Hanoi at Midnight: Stories

by Bảo Ninh, Quan Manh Ha (Translator), Cab Tran (Translator)

Breaking a thirty-year silence, Bảo Ninh has permitted at last the publication of a new work in English. Ninh is perhaps Vietnam’s foremost chronicler of the war, which he joined at age 17. Bringing to life the full range of his inventive and poetic language, Quan Manh Ha and Cab Tran are granting to English readers Bảo Ninh’s first book-length work since The Sorrow of War, which catapulted him to fame and which was banned in Vietnam until 2006. In Hà Nội at Midnight, ten stories are appearing in the West for the first time.

Juxtaposed with tranquility and geniality are abandoned landscapes and defoliated forests. Polluted rivers and streams, the war-torn sky, pungent air filled with the stench of decomposing human corpses, and the deafening roar of helicopters and bombers hovering in the gloom dominate the settings of Bảo Ninh’s stories.



Intertwined with these horrific images are human tears shed during farewell ceremonies, when recruits are separated from their loved ones, when parents live in anxiety and hope while their children are fighting in remote regions, and when soldiers bury their comrades and burden themselves with the fallen’s unfulfilled wishes. Hà Nội at Midnight delineates the complex outpourings of war and the way it remakes human relationships.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

174 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2003

About the author

Bảo Ninh (sinh ngày 18 tháng 10 năm 1952) là nhà văn Việt Nam viết tiểu thuyết và truyện ngắn.

Tiểu sử
Bảo Ninh tên thật là Hoàng Ấu Phương, sinh tại huyện Diễn Châu, tỉnh Nghệ An, quê ở xã Bảo Ninh, huyện Quảng Ninh, tỉnh Quảng Bình, Việt Nam. Ông là con trai của Giáo sư Hoàng Tuệ (1922 - 1999), nguyên Viện trưởng Viện Ngôn ngữ học. Ông vào bộ đội năm 1969. Thời chiến tranh, ông chiến đấu ở mặt trận B-3 Tây Nguyên, tại tiểu đoàn 5, trung đoàn 24, sư đoàn 10. Năm 1975, ông giải ngũ. Từ 1976-1981 học đại học ở Hà Nội, sau đó làm việc ở Viện Khoa học Việt Nam. Từ 1984-1986 học khoá 2 Trường viết văn Nguyễn Du. Làm việc tại báo Văn nghệ Trẻ. Là hội viên Hội Nhà văn Việt Nam từ 1997.

Tác phẩm
- Trại Bảy Chú Lùn (1987)
- Nỗi Buồn Chiến Tranh (1991)

Reviews

[Mia Tompkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bảo Ninh’s short-story collection, Hà Nội at Midnight, provides glimpses into the complicated and pervasive reverberations of the American War in Vietnam, and how they distort one's sense of self and transform human relationships. The collection of twelve stories range from narratives on the frontlines of the war to stories of intimate family life to peaceful scenes in pre-war Hà Nội.

Through these stories, we gain access to the emotions of conflicted veterans and soldiers, a devastated mother, a haunted widower, a traumatized singer; those who left and who were left behind, and the relationships, reunions, and sorrows that unfold around the war. Ninh maintains an impressively meticulous record of dates, exact locations of battlefields, troop movements, weaponry, and military terminology in his stories. These details, lists, and facts sometimes derail the flow of the stories, but also demonstrate Ninh’s deep knowledge of and relationship to the war.

Ninh’s stories emphasize the similarities and overlapping experiences of the soldiers in the opposing North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and civilians alike. Whether it's the communal celebration of Tet (Vietnamese Lunar New Year), or the communal mourning of the environmental destruction as the US sprayed Agent Orange and poisoned their land. By exposing the communal history and shared experiences of the NVA, the ARVN, and civilians, the author speaks to the monumentality of the war, as a marker in history that left no one unaffected.

The way Ninh highlights the magnitude of loss in Vietnam distinguishes his writing from literature published in the United States, where Vietnamese people are often invisible and the war is remembered as an American tragedy. The addition of Hà Nội at Midnight to the Vietnam War corpus of literature in the United States helps progress the uncovering of a history that has been substantially one-sided, Americentrized, and propagandized.

The anguish in his stories will leave one feeling unsettled, but his writing is filled with courage, and the reader will find moments of refuge and solace within the turmoil. His characters find someone who shares their pain, someone with whom to remember and commemorate their losses. Through these connections, he incorporates a sense of hope alongside accounts of loss and fear. Ninh’s stories resonate and provide representation to those whose stories have been marginalized.

Hà Nội at Midnight offers the reader the opportunity to marvel at the extent of our interconnectedness and find relief from the weight of erasure. The moving collection of stories are rich with the author’s and translators’ literary expertise, attention to detail, imagination, and personal history. Ninh inspires a profound sense of empathy in his readers and continues to reform the dominant narrative of history around the American War in Vietnam.

[Victoria Tang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't particularly like to read stories about war, even though these experiences are now a core part of Vietnamese history and heritage. I am glad I read this book though because each story was beautiful and poignant in its brevity. I hope Bao Ninh allows more of his works to be translated into English and that Vietnamese literature becomes more prominent in the English literary sphere.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not usually drawn to short stories, but praise for this collection enticed me to read it anyway. And they were worth reading. I realize I'm reading the work of a translator, but the style is rich, and I assume to some extent it reflects style of the original. The settings are evocative of many moods as well as giving a sense of location. The Vietnamese war is present in each, but they are more than war stories. Most are post-war reflections in which characters learn things and/or relationships change or are revealed. And there is great variety among the twelve stories. There are a couple with quire surprising endings.

Well worth reading.

[Thanh (Hans) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Đọc truyện này trong những ngày giáp Tết xa quê, nên đã thích lại càng thích hơn cách Bảo Ninh phác thảo Hà Nội trong từng câu chữ. Ngậm ngùi, tê tái, nhưng thấm sâu vào tâm hồn, Hà Nội trong văn Bảo Ninh như những cơn mưa phùn gió bấc của Tết Bắc Việt. Với người "ăn mày dĩ vãng" để tìm lại Hà Nội xưa, một Hà Nội chỉ còn trong ký ức như mình, Bảo Ninh quả là một mạnh thường quân hào phóng.

[Thien-An · Rating 5 out of 5]

““I know Giao is torn by love,” he had said, only half-jokingly. “She loves both Trung and me paradoxically, but Trung enlisted first, so she thinks she loves him more. But if my death notification letter arrives before Trung’s, she will realize where her love actually lies.””

[Dillon Patel · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book gifted by my old team before adventuring to Vietnam.

A collection of stories originally in Vietnamese all shining a light on the impact of the war. They are all wonderful on their own right but I wouldn’t recommend reading this like a normal book, best to pick up and put down with care and attention that it deserves.

[Xuân Thùy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bảo Ninh’s writing is beautifully poetic and steeped in melancholy. He humanizes the soldiers in his stories, reminding us, what is often forgotten, that they were real people, with families, dreams, fears, and the capacity to love and grieve.

My favorite stories in this collection were “Beloved Son”, “Hà Nội at Midnight”, and “Untamed Winds”.

[Brendan Ryan]

Required reading for living in Hanoi

[Anna Cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hà Nội at Midnight is a collection of short stories by Bảo Ninh, who joined the North Vietnamese Army in 1969 at age 17. Each story deals with soldiers’ lives at that time, showing different glimpses of the danger, the sorrow, and the camaraderie. I meant for this book to supplement my reading about American soldiers and South Vietnamese soldiers, and it did that very nicely. I think it’s also the first book I’ve read that has been translated from Vietnamese into English, and the text definitely has an unaccustomed feel to it that I attribute to that translation; I kept thinking, “Wow, I bet this is beautiful writing in its original.” Still nice in translation, but never quite as great.

[Robert Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not a book on the glory of war, or of defending the homeland.
Short stories.
Quiet, subdued. Presents the psycological impacts of the war on the people of Vietnam. From the point of view of the north. The American actions are not presented or highlighted as atrocities, presented as actions. In the end, the Americans and their actions didn't matter except as causes of suffering.

The title story - Ha Noi at Midnight was my favorite. Seems like all the others build up to this story.

Would have liked a map of actions :-| Rather hard to sift though all the American-focused maps and information on google to find a simple map from the North's perspective.

[Yen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A striking return to English readership - Bao Ninh's stories are both personal and universal. No one character is flat, nor any encounter purely coincidental. These stories demonstrate his craft as a writer, his distinct experience as a Vietnamese who has lived through war, and the wisdom of a man who has seen it all. It is deeply melancholic, starting from the very first story, whose unnamed narrator could very well be Bao Ninh himself. Once you accept that life is precarious and so are the "happy moments" in life, the stories are not so sad, but rather very sensible.

[Royal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bảo Ninh’s Hà Nội at Midnight is a collection of short stories revolving around the Vietnam War, translated from Vietnamese. The author is regarded as the most prolific chronicler of the war and served as a soldier for North Vietnam. As a first generation Vietnamese American, I grew up hearing tons of stories from the American and South Vietnamese side of the war, so this was my first time reading about the North side.

The stories are very melancholic and deeply moving - I can only imagine how well written the original text is. The translators do a nice job explaining how some things are not translatable as well as the fact that they did make some changes to preserve Ninh’s voice at the expense of not adhering to the original text completely. Overall, Ninh does a powerful job of showing the long lasting and tragic effects of war no matter what side you are on, even decades later.

[Angelina · Rating 5 out of 5]

these stories will forever stay with me

The characters in these stories are unforgettable. These stories are precious. They need to be told. They haunt the reader. They’re told in a serene, nonchalant tone, such tragic scenes. No other writer writes like Bao Ninh. I’m glad I read this book. It changed me.

[Alexis · Rating 5 out of 5]

haunting!!! and i really do think the aims of the translators were met...regardless of the fact that English often doesn't capture the folktale-like vibe of Viet storytellers, I think that the job was well done in this case as the stories just had such a nostalgic yet "in the moment" feel that pulled at my heartstrings.

next stop: sorrow of war!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ninh is incredible at relaying what trauma is like. It distorts you sense of time and self. His book involves an incredibly political topic and somehow his stories transcend any politics, instead telling stories of humanity.

[Patrick]

I read about half of these stories while traveling in Vietnam. Mostly variations on the same wartime themes. Can’t say the execution here was super compelling but it served the purpose of providing more local perspective and insight on Vietnamese postwar culture while in country.

[Isidora Stanković · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

[James Varney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite. The stories are all about the war or surviving the war. Many of them have a kind of Nick Adams feel to them, and the whole thing is very Hemingway-esque. "Letters From the Year of the Water Buffalo" is one such example. The starkest survival stores are those like "The Camp of the Seven Dwarves" and "An Unnamed Star," where Ninh describes people still living in some war-ravaged, backcountry, ramshackle quarters. They have nothing to do but reminisce. Some stories, like the Borges-short "The Secret of the River" pack a real emotional wallop.

All of it, for this American reader anyway, is a bit odd in that this was the enemy. They suffered, too, but for what cause? It's astonishing the price the Communist leaders in Hanoi were willing to pay in their countrymen's blood to establish their totalitarian regime. Ninh is not concerned with that, however, in "Ha Noi at Midnight." Rather, his lens is focused almost exclusively on those scarred by combat or the war's spillovers that hit virtually all of the small country's population.

[Maggie Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first arrived in Vietnam I asked some students to recommend Vietnamese literature to me, specifically (if possible) North Vietnamese literature. Bao Ninh was repeatedly mentioned. He is, in my humble opinion, the most important writer to read if you want to learn about the American-Vietnamese War from all perspectives. I treasure this book, even if it was- like "The Sorrow of War"- a very sad and difficult book to sometimes stomach.