The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Family

This is my favorite kind of history, one that puts you in a time and place, while providing the context and analysis to understand it. Each chapter luxuriates in the atmosphere of its time period. The writing throughout is excellent, with clear historical explanations seamlessly interwoven with the detailed story of the author's extended family. Every sentence, every paragraph, every chapter is perfect.
I was fascinated by the lives of the mandarins, whose mastery of classical Chinese Confucianism earned them positions of responsibility working for the emperor, how the next generation transitioned to working for the French in similar positions, then the next had their careers upended by the communist takeover.
Also the view of the show more Vietnamese from the perspective of a middle-class Vietnamese family was like seeing a world from the other side of the mirror. The years that provide the material for hundreds of American war histories and memoirs are a few paragraphs in the timeline. The corruption of the South Vietnamese government, mentioned in so many U.S. history books, is brought to life here; and the Americans are seen -- from the perspective of the middle class in the South -- almost as water carriers or victims of that corruption rather than the cause of it. show less

The Sacred Willow is a book about Vietnam and it's history portrayed by the life of one Vietnamese family. Unlike most books about the war in Vietnam, this book offers the views of the Vietnamese themselves instead of the views of foreigners. Another important aspect is the fact that Elliot shows the opinons and values of both the people who support and are against the Viet Minh. This is done by the views of her family and the views of her sister Thang, who leaves to fight for the Viet Minh. While studying abroad Elliot is able to get an outside perspective and begins to feel a connection to the Viet Minh, at least to the point that she understands why they are willing to fight.

I did enjoy this book becuase it directly tied into my show more history class, but if it was not for that I do not know if I would of truely enjoyed it. The book is fascinating, since it gives American readers the views of the Vietnamese that we were fighting for in the Vietnam War. Another plus, is the reader does not have to be familiar with Vietnamese history beacuse Elliot does an excellent job describing the historical events. However, the book is a little dry, a very long read, and a little bias toward the Viet Minh (Elliot did grow up in a family that strongly despised the communists). I would probably only recomened it for modern history lovers, those who have an appreciation for Vietnam or the Vietnamese War. The book is definitely not for leisure readers. show less

A family history and memoir. Full of information and family stories. It's a long book that feels longer than it's 544 pages. There are just so many stories, maybe too many stories. For example, the section on the fall of Saigon includes Mai's story in NY, the stories of her parents and each family member that made it out of Vietnam and the stories of every family member that got left behind. The family has connections on every side of every struggle, civil war and war so every view is included- French, Communist, Buddhist, Catholic, Viet Min, etc. I did learn a lot about Vietnam. My previous knowledge of Vietnam being limited to what I learned about the Vietnam War in school.

Here's what I wrote about this work in 2012: "Excellent. The well-researched and well-told family story the brings to life the Vietnam conflict starting with the French occupation in the late 1800's and coming forward to 1999. Mai's family is educated, connected, and middle class; much to learn from her telling. Educates the reader about Vietnam, from the Vietnamese point of view (is apparently one of the few books on Vietnam to do so)." Note that the quotations in the comments section are from Amazon kindle highlights made at the time of reading.