To fully enumerate the qualities of this book would be impossible here. As far as Vietnam literature is concerned, this book out-classes all other works in the field. As far as all war literature is concerned, only "All's Quiet on the Western Front" can even compare. Bao Ninh has produced a hauntingly beautiful eulogy to innocence lost in the maelstrom of war. Youth, love and art are all tenderly portrayed in the hard light of that ultimate metaphor for life, war. Supporting the book's incomparable handling of its subject is the author's superb prose. The book is written in a poetic, yet terse, style that is a model of economy. Every line of this relatively short novel is laden with aesthetic beauty and spiritual depth. The book abounds with insights about Vietnam as well as about the human spirit. It is a reading experience not to be missed.

I first purchased this book in Vietnam in 1990. In the past 12 years I have purchased well over a hundred more copies just to give away to other Vietnam Vets. It seems that Mr. Bao Ninh and I once fought each other on the battlefield, I contacted him in Hanoi in 1993 and praised him for his great work and his life's story. This book starts off after the fall of Saigon, a former North Vietnamese soldier searches the jungle for fallen comrades with a MIA team. As he searches and passes familiar places of long ago , he drifts back to the war the beautiful girl he loved. The sorrows of war deal with the horrors of war and lose of love and what it can do to your mind and spirit. In the words of Mr. Bao Ninh "Losses can be made good, damage can be repaired and wounds will heal in time. But the psychological scars of war will remain forever"

I bought a xeroxed copy of "The Sorrow of War" from a young street urchin in Saigon out of convenience. I didn't expect to read it - I just wanted to get to a restaurant and relax after a very humid, hot day. I planned to just dump it. But the book floored me. The disenchanted author conveys the macabre aspects of that long "American War", the pointless sacrifices of lives, and all the false promises once believed in youth. A brutal, bleak, and brilliant work. The Sorrow of War revealed the back story to what I was seeing in Saigon - North Vietnam may have won the won, but the people of Vietnam and America lost lives, limbs, and loves. "Everyone experienced difficult, painful, and different fates."

This collection of short stories by Vietnamese writers from within the country as well as abroad contains some original pieces that push the limits of Vietnamese fiction. Some stories, however, express the typical Vietnamese penchant for nostalgia such as Duong Thu Huong's "Reflections of Spring" and Bao Ninh's "A Marker on the Side of the Boat. Other stories are obviously wry social criticisms such as Le Minh Khue's "Scenes from an Alley." I found Tran Vu's story "Gunboat on the Yangtze" most original stylistically and very bold in its deft portrayal of the morally sensitive subject of incestuous love, pain, and guilt. The story is complex and forces one to question one's own morality when reading the sensuous passages that one is afraid to admit are stimulating. I also liked Do Kh.'s story "The Pre-War Atmosphere" with it's fresh pairing of a Vietnamese character, the husband, with a Lebanese one, the wife in a contemporary setting that is outside of Vietnam, Orange County in this case. In its closing lines the story offers, with a hint of self-critical irony, a criticism of the tiresome Vietnamese idealistic longing for the past: "Enough of soaking in that pre-war atmosphere. Let's not abuse it. Think about the past enough to amuse yourself, but don't retch over it. Home or exile, that sour vomit smell can't be made fragrant with mood music."

I have yet to read a short story anthology that doesnt have its forgettable entries but the standouts here make "Night, Again" a truly great read. Le Minh Khue's "Scenes From an Alley" is a short, matter-of-fact account of extreme poverty and child abuse that builds to a haunting finale and Nguyan Huy Thiep's miniature epic family drama "Without a King" manages to be both sprawling and finely detailed and at the same time clock in at under twenty pages. Thiep is a talented writer who deserves major attention and it's unfortunate that "The General Retires and Other Stories," an anthology of his shorter works translated into English, is currently out of print and difficult to locate. As mentioned in other reviews Tran Vu's erotically-charged incest story "Gunboat on the Yangtze" is a particular standout. Overall, well worth the time for anyone looking for a different perspective.