A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Duong Van Mai Elliott's The Sacred Willow illuminates recent Vietnamese history by weaving together the stories of the lives of four generations of her family. Beginning with her great-grandfather; who rose from rural poverty to become an influential landowner; and continuing to the present; Mai Elliott traces her family's journey through an era of tumultuous change. She tells us of childhood hours in her grandmother's silk shop; and of hiding while French troops torched her village; watching while blossoms torn by fire from the trees flutter "like hundreds of butterflies" overhead. She makes clear the agonizing choices that split Vietnamese families: her eldest sister left her staunchly anti-communist home to join the Viet Minh; and spent months sleeping in jungle camps with her infant son; fearing air raids by day and tigers by night. And she follows several family members through the last; desperate hours of the fall of Saigon-including one nephew who tried to escape by grabbing the skid of a departing American helicopter. Based on family papers; dozens of interviews; and a wealth of other research; this is not only a memorable family saga but a record of how the Vietnamese themselves have experienced their times.
#82400 in Books 1998-05-14Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 5.20 x .80 x 7.90l; .54 #File Name: 0195122852288 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. One of the better Holocaust memoirsBy Name Not FoundOne of the better Holocaust memoirs; because Dawid Sierakowiak wrote seemingly every day. The entries are generally brief; personal comments about the situation in the Lodz ghetto; yet the desperate hunger and the injustice of the ghetto administration is hauntingly clear. It's a shame that some of the notebooks were burned in efforts to supply the desperate need for fuel; and more of a shame that the Communist government suppressed publication of the diaries -- ironically; as Dawid considered himself a communist and wrote at length about the appalling discrepancy between the "haves" and "have-nots" within the Jewish ghetto. His journals will undoubtedly be compared to "The Diary of Anne Frank;" yet Sierakowiak wrote from a more mature perspective and from that of some who lived directly under Nazi control rather than in hiding so the two had very different experiences during the time they were able to record their thoughts and insights.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Another troubling story of the HolocaustBy CustomerThis book is a diary of the author's daily Jewish life in the Lodz ghetto for the first 4 years of WWII. The narrative is broken in places (diary books missing); and is told from the point of view of a young man (age 15 when he started; age 19 when he died from starvation and tuberculosis).I found myself drawn into the life of pestilence; especially during the last year of his life. Constant suffering from starvation; lice; scabies itching; freezing temperatures; a father who stole food from his children; the loss of his mother; tens of thousands of people being deported to their deaths -- what a hard life. Let me never complain about being hungry ever again -- I will think of this story; and be grateful for my current life.I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the ghetto hardships and the Holocaust.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Not to talk down Anne Frank; but...By RaizelA teenager's almost day-to-day account of life in the Åódź ghetto. Not to talk down Anne Frank; but her diary doesn't touch what it was like physically under Nazi oppression; just mentally and emotionally; and focuses more on family strife and pain. This book; a collection of several of young Dawid's diaries begun shortly before his town was occupied; deals with survival in the ghetto (spoiler; but not really: Dawid himself died in Åódź); fighting for food; the Jewish Council under the ruthless and tyrannical Chaim Rukowski. It offers an almost unparalleled insight into ghetto life (not the Tupac kind) and though it may be tough to get through sometimes; the knowledge of Dawid's experience is worth every cringing turn of the page.
