This is an important story that needs to be told more often. I felt the story dragged in places with too many character POVs, but it was definitely worth the read, though it wasn’t an easy one.
3.5 stars

When I first heard about Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai’s Dust Child being a more nuanced and compassionate approach to the story that makes up the well-known musical, Miss Saigon, I was immediately intrigued. As a Vietnamese woman, I’ve always had complicated feelings towards how the Vietnamese characters, especially the bar girls, were portrayed in Miss Saigon. Of course, Dust Child is more than a Miss Saigon retelling. This isn’t another story that glamorizes the actions of the Americans who served in Vietnam, nor does it glamorize the toxic masculinity exhibited by these same men who more often than not fetishized Vietnamese women. Instead, by using multiple point-of-view storytelling that moves between the war years and present day or rather 2016 Dust Child tells a well-rounded story as readers are given the chance to hear about the experiences including the struggles of characters who aren’t just white American soldiers...

Read the full review at the link attached.

Beautiful and touching generational tale that spans forty years in Vietnam. The research and personal experience Nguyen writes into this story and the history of Vietnam is heartbreaking and accurate. Highly recommend.

DUST CHILD tells the story of the mixed-race children born of war between American soldiers and Vietnamese women. Set in 1969 Vietnam and our present day, Quế Mai weaves together three interconnected narratives: an American veteran haunted by his past, two Vietnamese sisters working as ‘bar girls’ to provide for their family, and the heart-wrenching story of a child born to a Vietnamese woman and a Black American soldier. The women and children in these situations were often neglected, left to bear the stigma of their relationships in hostile post-war societies. Stories like this are essential to help lift the shame that surrounds the lives of war-born children. Quế Mai once again proves herself a master wordsmith and storyteller of the human experience. Her writing shimmers with tenderness and compassion while celebrating Vietnamese language and culture. An absolute must-read, deeply affecting saga about the impacts of war, forgiveness, and redemption.

This book accomplished what I hope for out of any historical fiction read - I learned something new. In reading this I also realized just how little I knew about the history of Vietnam or the Vietnam war. I feel like I learned a lot while also experience the discomfort that comes from learning about some messy history. Overall, I enjoyed the stories. However, I found the stories lines often blurred together and often had to back track to clear up confusion. I really wanted to have sympathy for Dan but he repeatedly made it so hard! I did really end up liking Linda but Dan was not helping himself. Despite this, a worthwhile read! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

The idea that history is written by the victors, the loudest voices in the room, is something that I think about quite often. No better example comes to my mind than the Vietnam War, known as the American War by the Vietnamese and an overall shameful example of United States egomaniacal foreign policy taken to the extreme. So if you’re looking for a historical fiction novel about the Vietnamese perspective of The War and the fallout after the Americans left that will leave you feeling raw and emotional, Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai should be at the top of your list.

Basically, this is the sophomore novel from the author of The Mountains Sing (one of my faves) that follows the abandoned Vietnamese lovers of American soldiers as well as the bụi đời, the children of dust, or the children fathered by Americans during the war who were then left behind when the Americans evacuated. Dust Child is an eye-opening story about the side of the Vietnam/American War that is definitely brushed over in American history books.

If you’ve seen Miss Saigon, you may be familiar with the story of the Vietnamese woman falling in love with an American solider and the bụi đời. Dust Child is a far less problematic version of these events told from the point of view of the Vietnamese, truly expressing the desperation and the sorrow of their circumstances before and after the American occupation and the continued impact. The War did not end when Saigon fell. And the bandaid policy to grant American citizenship to the bụi đời did nothing but serve as a PR salve while doing very little for the sheer number of those actually affected.

Dust Child was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it is out today. Definitely grab yourself a copy ASAP. Thank you so much for the advanced copy!

This books is beautiful, heart wrenching, and engrossing. I loved Nguyen's first book for its gorgeous writing so I had high expectations. They were met and exceeded. She is absolutely a must-read author.

Dust Child begins with the perspective of Phong who is waiting at the American Consulate, attending the interview for his family’s visa to move to the US. He was brought up by Catholic nuns and has been looked down upon as he was the child of a Black American soldier. I instantly felt for Phong. Having gone through a US visa interview, it is a stressful couple of hours. The cross questioning to make Phong confirm he is of American descent was heartbreaking to read about and mistakes from twenty years ago were frowned upon.

Another perspective in the book is that of Dan, an American soldier who was stationed in Việt Nam. In the hopes of closure, he is returning to Việt Nam with his wife, Linda. He hasn’t told her about Kim, a girl he met there and fell in love with. They lived in an apartment together and when she revealed she was pregnant with his child, he abandoned her. There are a lot of emotions and events that lead to this pivotal moment.

Thein is the guide that Linda hires to show her and Dan around Việt Nam. Similar to Phong, I didn’t really like the guy. He is sexist and I can’t believe that he advised Dan to leave Linda and find Kim, even though he leaves no opportunity to go off on Dan and remind him how bad of a person he is for using Vietnamese women as he did during the 1960s. Thein grew on me though in a way I never imagined he would. He has good intentions and having fought wars for his country, been disciplined by them, he continues to do what he can to make a difference in the life of his countrymen.

Also, Thein offers commentary on the perception that Vietnamese people have on Amercians in the present day and age. While their abandoned children are frowned upon, the Americans are welcomed as tourists to the country. There are so many brutal truths in Dust Child.

Dan meeting Kim is a life changer for him. Though they have a language barrier, they understand each other on an emotional level. From Kim, he learns and adapts praying to the Buddha into his lifestyle, something he keeps even when he returns to the US after the war. I liked that very much. His time in Việt Nam forever changed him, though he probably had no idea how much more change would happen in the future when he would return with Linda.

Trang is the final perspective of the story. She and her sister, Quỳnh, make their way from their village to the city of Ho Chi Min in order to help their parents pay off their debts. Though not described in detail, their father fought in the war before this one and the changes in government and philosophy has affected their way of living. The girls are driven to help their parents even if it means making money by using their body and giving the parents an illusion of a better life in the city.

Though Quỳnh is the younger sister, she takes the lead in taking care of Trang. She is willing to be the one who sacrifices her morals for the betterment of her family, warning Trang when she falls in love with Dan and supporting her through the pregnancy. She is a strong character, one who is hard to not feel sympathy for. She has seen and experienced a lot of bad things in life and she is a keen observer of other people’s experiences. She can see the patterns of how the soldiers use the girls in the tea shop, she knows the reality that they will always go back home and leave them here and the time in the city develops her dark and sceptical attitude even more.

I found Trang’s perspective to be the most impactful in the story. She is so young and hopeful. She believes that she can help Dan and he can help her. Being trained with propaganda, the more time Dan spends with her, the more he starts to question if what he had been told was true. Are communist sentiments so deep in the common people? His conflicting worldviews from work and being with a Vietnamese woman lead to conflict and paranoia. He is cruel and selfish and unable to cope with the loss of his colleagues.

I found the writing, like in The Mountains Sings, lyrical and easy to immerse into. This book offers a brand new perspective for me. Consequences of wars and the societal devastation they leave behind are realities that are hard to read but important to explore in my reading practice. Like I said in my review of another historical fiction, Independence by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, it is only through people and their experiences, even fictional ones, that we can make room for empathy and compassion. In a novel, it is no longer the past: it is the present. Though Dust Child alternates between two timelines, it is impossible not to feel the tension and mysteries in both.

Many thanks to the publisher for a review copy of the book for an honest review.

This a good book, with a lot of good elements and potential. and I'm sure that there are readers who will love this moving story.

For me, the writing style/voice did not work. It drew away from the story and affected the character development, at times making me feeling disconnected in ways that I didn't expect it to be.

I expected more, but that may be because the author's first novel was EXCELLENT. This is 3.5 for me, but I chose to round up.

I went into this completely fresh, so I had only baseline expectations of the book. "Sure, this sounds good," I'd said to myself before requesting "Dust Child," but woo-buddy. It hit me like a sudden burst of wind... in the best way.

The time we get with the characters, the settings, the time, their memories, it's all so richly delicious, well-written, and at times absolutely gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. While sometimes it got a bit heavy, a big dense, overall the atmosphere created in these pages easily overwrote those slower moments.

I absolutely recommend giving this a chance. I will read anything by this author now, and I will reread this book again as well!

This was amazing! She is an auto-buy author for me!

I loved this story - a beautiful tale of two sisters struggling to survive through the American war in Vietnam, and, in modern day - an American veteran of the war struggling to live with guilt, trauma, and regret, and Phong, the abandoned child of a Vietnamese woman and an American man searches for his family and a way out of Vietnam.

I was wary when I started the book because I typically don't like multiple timelines AND multiple points-of-view (usually just one or the other is enough action for me lol) but I found that this author was able to balance it all with intelligent and insightful character-building. Even as they experience traumatic and unthinkable circumstances, the characters still carve out a life that is multidimensional and diverse, reflective of reality - still joyful, still brave, still suffering. It speaks to the author's deep empathy that she's able to portray each character with flaws and faults and still make the reader root for each of them. I felt attached to all of the characters (some more than others though, ngl) and I loved when their paths began to cross.

I also enjoyed the 1969 timeline. As someone who doesn't typically enjoy a lot of historical fiction, I will say I was prepared to enjoy this book going in because I have read the author's first book, The Mountains Sing, and was blown away. This book did not let me down, the 1969 plot line felt as present and tangible as the modern-day and I was engaged and invested in both timelines throughout the book.

Last thing - I find the author's treatment of American GIs to be very generous and again, very empathetic. This book has solidified (for me) this author's prowess in building characters with depth and understanding.

Thank you NetGalley and Algonquin Books for accepting my request to read and review Dust Child.

Published: 03/14/23

I have mixed feelings on this book. I'm going with 3.5 stars, but not rounding up. I have issues with language/profanity used, as well as I needed a flow chart to follow the characters. The story itself was heavy. I walked away a couple times. This certainly was not a one sitting read, things had to resonate before I could move on, and it got worse the further along the story went. To clarify, at no point did I consider not finishing this book. I simply had to take things in slowly.

The story focuses on the Vietnamese familial expectations, as well as American servicemen and their roles in the destruction and stigmas attached to the culture of Vietnamese children and women. I found the story interesting, and I feel like the author did a pretty good job showing the decision-making processes the sisters used. They were young and culturally expected to aid in the repayment of bad family debt. This is a fictional tale. According to the story the family is ostracized at every turn -- bad debt, illness, can't pay debt: neighbors ignore, mock, and abuse. These are poor people (neighbors) who at any time could find themselves in the same position. Next, prostitution pays well, not a choice to be excited by, choosing this route gets your family shamed. I think maybe this is worse than ostracized. Bottomline, if you do sell yourself, don't get pregnant. It appears that is the most serious of crimes.

Is there any wonder that Maury Povich has been running parental DNA tests for twenty plus years? The damage to the family unit in the U.S. by men walking away is explosive. Dust Child shows the gut wrenching after effects of servicemen impregnating Vietnamese girls and walking away. I have no words.

While this is a fictional account, the history is true. Reading this made me ashamed of being American. Likewise, I have a problem with knocking on my door 40 years after the fact looking to be called mom/dad and taken care of. That is the Vietnamese culture. My kids will take care of me when I'm old -- seriously,

I am left with a splitting headache. The behavior and guts in my opinion on both sides made me sick. I don't understand the choices and I think the author should have explained this process

Dust Child written by Nguyen Phan Que Mai

PUB DATE: March 14, 2023

Nguyen’s captivating story is one of seeking redemption, forgiveness, and inherited trauma. Told with 3 intersecting narratives and dual timelines, during the Vietnam War and present-day Vietnam, Dust Child is a story about how the war ravaged everyone, shattering lives, giving voice to the dust children “Bụi đời” born from the Vietnam War.

Ameriasians are considered the forgotten children of the Vietnam War. My parents didn’t even tell me about them. I learned from my parents how the war wrecked the country and torn apart families in so many ways but rarely do I hear about the children born from American soldiers and the Vietnamese women.

In 1969, Trang and her sister Quynh become bar girls in Saigon so they can send money back to their parents. “Bar girls” were seen as promiscuous but through Trang, we learn of the grit it takes to fight for survival. But so many stories are wrapped in trauma and pain.
Dan is an American Vietnam Vet that has a hidden past and is looking for answers that can only be answered in Vietnam. In 2016, he is now over 60 years old and PTSD and life has kept him from facing his mistakes.
Phong is a black Ameriasian abandoned as a baby in an orphanage. Being black, he was ridiculed and banished from the community. My heart broke for him many times while reading his story. Unbelievable how cruel people can be.

Nguyen shows compassion, tenderness and love for her characters. She does not allow us to villainize others but instead lets us puts on a sympathetic lens. There is one part in the book where three men, White American Pilot, South Vietnamese (ARVN) Marine Captain and Northern Vietnamese solder touched hands and prayed. They said, “during the war, we would have killed each other”. This was so powerful.

Nguyen is an incredible writer & like her first novel, The Mountains Sing, I have learned so much about my parent’s home country. I gave this book to my cousin (who does not read) and she could not put it down. She was mesmerized by the storytelling.

Thank you @algonquinbook and @nguyenphanquemai for sending me this ARC!

In her follow up novel to The Mountains Sing, Nguyen Phan Que Mai writes of the Dust Child, the child of mixed race who remains in Vietnam after the war, a visible remnant because of skin color, features, eye color, or type of hair. These children were sometimes the offspring of true relationships, perhaps more often the offspring of desperate wartime affairs or attacks, or possibly a woman’s job as a hostess or bar girl, one of the few ways a female could make money in wartime South Vietnam.

We have essentially three basic points of view/stories that run through the book. The first is that of Phong, presented in 2016, but reliving various parts of his history as he tries to determine how he can get to the United States and find his father. As an infant, he was left at an orphanage. He has no knowledge of his parents, only knowing that his father is black. He has been cursed as a Dust Child, bullied and beaten in childhood and finding jobs difficult as an adult.

Next we have Trang and Quynh, two sisters who leave their parents’ farm in 1969 for Sai Gon in hopes of paying their parents’ debts. They are introduced to the life of bar girls. In that life, Trang, now known as Kim at work, meets a young American helicopter pilot, Dan. In 2016, Dan, accompanied by his wife Linda, finally visits Vietnam on the advice of others who think it may help with his severe PTSD. He also has a secret agenda to look into his past, find Kim.

The author gathers these stories together and allows the strands to overlap in 2016 in unexpected and satisfying ways. As she writes in her afterword, she has worked with and interviewed Amerasians and American veterans searching for each other and used the experience as inspiration for this book.

I recommend Dust Child. It gives a very different look on the Vietnam experience, a war experience that always has effects beyond the battlefield that can last for generations.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Wow! All the stars for this one.
Dust Child explores a topic I’ve never seen addressed before: the illegitimate children left behind by American Servicemen after the United States withdrew from Vietnam.
Dust Child examines the situation from 3 different perspectives: a young Vietnamese woman who finds herself in a relationship with an American soldier, an America Serviceman, and a mixed race orphan.

Each one is well-developed and heartbreakingly compelling. Definitely grab this one when you have some time to linger over a tragic narrative.

I learned a lot in this book and enjoyed it as a whole. It sheds light on an important piece of history. Que Mai Phan Nguyen is an incredible storyteller, and I will continue to read her books. However, it did not quite live up to what her previous book was to me. The Mountains Sing was a book that got me through 2020 and one that I organized a buddy read of. I'm still happy to have had the opportunity to read this book.

I did not finish this book, but I think it was more of an issue of what I was dealing with in my life at the time. The writing was really beautiful, I really loved the tale of the two sisters and the description of their Viet Nam village. I loved the vivid imagery of them moving to Saigon and working in a GI bar. I liked those scenes more than the present day ones. I think this was a great historical fiction novel and approached it with grace and understanding for both sides of the conflict of the Viet Nam war. I plan to finish on audio.

Que Mai is one of the best historical fiction writers of all time. Period end of sentence. This book surpassed The Mountains Sing for me

𝙰𝚞𝚍𝚒𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚁𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚎𝚠: Isn’t it bizarre how you so often read books close together that are so similar? For me, it happened in February with 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘉𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘥 and 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘸 𝘰𝘳 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘴 and this month with 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘴 by Cecile Pin and 𝗗𝗨𝗦𝗧 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗗 by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai. For reasons I don’t completely understand, I rather like when this happens. The first book can often bolster up the second. But, at other times, the second book suffers in comparison to the first.⁣⁣
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Unfortunately, that was the case for me with 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥. I learned a lot from the story in terms of history and the long ranging effects of the Vietnam War on the country, its citizens, those who served there and the children they left behind, but I was never fully invested. Had I read this book in print, I may have enjoyed it more. There were a lot of characters, which was tough with only one narrator. I know I’d have liked it more with a full cast. I also felt like the many connections between the characters were a little forced and pretty unlikely. So, not my favorite book of March, but I have no regrets about the time spent with 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 and all I learned from it. ⁣⁣
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Many thanks to @algonquinbooks for an electronic ARC of #DustChild.⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

DUST CHILD revolves around Phong, the son of a Black American soldier and a Vietnamese woman, who is in pursuit of his parents; sisters Trang and Quỳnh, desperate to help their parents pay off debts and become bar girls in Sài Gòn; and Dan, an American veteran who returns to Việt Nam hoping to heal from his PTSD and face the ghosts of his past.

This is a heart-wrenching yet beautiful story that immediately draws me in and I read it in one day. Quế Mai gives voice to the 'dust children', Amerasians born to American GIs and Vietnamese women during Việt Nam War. The author brings to life memorable characters changed by the war, who do what they need to survive. Their youth and innocence are stolen, often haunted by the heft of death and violence. Their fears become mine, yet they are resilient. I found myself holding my emotions, afraid of stepping in erratic ground and being completely wrecked.

Quế Mai touches on sacrifice, (finding) family, racism, colonialism and colorism like no one, offering an immersive storyline with smooth transition between different timelines. Inspired by real-life events, the narrative covers the effects of war and armed conflicts on Vietnamese people and one reads as if experiencing it by oneself. There's one particular character that I would have loved to know about, but I understand Quế Mai's choice of giving a realistic ending.

I love Quế Mai's debut and DUST CHILD doesn't disappoint. This historical fiction is result of Mai's PhD research with Lancaster University and I can see all the work and care put into it. DUST CHILD is important and hopeful, a must-read.