The Lotus Eaters

By: Tatjana Soli

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

It's 1975 and the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As the city falls into chaos, two lovers make their way across the city to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave of a devastated country she has come to love. Nguyen Pran Linh, the man who loves her, must deal with his own conflicted loyalties. As they race through the streets, they play out a drama of love and betrayal that began 12 years before. Their mentor, the larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, was once Helen’s infuriating lover and fiercest competitor, as well as Linh’s secret keeper, protector, and truest friend. As the sun sets on their life in Saigon, Helen and Linh struggle against both their inner demons and the ghosts of the past, illuminating the horrors of war, the dangers of obsession, and the redemptive power of love.

©2010 Tatjana Soli (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The novel is steeped in history, yet gorgeous sensory details enliven the prose….35 years after the fall of Saigon, Soli’s entrancing debut brings you close enough to feel a part of it." ( People magazine)

Travels in the Vietnam war, by a photographer.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to anyone, it is read, not given characterization, but the readers voice is quite calm and soothing. Voices would have been way too hard, due to the ethnicity of many participants.i

Who was your favorite character and why?

I would have to say Helen, although the story tends to focus on her in the book. In actually, there were a few people with whom were standouts.

Did Kirsten Potter do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I don't feel she did any characterization, just read, not giving emotion to anyone, but in your minds eye, you could see and feel the differences.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I wasn't pleased with the way the book ended. When the prisoners are being released, you had hope that the Vietnamese man, whom was already in the states, safe, he chose to go to Cambodia to get Helen out safely, if possible. I guess I wanted a good ending, not just ended.

Any additional comments?

I will re-use to this more than once. The title was a tad misleading, but the book was meaty and gave a full measure.

Lost Generation

This is a good book but the narrators voice was so soothing it allowed me to day dream too much about other things. I think it would have been a much better book with a better narrator.

The Locusts

Tatjana Soli's debut novel, "The Lotus Eaters," is a breathtaking portrayal of the Vietnam War. Soli's meticulous research immerses the reader in the heart of Saigon and the southern regions during America's turbulent campaign. Her vivid descriptions vividly evoke both the early optimism and the grim realities that marked this period.

One of the novel's strengths is its portrayal of the driven photographers who risked everything to capture the war's essence on film. Soli adeptly captures their raw ambition, suggesting that perhaps "The Locusts" would have been an equally fitting title.
At the center of the story is Linh, Helen's lover in the later stages of the war, whose quiet heroism contrasts with the charismatic Sam Darrow, their mentor and Helen's former lover. Initially overshadowed by Helen's intense affair with Sam, Linh emerges as a compelling figure in his own right.

The novel reaches a crescendo in its final chapters, as Helen and two fellow photographers venture into Cambodia to document the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge. The narrative tension here is palpable, gripping the reader with a visceral intensity rarely found in literature. Soli's skillful storytelling had me on edge.

"The Lotus Eaters" is a solid effort and comes highly recommended, particularly for those seeking a fresh fictional perspective on the Vietnam War. Soli's ability to blend historical fact with compelling characters and a gripping plot makes this a standout novel in the genre.

A female journalists' view of the Vietnam War

Soli writes with passion, not merely of what we expect--red dirt and thick canopied jungle and the Casablanca-seediness of a French province in decay--but of the quiet moments that bonded a love triangle.

The war weary photographer, running his foot along the edge of the precipice is a familiar one, but he is joined by a colleague and lover. There is a third member of the triangle. It is not the estranged wife bottled up in a ranch-style house in the US--although she does appear--but the Vietnamese 'native guide' who respects him, loves her, and is torn by the Vietnamese civil war.

Soli, like her characters, is best when away from the war, protecting what is left. There is a scene in Cambodia's Angor Wat where the great trees are breaking the stone temples apart as if they were fresh bread, and again in the spidery capillaries of the Mekong, on a small sacred island, where the Buddhist dead replenish the soil and nurture orchids.

The performance is good, with a touch of Kathleen Turner's weary sultry voice, which, unfortunately, reflects the prose as both the writing and voice crackle with static in the more passionate moments.

disappointing

Some books are great IRL but don't transfer to audio very well; this is one of them. Something about the structure of the paragraphs makes it difficult to follow in this format. To make matters worse, the narrator is unnecessarily breathy and straining. I wish I could return it.

Well written and well performed.

There is an irony in the war photographers' quest for personal achievement and acclaim being so petty in comparison to the scope of combat atrocities photographed and personal risk endured to get the pictures.

Best book I've read yet this year

I love novels about Asia, especially about the fall-out from European colonialism -- novels set in Asia or written by Asians. I was very disappointed by Chang-Rae Lee's "The Surrendered" but Soli's book just leaves me wanting more. I want to enter into the world of her characters, as enthralled with them and their Viet Nam as they are with the war that surrounds them. I listened to this book as an audio recording and left many things undone in the days that it took me to listen to all of it.

"The Lotus Eaters" is extraordinarily well-written, from the lyricism of the individual sentences to the taught construction of the story, beginning near the end, then going back ten years to tell the middle of the story, and finishing when Saigon falls in 1975. I knew, from the first chapters, that Helen would fall in love with Linh, that they would be wretched apart at the end of the war, that she would stay behind in Saigon without him. But the middle of the story was compelling nonetheless, to learn how Helen grew into her own as a war reporter and how she fell in love with two men, who both represented some aspect of the Viet Nam war. We have Sam Darrow, the American photojournalist who has become addicted to the thrill of the battle and is oblivious to almost everything outside his viewfinder; and then there's Linh -- for me, the more mysterious and compelling figure -- a Vietnamese poet and spy who loves Helen for long years before his love is returned. Love between a White woman and an Asian man is not frequently explored in literature or art, making this book unusual in that the love affair between the Americans Helen and Darrow is a precursor to the central romance of the book, that of Helen and Linh. The improbability of their love -- as improbable as anything good coming out of war -- makes for one of the most compelling romance stories I have ever read.

Intense narrative from Vietnam War days

One of the best books I've listened to -- you will get caught up in these characters and this story.

Beautifully written...and read

After reading numerous glowing reviews for this book I was curious...but also apprehensive because I'm not a fan of "Vietnam war books". However, this book entranced me from the first page to the last. Soli does an exceptional job crafting complex and compelling characters. Her descriptions of Vietnam make the country come alive -- almost emerging as another character. If you are looking for a simplified political parable for or against the war, look elsewhere. For those seeking an original work of fiction that will transport you to another time and place, The Lotus Eaters delivers.

Beautifully painted story!

Would you listen to The Lotus Eaters again? Why?

Yes, especially after being told that the author never traveled to Viet Nam~ You can truly see the colors, taste the tastes and smell the smells!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Lotus Eaters?

There were many poignant scenes, passion, compassion, horror of war, moments captured and lost...