just shaved off all those warm fuzzies that were sticking to his burnish.

This book is a view of the Vietnam war that focuses on the most helpless of its victims—the children conceived when local women, many from impoverished families, served the needs of soldiers. It also explores the emotional toll on women who felt compelled to give up their children because they had sacrificed their youths and reputations to jobs that might help their families who had nothing and the long-time fees, which were nothing to the soldiers, were staggering wealth to them. One would think that the men who discarded them wouldn’t get off so easy.

I’m not being judgy here, just real, as the author is when she’s being brave and showing us the disgust and horror Trang feels when she is first molested. Or the grief and fresh abandonment Phong feels when Sister Nhã dies. The exploitation they are exposed to. Their hopelessness. We readers all have unique lenses, none better than the other just different. My lens wanted more bravery. The reality of war happens to be in our face these days every time we view, scroll, tweet, like, or gossip at the virtual water fountain. None of that jives with dreamy endings.

I truly appreciate that this author brought this subject to the US book market. I’m just not one who wants or needs spun-sugar coating on a weighty subject such as this to make it palatable. But that’s not the author’s fault. She wrote her story, and I respect that. It’s just not for me.

My gratitude to Algonquin Books and NetGalley for providing this eARC.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly predictable, but I enjoyed the book nonetheless. It’s an important story to tell. There were, and never are, any winners in any war - only those who survive and those who profit.

Really glad the author wrote this book and hope it helps all those in search of their families and those who need to make their histories whole.

Grateful to my friend Ray who often recommends me the most surprising books.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

From first hearing about this book, I was intrigued as I've never thought about the fact that every time the West invades the East, children are being born as a result.

Set in Vietnam, this centres those children. The children born to Vietnamese women and Americans soldiers.

This, in my opinion, is a successful dual timeline. One during the Viet Nam war and the interactions between local women and the soldiers. The second one is 40 odd years afterwards, and those children (now adults) dealing with the consequences of being children of the enemy. I was equally invested in both timelines, and both trotted along in a nice breezy pace.

Having read The Woman by Kristen Hannah last month and then rewatched the Netflix documentary The Trial of the Chicago 7, Dust Child has really rounded off the Vietnam reading experience. It's been an education.

Five stars.

[Mira · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I feel very conflicted about this book.

On one hand, it kept me reading; I really liked the female protagonist, Trang, and her story; and it's about a really interesting topic: the children of American soldiers left behind in Vietnam in the wake of the war.

On the other hand . . . it's just not well-written. The writing is distant and stilted, the attempts at prose don't land, the characters are flat, and the dialogue is unrealistic and awkward. I actually almost gave up on it, but I'm glad I stuck with it; the story ends up being worth it in the end, and the author makes it work emotionally, but it's really hard to overlook just how poor the writing often is.

In my opinion, Phong's chapters were the worst, even though they had the most potential to be interesting because they feature such a unique perspective. Ultimately, though, his inner voice is dull and his chapters felt more informative than emotional. I feel like I know nothing about his family or his personality; his perspective felt more like a vehicle to show how bad the Amerasian children were treated.

Dan's chapters were almost worse in a way because he's such a shitty person. I think that was the point, so it's not a fair criticism of the book; but it was still frustrating to read about a man who verbally abused and then abandoned his pregnant girlfriend, then returned years later to find them because he felt sorry for himself, all the while lying to his wife about why he's there. He also shares the same problem as Phong, which is that his character is underdeveloped. I think the author did a good job describing his PTSD, but she gives us nothing of his personality, family, or backstory besides the war.

I mostly kept with the book for Trang's chapters. I felt like her character was the best-written, and her perspective the most interesting to read. I'm not sure how I felt about the way her arc ended, though.

I'm conflicted, but ultimately I'm glad I read this book, and I would happily read from this author again.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

What the poet Nguyen Duy wrote is so true. At the end of each war, whoever wins, the people lose.
from Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

Following her remarkable debut novel The Mountains Sing, Ngyuen Phan Que Mai offers another novel revealing the history of Viet Nam. She brings alive the lives of the women who bore Amerasian children and the American soldiers who walked away from their responsibility.

The novel shows the stigma that followed the Amerasians and the trauma that haunted their fathers, and the horror of the war that left it’s searing marks.

These characters will grab you as they seek answers and hope for a better life, freedom from guilt and nightmares. And what I loved best of all, the author gives them a moment of healing grace in a scene that will linger in your heart.

But he needed to understand the people he’d dehumanized during the war. In searching for their humanity he was trying to regain his own.
from Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

The author grew up in South Vietnam and saw for herself the discrimination toward Amerasians. She learned of a veteran who returned to find his wartime girlfriend and their child. She worked for seven years on the novel, interviewing veterans and becoming involved in the search for their children.

Readers will respond to this deeply felt novel. And, hopefully, it will help foster forgiving and healing for many.

I received an ARC from the pubolsher through a LibraryThing giveaway. My review is fair and unbiased.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

In her follow up novel to The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai writes of the Dust Child, the child of mixed race who remains in Vietnam after the war, a visible remnant because of skin color, features, eye color, or type of hair. These children were sometimes the offspring of true relationships, perhaps more often the offspring of desperate wartime affairs or attacks, or possibly a woman’s job as a hostess or bar girl, one of the few ways a female could make money in wartime South Vietnam.

We have essentially three basic points of view/stories that run through the book. The first is that of Phong, presented in 2016, but reliving various parts of his history as he tries to determine how he can get to the United States and find his father. As an infant, he was left at an orphanage. He has no knowledge of his parents, only knowing that his father is black. He has been cursed as a Dust Child, bullied and beaten in childhood and finding jobs difficult as an adult.

Next we have Trang and Quynh, two sisters who leave their parents’ farm in 1969 for Sai Gon in hopes of paying their parents’ debts. They are introduced to the life of bar girls. In that life, Trang, now known as Kim at work, meets a young American helicopter pilot, Dan. In 2016, Dan, accompanied by his wife Linda, finally visits Vietnam on the advice of others who think it may help with his severe PTSD. He also has a secret agenda to look into his past, find Kim.

The author gathers these stories together and allows the strands to overlap in 2016 in unexpected and satisfying ways. As she writes in her afterword, she has worked with and interviewed Amerasians and American veterans searching for each other and used the experience as inspiration for this book.

I recommend Dust Child. It gives a very different look on the Vietnam experience, a war experience that always has effects beyond the battlefield that can last for generations.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is centered around the plight of Amerasian children (American GI father – Vietnamese mother) left behind after the Viet Nam war. AS a result of being both illegitimate and clear evidence that their mothers had “consorted with the enemy”, their lives under communist rule were incredibly difficult on all levels. Through the various characters in this novel the reader sees deeply into the lives of the mothers, the children and the fathers. Two of the main characters are sisters who leave their village for Saigon to make money for their family. They go to work in the “Hollywood Bar” – and, as could be predicted, they are taken advantage of terribly in many, many ways. Another main character is a “dust child” – a child of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman, who was left outside an orphanage and originally raised by a nun. His life is a struggle on all levels, and he longs to find his parents and to move to the United States – both of which present unsurmountable difficulties. The other main character is a United States soldier who has returned to Viet Nam with this wife, ostensibly to make peace with his lifelong PTSD, but also to find his Vietnamese girlfriend, who he left when she told him she was having his child. The descriptions of the lives led by each of the characters are very well done, and the reader hurts along with them. At one point I felt the language was a little too simplistic, but then I realized that the fact that the author is writing in English is an incredible accomplishment for her, since she grew up in Viet Nam and is still a young woman. I remember the Viet Nam war well, and there are many novels related to it, but this novel of the suffering of the children left behind touched my heart in a way that the others have not.

[Magrat Ajostiernos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creo que las expectativas me han jugado una mala pasada con este libro. Me gustó tantísimo «El canto de las montañas» que me iba esperando algo parecido aquí, y este libro aunque tiene muchas cosas en común con aquel creo que tiene un tono diferente al que me ha costado hacerme.
«Niños de la calle» es una novela que narra a varias voces en el presente y pasado la vida de varias personas durante la guerra de Vietnam y sus consecuencias, en este caso centrándose en los hijos que nacieron de las mujeres vietnamitas que se dedicaban a trabajar en los bares de entretenimiento y los soldados norteamericanos. Estos hijos "del enemigo" fueron en muchos casos abandonados por sus madres (a los padres para qué mencionarlos...) y llevaron una vida durísima rodeados del desprecio de sus semejantes y la ausencia total de oportunidades.
Personalmente sentí que tenía muchísimo más interés y fuerza el punto de vista de las jóvenes hermanas que empiezan a trabajar en un bar para ayudar a sus padres, que el resto de historias. Sentí de una manera extraña los capítulos protagonizados por el ex combatiente estadounidense, que vuelve a Vietnam tantas décadas después con su mujer buscando a su hijo en secreto... me dio la impresión de que la autora trataba con demasiado esfuerzo que empatizáramos también con el punto de vista de los soldados pero sinceramente, creo que no lo consiguió. Personalmente este hombre que describe en su libro solo me produjo desprecio y cierta incomodidad por la conclusión velada de que un trauma puede excusar cualquier comportamiento.
De todas maneras me ha parecido un libro lleno de sentimiento y tristeza, un recuerdo de los actos atroces de las guerras, de las injusticias que se sufren muchas décadas después de que un conflicto haya terminado.

Una buena novela si te interesa aprender más de Vietnam, su cultura y problemas sociales.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a beautiful book, Dust Child by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

[Cher 'N Books · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars = Good and worthwhile.

“At the end of each war, whoever wins, the people lose.”

This is the second novel I have read by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai centered around the American Vietnam war. The two books are very different from one another, focusing on separate aspects and perspectives. In comparison, Dust Child has a lighter, commercial fiction vibe and the ending is wrapped up a little too perfectly. The Mountains Sing is a stronger read with more depth and elegant prose. Both are enjoyable and recommended.

“With the fire of war burning, it needed more men as firewood.”

This features a multi-timeline story across several different characters, covering both the time during the war and the 2000’s. The contemporary portion primarily focuses on American soldiers and Amerasian children trying to reconnect and find one another using DNA matches through various organizations. She sheds light on the discrimination these children underwent and the racism that some still experience today, as well as covering the psychological trauma senseless war inflicts, such as PTSD.

“What purpose did it serve anyways to teach children about hatred, to continue glorifying victory while not acknowledging the human costs on all sides?”

I would recommend this one to readers that appreciate narratives about found families, as well as stories of desperate people persevering and using their ingenuity to survive. Both novels powerfully illustrate the futility and wastefulness of war, highlighting how it is those with the least that always suffer and lose the most. The world would be a better place if the vast majority of humanity understood this truth and refused to partake in these asinine wars driven by the privileged few, or to acquiesce to their selfish desires in any form. The 1% depend on and need us; we do not need them.

“Việt Nam had made him believe that God had little power over a world that was so in love with war.”
-----
First Sentence: “Life is a boat,” Sister Nhã, the Catholic nun who had raised Phong, once told him.

Favorite Quote: Those in power feared free minds, and nothing unlocked thinking like literature.

[Andrea | andrea.c.lowry.reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here comes a book hangover! The Dust Child is a must read for everyone! It takes an up close look at what happened during the Vietnamese war and the effects of it years later in this vivid and emotional dual timeline historical fiction story. This is a book I will not forget and it is one you definitely won’t forget either and I hope you pick it up soon.

Full review coming soon

[Stephanie ~~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ rtc

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars!!! Did you know that Amerasian babies born [to Asian women + American GI’s] during the Vietnam War were referred to as a dust child? Unfortunately many of these children were orphaned, horribly mistreated and shunned in their home country of Vietnam. Especially those with African American fathers having the darker skin tone.. this follows one of those children now an adult in search of his parentage [who’s seeking to live.. along with his wife and two children.. in the US]. Without proof of an American father he’s denied travel. This also follows an American pilot in Vietnam who during his tour falls in love, impregnating a young Vietnamese girl that he meets in a bar called Hollywood where she works as a bar girl. She never hears from him again. It also tells of her upbringing, why she became a bar girl and her life during that time. The pilot does return decades later to find her and the child he abandoned.. but will he? Their stories are incredibly heartbreaking. I was in tears reading this. This actually happened to thousands of children.. now adults, who are still being treated with such disdain. My heart aches for them. It is so very disturbing that nothing has changed. Quế Mai’s prologue tells of her meticulous 7-years of research talking to veterans and Amerasian’s and also of her helping to reunite families. This is the first book I’ve read that tells of these tragedies left behind from war. It certainly needs to be told and heard. I highly recommend reading this. ♥️ 5 stars — Pub. 3/14/23

[mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Format: audiobook ~ Narrator: Quyen Ngo
Content: 4.5 stars ~ Narration: 5 stars
Complete audiobook review

This novel contains several stories. Two sisters are forced to leave their home village for Saigon to help their parents pay their debts. They become »bar girls« that entertain American soldiers. Decades later, we follow the stories of Phong and Dan. Phong, an Amerasian, was raised in an orphanage and wants to find his father and a better life in America. Racism and poverty marked his life in Vietnam, and he doesn’t want that for his children. Dan, a war veteran, returns to Vietnam to deal with his PTSD.

The narration was great. Once again, Quyen Ngo brought a Vietnamese story to life.

Thanks to Bolinda Audio for the ALC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review and all opinions are my own.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book had everything I love in a historical fiction novel. Multi timelines, multiple perspectives and based on true events. Get ready to jump down a rabbit hole.

[Emily Coffee and Commentary · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Life is a boat. When you depart from your first anchor--your mother's womb--you will be pulled away by unexpected currants. If you can fill your boat with enough hope, enough self-belief, enough compassion, and enough curiosity, you will be ready to weather all the storms of life."
🌿🍁💨
A powerful family saga that explores the cost of war, the various forms of human connection, and how we must confront our pasts to fully face our futures. Through various perspectives, Dust Child calls out the generations-long consequences of colonialism and the ways in which displacement shapes identity, culture, and relationships. Brimming with compassion and grace, this novel is a healing nod towards our homelands, however far, and the communities that find ways to connect us through their echoes.

[Mirnes Alispahić · Rating 2 out of 5]

When it comes to novels that deal with the war in Vietnam, I always say that one should read Bao Nin's The Sorrow Of War: A Novel of North Vietnam and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s The Mountains Sing side by side to experience both sides of conflict, one from point of disillusioned NVA soldier and other a narrative of three generations of family caught in the war. I admit I haven’t read too many novels dealing with that topic (other than the novelization of Platoon ***), but that doesn’t change the fact that both of these novels are powerful and emotional.
Since “The Mountain Sings” was Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s debut novel dealt with the impact of war on a family, it was only logical that the follow-up novel deals with post-war subjects, a topic which is not talked about enough, and that’s children born between American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. Unfortunately, it’s something that happens in any country caught in a war. Illegitimate children, whether they’re a product of a relationship, rape, or a byproduct of prostitution, deserve to be talked more about as it’s a serious issue.
The novel came out of the author’s years-long research for her PhD and is based on true stories and experiences of American soldiers who returned to Vietnam decades after the war to search for their children in an attempt to make amends. Handling a topic like this can go two ways, one that will have an impact as a serious piece of literature or it can take an easy way, the commercial way which waters down everything and makes it look like a Hallmark movie.
“Dust Child” sounds interesting as it has three separate stories, each from the perspective of one of the sides involved, father, mother, and child (although, the child in question here is not connected to the aforementioned father and mother).
Phong’s father was an African-American soldier who gave him a gift of dark skin which provided him nothing but pain and disappointment in his life as it was a clear sign that he was one of the "dust children". He’s trying to find his father and leave Vietnam in search of a peaceful life for his family and him.
Dan is a veteran who’s suffering from PTSD. His wife thinks that a trip to Vietnam will help him combat his past, not knowing that Dan came back to find his ex-girlfriend, whom she left pregnant before shipping home during the war.
Trang is a village girl who only wants to pay for her family’s debts and her father’s treatments. Her sister and she travel to Sai Gon where they work as bar girls, which eventually leads to prostitution.
All three stories eventually converge into an ending that is highly unlikely and suits more a soap opera or a Hallmark movie, but it’s an ending that pleases the crowd.
The main issue of the novel is the lack of authenticity of the characters. Only Trang feels somewhat real, while Dan and his wife especially feel unconvincing. Phong’s perspective also lacks that horrifying experience he keeps saying he went through, but we know nothing about.
As much as I liked “The Mountains Sing” the more I’m disappointed by “Dust Child” as the author wanted to touch so many themes and subjects, eventually not treating either in a proper way. It’s easy to recognize the effort of the author and what she wants to do, however realization of an idea was not great. I admit that I’m probably not a target audience for this novel, but one does not have to be a target audience in order to recognize a rushed novel that should’ve gone through some big changes to bring out a better book to its readers.

[Daniel Shindler · Rating 4 out of 5]

“ Dust Child” focuses on the rarely discussed collateral personal damage wreaked upon an innocent group as a result of the VietNam war.There were approximately twenty thousand children fathered by American servicemen who were left behind at the end of the conflict.These children, labeled as Amerasians, were also called Dust Children because they were excoriated as the dust of life.

The abandoned children were mired in a society that was insular by nature and was struggling to recover from a debilitating conflict. The children’s physical appearance marked them as outsiders who were a visual reminder of the devastating colonial history of conflict that had engulfed Southeast Asia.

The struggles of this neglected and reviled group are portrayed through three intersecting timelines from 2016 back to 1969. Phong is a mixed race Vietnamese man. Dan is a white American veteran in his sixties.Trang and Quynh are teenaged sisters who left their village in 1969 to seek their fortune in Saigon.

These three stories fuse to give a sense of place and time to a conflict that dominated the lives of a generation….my generation… in Southeast Asia, America and beyond. The narrative is accessible and straightforward, at times bordering on a potential Hollywood drama.Nevertheless, the novel effectively conveys the physical and psychological scars that have endured long past the cessation of hostilities. Nguyen Phan Que has personalized this era with a voice recalling a traumatic time that still is reverberating today. Trang’s thoughts as she sits alone, captures the power that creeps into the novel:

“ Back at the apartment she sat staring at her stomach. She realized that her involvement with Dan, just like his country’s involvement with VietNam, was a mistake.Both caused irreparable damage leaving the Vietnamese to clean up the mess.”

This is a worthy effort that tells an important story.3.5 stars rounded to 4.