I really loathe the word resplendent. The Lotus and the Storm uses resplendent three times. That may be enough to tell you what I thought of the book.

There are spoilers below. Proceed warily.

The Lotus and the Storm is essentially the mirror of The Sympathizer, which I read a few months ago (also a Netgalley copy). Whereas The Sympathizer gave us the Viet-cong mole perspective, The Lotus and the Storm gives us the South Vietnamese military perspective. Okay. So we're in and out of Vietnam, future in Virginia, back and forth. Typical immigrant/war narrative.

For me, this book had problems: Characters in the narrative seem to be talking to someone who isn't there (one of my notes-in-the-margins is Who is he talking to?), giving lengthy explanations about background that they would already know themselves and would have no need to elaborate on for themselves. A letter detailing a death just so happens to have a lengthy and fortuitous amount of information required to advance the plot. A child uses the term "subcutaneous tissue" (although, growing up in a war zone, this might enter common parlance out of necessity). Someone is secretly a spy -- revealed in as Dramatic A Way as possible.

So a whole suspension of disbelief is required from the reader throughout the entire novel. I think a lot of this story is based on the truth, but I don't believe the story. If it's true, if these things happened, but is written in such a way that obscures the truth, I think that's a problem.

And the big problem (and a big spoiler here): The narrative jumps between different characters points-of-view. About two-thirds in, we are introduced to a new narrative voice, as we find out that one of the main characters has multiple personalities, and our additional narrator is one of these personalities!

Other people loved this book, the ostentatious writing style, the twists, the emotional wrenching. I did not. For me, it was a slog.

The Lotus and the Storm by Lan Cao went on sale August 14, 2014.

I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I had some issues with this book. I had trouble keeping the characters straight for some reason. This may have just been me. I read a lot at night and fall asleep now and then. LOL. I also realized that the three characters were one and that the character had three personalities, but this could have been brought out sooner in the book. The chain of events and the story line are both of interest. There is a kind of mystical, foggy surreal quality to the events in Vietnam.

This is a mysterious book where people turn out to be someone else. The book may lose you for a moment, but if you stick with it and keep reading, it becomes clear what is going on. It is the mysterious unraveling of the characters and how they are shaped and affected by the war and their experiences. It is a deep story of emotional pain and survival. I found it a very educating glimpse of the Vietnamese War and the aftermath of the people who were there. Everyone should read this it is a part of our country’s history. I give this a 4 out of 5 stars. ( )

I got a free copy of this book from netgalley. I had read an enthusiastic review and was excited to have an opportunity to read it. The concept and setting are great. Cao tells a story about Vietnam rarely seen given that it is portrayed from the perspective of members of a south Vietnamese family mostly during their time in Vietnam. She portrays the physical and emotional devastation caused by war -- vividly showing what people are willing to do and ignore in times of war. My complaints are relatively minor given how well she conveys the sense of time and place. At times, I found Cao's writing a bit obtuse given the subject matter; it is not always easy to understand what is happening because Cao's first person narrators are very caught up in their internal emotional struggles. Also, Mai's multiple personalities sometimes work well, but at other times feel like an awkward device. I hesitated between 3 and 4 stars, but ultimately picked 4 because of the subject matter and setting. It's not always an easy book to get through but generally well worth the read. ( )

Mai and her father are living in Virginia in 2006, but much of their lives' focus is back in Vietnam before and during the war. They both have been drastically affected by tragedies and betrayals moire than 30 years earlier. Their stories are told in alternating voices, both past and present. The narrative becomes more complex as Mai's alternate personality takes control of her and the story periodically. This novel is beautifully written, bringing the setting, politics, relationships, and intrigues to life with much lyrical language. ( )

Centered around a family's drama as pushed forward by the social upheaval built by the Vietnam War, this is a book filled with fascinating characters and subplots. With history and conflict and the heart of the book, Cao's portrayal of a complicated family is balanced against both the present in America (of 2006) and the time of the Vietnam War in Vietnam, culminating in the fall of Saigon and the difficult aftermath.

While the material of the book is fascinating, the downfall is that so very much is attempted. The drama and suspense of the war are overshadowed by the drama of the family's interactions and day-to-day difficulties, and while most of these are directly or indirectly related to the war, many of those connections aren't uncovered until very late in the novel; as a result, readers are torn between sympathizing with the family and gaining insight into history, and neither focus is given real power. So much is built into the work that, though the characters are believable, they aren't fully sympathetic and engaging for readers. Similarly, discussion of the war and socio-political difficulty is so broken up by family drama that that history is not as engaging or narrative-driving as it would be otherwise.

Simply, it felt as if the book was being torn in various directions, and while I appreciated what the author was working for, I often found myself half-bored by what I was reading, as interested as I would be if I were reading history or biography related to something I'm interested in, but no more. Generally, I didn't find the emotion or the entertainment that I expect from a great novel.

So, yes, I appreciated the art of the work, and I enjoyed many passages of Cao's lovely writing. Did I appreciate or enjoy the story? Well, that's a more difficult question, but is perhaps best answered by the acknowledgement that I wouldn't be very likely to pick up more of her work.

If you are interested in family dramas played out on the background of history, or in multi-generational narratives told in complex and politically-aware narratives, this might well be up your alley. If you pick it up because of an interest in war-related literature, however, or expect a novel pulling you forward from page to page with a real suspense...well, this may be too quiet a novel for you to fall into, because on the whole, I'd say it attempted too much, and was perhaps a hundred pages too long for what it did accomplish. ( )