Author Description

Bao Ninh, a former North Vietnamese soldier, provides a strikingly honest look at how the Vietnam War forever changed his life, his country, and the people who live there. Originally published against government wishes in Vietnam because of its non-heroic, non-ideological tone, The Sorrow of War has won worldwide acclaim and become an international bestseller.A novel of the Vietnam War written from the perspective of the North Vietnamese, profiles human characters who are wrenched by the same pain and fear as their enemies, and follows the hero's ten-year separation from his loved ones. -- New York TimesWinner of The Independent Foreign Fiction Award, this hauntingly beautiful novel, written by a North Vietnamese Army veteran, manages to humanize completely a people who up until now have usually been cast as robotic fanatics. -- Sunday Times