A novel by Ngo The Vinh
| THE GREEN BELT 1 2 3 |
REVIEWS - page 2 |
The pain and
suffering borne by the land and its people - Vietnamese and ethnic
minorities in the Central Highlands - has never changed in degree of
severity and harshness through many generations. The fate of South Vietnam,
within the last 50 years alone, was decided when several times the Central
Highlands was abandoned and fell. With sincerity and kindness of heart, and
from the sharp foresight of an upright intellectual using literature as a
vehicle, Ngo The Vinh, many years ago when still very young, recognized the
unfortunate lot of 29 ethnic minorities, and from that understanding wrote a
book about a belt - The Green Belt, which could never stay intact and
connected as an effective barrier in the Central Highlands. Ultimately, the
work is about a Forgotten War within the Vietnam War, the latter being the
one most mentioned and discussed throughout the history of American
journalism.
PHAN NHAT NAM, author of
"On The War's Trails"
"The Green Belt" is not a narrative of Vietnam
war in every particular, not an incredibly realistic reportage by a
journalist that bears witness to the fact that there was such a war of
attrition in which the involved parties fought until the dying days and the
collapse of South Vietnam in 1975. The Green Belt in its essence is a
witness to suffering humanity in general, and a witness to the terrible
struggle for survival of the people in that war and any war. It's the
struggle the author of the book calls "a forgotten war", which demonstrated
the helpless defense of the highlanders in the Central Highlands of Vietnam
who, typified tragic war victims, were in appalling circumstances trapped in
the full brunt of armaments of two forces or more conflicting forces,
finding no escape from the reality of war in which involved forces bargained
away the life of the people and substituted "the Green Belt" for Life Belt.
Different from many other books on Vietnam war, The Green Belt witnesses
much human misery, which may cause a dramatic shift in perspective from a
participant's view to a humanity's view from the Americans on the war they
participated until the cease-fire of January 28, 1973 pressured by the
people of the America.
NGUYEN SAO MAI,
Editor Wordbridge Magazine
www.thewriterspost.net
Ngo The Vinh's novel was published in the Vietnamese original, Vong Dai Xanh, thirty years ago, at a time when a great number of people among the reading public were only vaguely aware of the struggle for autonomy waged by the Thuong people in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. And now, thirty years after its first publication, when the smoldering struggle of those highlanders is made known to the whole world by the widespread mass media, its English version, The Green Belt, is available in print.
Perhaps The Green Belt is one of the rare works which seek to throw light upon the root cause of the struggle of the ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands. Indeed, very few people can see that, behind the simplicity displayed by those people who live close to and in harmony with nature, there lie aspirations for autonomy and freedom -- the perpetual longing very much like a fire that has burned for years, never extinguished completely by even a strong gale. Unfortunately, their aspirations have been taken advantage of, if not altogether crushed, by various external forces; and up to the present, the situation of the Thuong has not changed one iota.
If we think of a true writer as one who is deeply moved by changing life circumstances, and who foresees the future, then Ngo The Vinh is a proper writer in that sense of the word. It is remarkable that even though he wrote The Green Belt while still very young, the author was quite sharp in selecting relevant information from a large body of research data, in scrutinizing years of hardship and pain endured by those ethnic groups who fought their own war within a larger war, and in voicing on their behalf their desperate call that dissipated in the thick of the jungle.
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The Green Belt embodies both the keen perception of an observer, and the feelings and emotions of a writer. Above all, it is kindness from the heart of a human being toward an oppressed people who are less fortunate than himself in every way. In view of this, not only at that point in time thirty years ago, but forever into the future, The Green Belt remains worthy as a representative novel portraying a protracted war fought for righteous aspirations. |
ANH
NGUYET |
The main point worth noticing is that very few readers have
paid attention to the fact that the Thuong's struggle lay within another
conflict, a larger war conducted by the same players with the same
self-interested plots. Perhaps the focus of The Green Belt has
conditioned the way of reading it? In this work, author Ngo The Vinh uses
the style of a journalist, with short and incisive sentences relating
developments in current affairs, all supported by eyewitness accounts.
Though details are fictionalized, they help the reader to visualize the
condition and the state of war in half of the country during one of its most
turbulent periods. Therefore, reading The Green Belt is reading two
stories at the same time. In light of this, should we call Ngo The Vinh a
journalist or a fiction writer?
ANH NGUYET
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Paris, June 2004
Radio France Internationale
"THE GREEN BELT" IS PUBLISHED BY IVY HOUSE PUBLISHING GROUP. THE BOOK HAS BEEN OUT SINCE MARCH 2004 AND SHOULD BE AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORES.
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