
The Sorrow of War
Bao Ninh(Author)
Vintage Classics (Publisher)
Published on 3. October 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-78487-983-9 (ISBN)
Description
Based on the true experiences of Bao Ninh and banned by the communist party, The Sorrow of War is revered as the 'All Quiet on the Western Front for our era'.
Kien's job is to search the Jungle of Screaming Souls for corpses. He knows the area well - this was where, in the dry season of 1969, his battalion was obliterated by American napalm and helicopter gunfire. Kien was one of only ten survivors. This book is his attempt to understand the eleven years of his life he gave to a senseless war.
'A book about writing, about lost youth, it is also a beautiful agonising love story... a magnificent achievement' Independent
TRANSLATED BY FRANK PALMOS AND PHAN THANH HAO
This series of war novels from Vintage Classics presents eight powerful stories about the horror and waste of war - each a passionate plea to prevent its repetition.
Kien's job is to search the Jungle of Screaming Souls for corpses. He knows the area well - this was where, in the dry season of 1969, his battalion was obliterated by American napalm and helicopter gunfire. Kien was one of only ten survivors. This book is his attempt to understand the eleven years of his life he gave to a senseless war.
'A book about writing, about lost youth, it is also a beautiful agonising love story... a magnificent achievement' Independent
TRANSLATED BY FRANK PALMOS AND PHAN THANH HAO
This series of war novels from Vintage Classics presents eight powerful stories about the horror and waste of war - each a passionate plea to prevent its repetition.
Reviews / Votes
The Sorrow of War vaults over all the American fiction that came out of the Vietnam war to take its place alongside the greatest war novel of the century, All Quiet on the Western Front. And this is to understate its qualities for, unlike All Quiet, it is a novel abut much more than war. A book about writing, about lost youth, it is also a beautiful agonising love story... a magnificent achievement This hauntingly beautiful novel, written by a North Vietnamese Army veteran, manages to humanise completely a people who up until now have usually been cast as robotic fanatics Unputdownable... This book should be required reading for anyone in American politics or policy-making. It should win the Pulitzer Prize, but it won't. It's too gripping for thatMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Vintage Publishing
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 194 mm
Width: 126 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
170 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78487-983-9 (9781784879839)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Bao Ninh
The Sorrow of War
A searing Vietnam War novel set between the battlefields of 1969 and post-war Hanoi.
E-Book
02/2012
1st Edition
Vintage Digital
€8.99
Available for download

Persons
Bao Ninh (Author)
Bao Ninh was born in Hanoi in 1952. During the Vietnam war he served with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the five hundred who went to war with the brigade in 1969, he is one of ten who survived. The Sorrow of War is a huge bestseller in Vietnam.
Bao Ninh was born in Hanoi in 1952. During the Vietnam war he served with the Glorious 27th Youth Brigade. Of the five hundred who went to war with the brigade in 1969, he is one of ten who survived. The Sorrow of War is a huge bestseller in Vietnam.