WIth much anticipation, the latest from McDermott has come out! Absolution is not a "war novel" per se, but rather a story of female friendship told through the stories of two American women whose husbands are stationed in Saigon. McDermott does this via two timelines that are sixty years apart - one in 1963 as Charlene and Tricia become friends as the war unfolds around them and the other decades later when Charlene's daughter seeks out Tricia after Charlene's death.

I loved the narration in the audiobook, which is also the perfect pairing. From page one, we are charmed by Tricia’s personality and her storytelling. The voice actor uses her massive talent to further shape an already vivd character into someone you could and would like to know. She felt so real. I loved how both narrators infused emotion, longing, and humanity into the words. It was extremely transporting.

Alice McDermott's "Absolution" is framed as a letter exchange between a widowed Tricia and her friend Charlene’s daughter. Throughout the book, Tricia recounts her friendship with Charlene and their time living in Saigon as expats on the cusp of the Vietnam War.

"Absolution" fails to captivate with underdeveloped characters, an uneventful plot, and an insensitive treatment of sensitive themes. It lacks depth, fails to offer redemption, and ultimately left me disappointed with early reviews by authors I admire.

(Though I’m alone in my thinking as this book has a four-star average rating on Goodreads and NetGalley).

Furthermore, the book's handling of sensitive topics, including racism and the "white savior" trope, is infuriating. The narrative indulges in depicting the characters engaging in actions that perpetuate stereotypes and exploit local situations for their own benefit. From ill-conceived attempts at helping the residents of a leper colony to exploiting local workers and even considering the adoption of a local baby through questionable means, the story borders on being offensive and lacks sensitivity and depth in its treatment of these critical issues.

Additionally, the title "Absolution" seems incongruent with the narrative as it fails to deliver any sense of absolution or resolution for any character within the story.

Despite my boredom, the narration by Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenney is commendable, providing a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing tale.

Acknowledgments go to Macmillan Audio for providing an early access copy of the audiobook via the NetGalley app.

Why does a storyteller tell their story? To inspire belief? To portray exemplary behavior, models or ideals to adopt? A story is always an act of persuasion. What is the persuasion here? I will be thinking about this for a long while.

There is much in this tale that is negative space. . .I think of the many times I'd sit nose to nose with my children when serious information needed to be exchanged on how NOT to be, complete with examples of others whose consequences brought them to sorry ends, all! Patricia (Tricia), writing her long tale through the post, has a point and America, whiteness, democracy, government, men, even our toys, pets and "faith" suffer in the telling. But like so many of those wonderful characters in literature (I'm thinking of you Stevens!), they don't hear 100% of what they are saying. It takes a reader, like you and me, to catch that bit they aren't getting and we're who the author was aiming for. ("get it?" she whispers to us. . .)

It's uncomfortable. It's itchy. It's one-sided, white-sided. It's taken 60 years to ripen for ears that will actually hear, eyes to actually see the picture told. . .ponder and pray, Gram always said. True, that. There are many other sides to this story, we need to be seeking (and they writing). . .Dom's story. Ly's story. The tall girl who takes sister and holds her tight.

5 stars of thinking about this in the days ahead. . . .

*A sincere thank you to Alice McDermott, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for an ARC to read and independently review. Bonus Points to the narrator skills of Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenney.*

Thanks, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio, for the advanced listening copy.

If it’s wrong to read a book just because you have the perfect photo to post with it on Instagram, I don’t want to be right. (@oh_apostrophe surely agrees with me.)

I agreed to try this Vietnam-era character study because (1) my friend @inthecommonhours loved it and encouraged me, and (2) my SIL @zillart captured an orchid that matched the cover.

I screwed my courage to the sticking place, stepped into the 10-hour audiobook, and was completely immersed. The story of young wives who accompanied their American husbands to 1960’s Siagon is told in a series of letters written decades later. On the surface, it’s about female friendships, marriage, and trying to make a difference. But throughout, there’s a warning, “There's a real danger in the bestowing of gifts upon the hopeless only to inflate the ego of the one who does the bestowing.”

Narrator Rachel Kenney had me in her grip from page one with the wry, self-deprecating chuckle of 80-year-old Patricia. She later managed to capture the naïveté of her younger self, the bossy Smarter-Than-Everyone Charlene, and many other characters with wildly different ages, accents, and genders. She. Is. Amazing.

I agree with @audiofilemagazine, “Alternately gripping, moving, and thought-provoking, this is an audiobook to savor.”

From the beginning of the story, McDermott’s writing took me to Saigon in the early 1960s. The characters are masterfully written. Tricia, a young newlywed and her intelligence dept husband, are brought into a social network of Americans in Vietnam. Charlene, a busybody planner and social leader quickly takes Tricia under her wing as part of her “cabal” in doing projects for good causes (Barbies dressed in Vietnamese clothes to raise funds, outfits for lepers). Over time Tricia sees that their intentions are not impactful as intended. This story unfolds as long letters as elderly Tricia and Charlene’s adult daughter began a correspondence years after their time in Vietnam.

This audiobook was one of my favorites in a long time. Absolutely stunning story telling and character development.

"Absolution" by Alice McDermott is a Blend of Historical and Literary Fiction!

"We are surrounded by story." ~ Alice McDermott

"Absolution" is a story told mostly in the first-person voice of Tricia, a quiet and reserved newlywed, living in 1963 Saigon with her engineer husband on loan to US Navy Intelligence. Tricia is quickly befriended by Charlene, a polished corporate wife and mother of three, who proves to be painfully persuasive, a bit of a rebel, and a consummate do-gooder.

Tricia holds fond memories of Charlene's daughter, Rainey, who reaches out to her sixty years later when an unlikely encounter stirs memories of her mother and their time together in Vietnam...

"Absolution" is my first Alice McDermott novel and I'm blown away by her beautiful writing style that's both engaging and evocative, constructed of simple words streaming together, so thoughtfully and artfully, carrying me away to another time and place in my mind.

McDermott has crafted characterizations that feel historically correct for the time period. Not every character is likable but all are important to the story and feel authentic.

"Absolution" audiobook is narrated by Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenney who give life to Tricia and Rainey. Jesse's voicing of Tricia's first-person narration is reminiscent of listening to a close friend telling you her story of a time spent far away and long ago. Her narration is exceptional.

Through McDermott's affecting writing style and storytelling, I was mesmerized by Tricia's reflections of the year she spent in Saigon. The joy and heartbreak, the pleasure and frustration, the freedom and obligation, it was as intoxicating as it was sobering. Her personal experiences and observations of being an American woman and a new wife in the 1960's was raw, painful, and maddening. I began to feel what she felt. I took on her pain.

I am such an emotional reader and this book stole my heart. I will definitely be searching this author's backlist and I highly recommend "Absolution" to readers who enjoy a blend of Historical and Literary Fiction like I do!

4.75⭐rounded up!

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Alice McDermott for an ALC of this book. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.

A historical story about military wives Tricia and Charlene in Saigon 1963. These women are are America "do-gooders" thinking they are making a difference in their privileged world. The story also moves to sixty years later with the reappearance of a Vietnam vet that they knew when they were in Saigon and they look back on their time there. Absolution looks the role of women, acceptance, value, and moral obligation. Alice McDermott tells this story beautifully during a time where understanding is key.

Absolution is a quiet, character-driven novel about American women living in Vietnam in the early 60's. Tricia, the main character, is a newlywed trying to fit in with a clique of expat women and refine her role as a "helpmate" to her career-driven husband. Her life and the lives of the other American women seem charmed spending their evenings at parties and days shopping, but meanwhile Tricia is confronted with the harsh reality of what is going on in the streets of Vietnam. She is "mentored" by Charlene, another American wife who claims she wants to do good, but is manipulative and selfish. Most of the story is told by Tricia to Charlene's daughter and is divided into two parts. I enjoyed the first part more than the second. Although the narrator was good, at times I felt the book moved too slow and other times too quickly. I think this book would have been better for me in print and will likely pick it up to re-read. Thanks to Netgalley for this audiobook ARC.

This is absolutely beautiful. It was almost overwhelming. The narration could not be topped. We don't think enough about the wives.

Alice McDermott is a fine writer but this is not her best. I found the telling of the story in the form of letter writing to recall a time spent in Southeast Asia on the precipice of the Vietnam War quite dull and slow. The characters aren't endearing enough to care about young or mature and the plot has no climactic event that shakes up anybody. the Narration by Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenny was very good. just didn't care for the insignificance of the characters and their little lives- just my opinion. Thank you to Net Galley and MacMillan Audio for the ARC of this Audio Book.

"You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives."

This was a masterful exploration of the lives of American women in Vietnam on the cusp of the Vietnam conflict. The voice of Tricia, the narrator, was so well done. I could feel for her as she was manipulated, eager to fit in and be the perfect wife.

I highly recommend this, especially in audiobook format.

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨."

I've never read one of Alice McDermott's books before but I will be diving into her backlist after finishing 𝗔𝗕𝗦𝗢𝗟𝗨𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡.

The dual POV in this novel is unlike any I've read before. The first belongs to Tricia, a shy young newlywed recently arrived in Saigon with her engineer husband in 1963. She becomes friends with Charlene, a confident and manipulative fellow ex-pat who takes her under her wing. The second is from Charlene's grown daughter Rainey who reaches out to Tricia in present day after her mother's death to discuss their time in Vietnam. What I found so interesting about this book is that while the stories are told by Tricia and Rainey, in a lot of ways the main character is Charlene and how her choices in the name of "doing good" impact so many lives.

This is a quiet book but it's very atmospheric. I loved learning more about life in Vietnam at this pivotal time in history, and the narration was perfection.

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the copy to review.

An absolutely exquisite novel.

The audiobook was impeccable, with narration by Rachel Kenney who breathes life into Charlene and Tricia in a way that made them instantly recognizable, easily told apart.

Two women are living in Saigon in 1963 amidst the Vietnam War. Tricia lives her life being kept so far outside what is happening by her husband that when the war creeps in it's startling to her. Charlene, it seems, is always aware of what is going on in Vietnam. And yet, they shop, they lunch, they take long baths, they gossip, they fundraise. Tricia is young, newly married and very innocent in the ways of the world. Life for her is still very clearly in black and white, with decisions either being good or bad. Charlene lives her life blurring lines into shades of grey, manipulative and intelligent, she wields her own power among the military wives.

The novel is an exchange of information between Charlene's daughter, and an elderly Tricia sixty years later, as they recount the ways in which Charlene affected their lives and what it was like to live amidst such turmoil. The novel is a commentary on the obligations of women in the 60s, the presence of America in Vietnam, and the
absolution necessary to move past that time in their lives.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was more like a stream of consciousness than an epic story about Viet Nam. Although I enjoyed it, I lived during the Viet Nam era, I don't know how readers who only know Viet Nam in a cloudy way may not be able to connect with it as well. I think Charlene reflects the attitude of the United States toward Viet Nam and the Vietnamese people at that time--just as Charlene thought she knew what was better for the people around her, so did the US think that they could "save" the country. I thought the section about the baby adoption and what happened with the baby's family was especially poignant--I could feel Tricia's love for the baby and her sense of loss when she gave the baby back to her family. I would recommend the book, but be prepared for a few tears.

Wow. ABSOLUTUON by Alice McDermott is superbly narrated by Jesse Vilinsky & Rachel Kenney.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

I may move this up to 5 stars as I process this moving story. I am in awe. This was a really fascinating story of two American wives in Vietnam in 1963. Tricia gives the first perspective, sharing her memories of her time with her "friend" Charlene's daughter. Charlene is the brash, bold bully and is everything Tricia is not, yet they form a tenuous bond. Later, Charlene's daughter replies to Patricia (Tricia) and shares memories of her time as a child in Vietnam and of her mother. While this doesn't sound like it has a strong storyline, it is a glimpse of the effects of the use of "wives" to instill American ideals and help, no matter the cost.

I found this story to be a moving and harrowing look at the way help can harm, that motives matter and affect the means of helping. I am super excited to get to discuss this story with my bookclub this month! I will be excited to discuss how expectations of women, wives in particular, were molded and shaped for a bigger agenda in this story. I will be so interested to hear what everyone thinks about Charlene and Tricia's friendship, the marriages of each and how this story came around to circle back. There is much here and it is written so well.

This is a story that was narrated in a way that elevated this story for me! To "hear" Tricia share her memories with chuckles and then with angst gave extra feeling that I loved! I will be listening to this again and may need to grab the physical copy so I can see and keep some of these passages.

Thank you so so much @macmillan.audio & @netgalley for this ALC and letting me share my thoughts. This published on October 31st, so go now and grab this well-told tale!

I want to preface this review by stating that I am a fan of Alice McDermott and find her writing to be beautiful. However... this book just didn't work for me.

First of all, the frame-story idea of a letter exchange felt forced and unnecessary. It never went anywhere and didn't add to the story at all.

Second of all, although I understand it's a "period piece," the racism and insensitive handling of so many important topics was infuriating. As many other reviews have noted, the "white savior" motif is in full force - from visiting the leper colony with gifts for the residents, to the "brilliant idea" of creating and selling Vietnamese-style clothes for Barbies (and exploiting local workers to make them), to the attempted adoption (via kidnapping!) of a local baby (because, after all, she'd have a better life with an American family!!!!)... the whole premise of the story bordered on offensive.

Finally, not one character was interesting. They were either fully stereotypes, or under-developed. I wanted to jump in, but... there was no one there to entice me. I was truly interested in seeing another perspective of life in Viet Nam, but this definitely wasn't it.

As for the title... I'm not sure who was meant to be absolved, or feel absolution at the end, but it didn't come across at all, for anyone.


Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest opinions.

2.5/5- Absolution is a story of two young women who accompany their husbands to Vietnam during the war in 1963. The story is told through letters between Tricia and Charlene's daughter years after the war. Tricia shares her friendship with Charlene while Charlene's daughter is just a child in Saigon.. Charlene spent her days dreaming of ways to help the Vietnamese in various capacities and enlisted Tricia to help, as Tricia battled with her own issues of infertility.

The storyline and book were well thought-out and written. However, the perspective of the story was not for me. I would have preferred to read more of the stories from the Vietnamese women to better understand their lives.

An absolutely riveting account of the lives of the American wives and women who lived in Saigon during the Vietnam war in the 1960s. Told in a dual timeline structure following two women as they form a bond during their time there and then later in the present as they look back. Fantastic on audio narrated by Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenney. This was my first book by Alice McDermott and I couldn't get enough! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early audio copy in exchange for my honest review! HIGHLY recommended for fans of authors like Ann Patchett.

CW: infertility/multiple miscarriages

Don't be like me. I fell for Ann Patchett’s bold (hopefully untrue) prediction that Alice McDermott’s ABSOLUTION will win this year’s Pulitzer Prize. Despite having serious reservations about the premise of the book, the FOMO got the better of me.

This is how the front jacket introduces the novel: “’You have no idea what it was like. For us. The women, I mean. The wives.’ American women – American wives – have been mostly minor characters in the literature of the Vietnam War, but in ABSOLUTION they take center stage.”

If that doesn’t raise red flags for you, then continue on your blissful way. I should have known. A book that deliberately centers white American women’s perspectives _in_ Vietnam (not just back home in the U.S. as I initially believed) *could* work, but it would take an author with a very deep understanding of the Vietnamese perspective to pull it off well.

The novel is structured as an extended letter written in the modern day from Tricia, the wife of a lawyer who worked for the U.S. Navy in Vietnam, to Rainey, the now-adult daughter of Tricia’s erstwhile friend in Vietnam, Charlene. There’s a short section near the end where Rainey writes back to Tricia, involving a coincidence that feels forced. Tricia reflects on their Vietnam days, which dredges up a few topics: 1) The powerlessness of wives in those days. 2) The contrast between Tricia’s passivity and Charlene’s firecracker, aggressively enterprising spirit, making for manipulative friendship dynamics. 3) The clique of wives, led by Charlene, who channel their thwarted talents (because they’re women in the 1960s) into trying to “help” the Vietnamese civilians. This involves visiting hospitals to hand out candy and toys to the Vietnamese children while flirting with the American soldiers and then escalates to more nefarious schemes.

For so much of the book, I kept thinking, “These are white people having white people debates…about us.” (To be clear, I’m not Vietnamese, but I’m Asian American, and many of the stereotypes and tropes carry over). It’s a bunch of ladies-who-lunch having philosophical conversations from the 1960s. We hear how the Vietnamese are perceived by white women – as people to be pitied, saved, reviled, sexualized, or sold. We see Vietnam – the children scorched by napalm, a place for cheap and abundant shopping, the colony of lepers, the fatherless babies up for adoption – through the white gaze alone. Why subject ourselves to this when we have the great literature of Viet Thanh Nguyen, Kim Thúy, and Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai?

Since the book is told retrospectively, there’s an awareness of modern norms that’s inserted into the narrative, which Tricia references off hand: “She was tall, broad-shouldered, thick-armed, somewhat homely. These days you might wonder if she hadn’t been born a man.” Or, “I’ve heard the phrase of late, ‘white savior.’ Charlene, despite her freckles, would have fit the bill.” No crap.

Yet these modern references further muddle the moral angle of the book. For a book that seeks absolution, there is an absence of repentance. Instead, there’s a hazy watercolor wash over the narrative, a sense of regret, perhaps, but no personal culpability. Those were the times, the book says. While neither Charlene nor Tricia is meant to be a virtuous character, the closing scene suggests that Tricia has some remnant of a moral compass in her while Charlene has become blinded by her desire to “help”. Are we meant to cheer for Tricia in this closing scene, where her great accomplishment is in *not* doing something atrocious?

It’s telling that not a single endorsement for the book is written by an author of the Vietnamese diaspora. Did McDermott not seek out these voices? Was it of zero importance to her how her book would be received by Vietnamese readers? Or were no Asian American authors willing to blurb the book? No, Kirkus Reviews, this is not a “brilliant way to tell the story about Vietnam” – not in 2023 – unless you also think it would be brilliant to tell the story of American slavery through the eyes of enslavers’ wives.

I’m not saying don’t read white American perspectives on Vietnam. I’m saying there are already a ton of those out there, and this book unfortunately doesn’t add anything to the conversation, yet because of who McDermott is and her friends, it will garner more buzz and attention than any number of worthy books featuring Vietnamese perspectives. McDermott captures well the interiority of privileged white American women living in Vietnam and engenders sympathy for how they were restricted by societal gender norms, but uses Vietnamese people as props to tell this white women’s story. If that sounds good to you, proceed. Otherwise, avoid.

Thank you @fsg_books for the gifted copy and @netgalley for the ALC (narrated compellingly by Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenney).

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the opportunity to listen to this book before it was released. This is a story of the well off American women in Saigon, during the Vietnam War. It starts with Patricia, one of the women who was there, years later, writing to the daughter of a friend she met there named Charlene. It goes back and forth in time from Patricia's story, to Charlene's daughter telling about her life after leaving Saigon.

Patricia struggles with being a good person as she wants to help everyone she sees, friend or foe. She is a newly wed and is trying desperately to have a baby, but seems to have much trouble. Charlene enjoys afternoon Manhattans, lithium, and whatever else it takes to relax with the other women. She invites "Trisha" to join in with them. From here, they become good friends, although very different people.

The story is written from the women's view point, which is so very interesting. The narrator is so comforting and such a great storyteller, I felt like I was in the same room as her, sharing a cup of tea. I found this book unbelievably fantastic. I didn't want it to end. I love anything by Alice McDermott, but she knocked this one out of the park, in my opinion.