Following is a review of my first novel, Village Teacher. The review was written and published today on Goodreads and Amazon by Adria Carmichael.
Village Teacher is a feelgood story you don’t want to miss if you enjoy well-written historical fiction with plenty of intrigue and twists and turns on the way.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect from this book at first but was immediately swept away by the whirlwind love story that occupied the first hundred pages or so. I’m far from a fan of the romance genre, but the sweet love that sparked between the humble, but exceptional Teacher Tam and the privileged half French, half Vietnamese girl Giang made my heart melt. However, just when I had accepted that this was a love story – albeit set in a richly described historical context – it shifted into a game of political intrigue where poor Teacher Tam becomes a mere pawn in powerful men’s pursuit of their own selfish goals. Then halfway through, the story takes yet another unexpected turn, and the love story is put on a pause as Teacher Tam ventures into new dire challenges.
Village Teacher is a book of contrasts. Between the selflessness of the protagonists and uninhibited and ruthless ambitions of the antagonists. Between the traditional society based on century-old Confucian and Buddhist traditions, and the relentless modernization brought on by the French colonialization. Between the worship of ancestors and the worship of Jesus. Between the lavish affluence of the colonial capital (Hue) and the poor but tranquil life in the countryside. Between those who yearn for knowledge and development, and those who fight it tooth and nail. Between those accepting the French colonialists’ grip on their country, and the rebels who try to cast them out. And one of my personal favorites – between the old Vietnamese script using Chinese characters, and then new Vietnamese script, based on the Latin letters. The author balances these contrasts masterfully as the story is driven forward without a single dull moment to break your attention. And despite being so diverse, everything comes together at the end into a very satisfactory conclusion, which lets you close the book with a smile on your face.
I would also like to highlight the role that the transformation of the Vietnamese script played in the story, which spoke to me on a personal level since I used to live in Japan and know how the use of Chinese characters has been part of forming that country, as well as Korea. I was, however, not aware that the same was true for Vietnam, and I followed that subplot with great interest. To give a brief recap, many Asian countries lacked their own scripts when first introduced to Chinese culture, and therefore imported the Chinese writing system for their languages, which was not a very good solution since the languages were so different. Japan tried to get away from this by creating two phonetic scripts that competed to replace the Chinese characters, but in the end couldn’t rid themselves of them and are now stuck with a writing system using a mix of Chinese characters and both phonetical alphabets. Korea on the other hand created a different phonetic alphabet and eventually managed to phase out the Chinese characters completely. And now I’ve learned that Vietnam adopted the Latin script for their language, which was truly fascinating… at least for me, as a language nerd 🙂
BonnieReadsAndWrites said:
Wonderful review by Adria!
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Hao Pham said:
lovely review. It makes me wanting to read The Village Teacher one more time again.
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Anonymous said:
A wonderful review by Adria Carmichael. As a matter of fact, I didn’t grasp the perspective of some of Asian languages & the Chinese script from my first reading. Thank you for sharing this review.
Village Teacher book is very close to my heart as it reiterates that the histories of pre & post colonization of Vietnam & India are the same and that the socio, political and economic ramifications are similar. And at the same time, I was also appreciate the parallels and distinctiveness of our independence struggles.
One of the biggest complaints about history writers from Asia is that they make it so soulless. They write history like essay. No humanity in them. Where as in the US, irrespective of my agreement/disagreement with happenings, I enjoy history writings here because it is all about human experiences (good & bad) and makes my reading so fascinating. Now I notice that Asian writers are picking up this new narrative. That is where Hien’s Village Teacher stands out. The entire narrative is so humane, so natural, factual and so compelling and it was like reading an epic poem, it is like sitting next to a water fall and listening to the water coming down and flowing away.
In addition to that, Hien introduce Vietnam to non-Vietnamese so beautifully and made it effortless to read and absorb it. Thank you Hien.
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lolaWi said:
great detail review! congratulations again!
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neihtn2012 said:
Thank you Wilma!
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Aletta - nowathome said:
That’s a wonderful review Hien!
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neihtn2012 said:
Yes indeed, Aletta!
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Aletta - nowathome said:
😊
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nhi nghiem said:
Yes, wonderful book and beautiful review.
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neihtn2012 said:
I agree with you, Anh Nhi!
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katelon said:
What a great detailed review Hien! I enjoyed reading about how the Vietnamese written language came about. I didn’t know that. I look forward to reading this book sometime 🙂
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neihtn2012 said:
Telling readers about our language was one of the goals of my first book in English. I hope you will get to read it some day. Unfortunately most libraries refuse to carry self-published books.
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katelon said:
When I eventually get settled somewhere, I’ll order it and read them both 🙂
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lois said:
What a wonderful review, Hien.
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neihtn2012 said:
It is indeed, Lois!
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