Listening to a book written by Alice Hoffman is like immersing yourself in a scented warm bubble bath and turning your senses over to just feeling what surrounds you. Absolution was a special story, filled with characters you get to know slowly and completely and a plot that captures your soul.

Although the setting moves between New York and Saigon, it is in Saigon that the significant story lines take place and ripen. Tricia is a newlywed who arrives in Saigon in 1963 when her engineer husband is sent there to provide technical support. America’s involvement in the war hasn’t escalated yet. It is a time of Kennedys; of propriety in behavior: of a woman’s role as a helpmate. Tricia looks at her personal upscale surroundings, replete with Vietnamese servants while the native people lack simple necessities. She has difficulty defining her role.

After a heartbreaking miscarriage, another wife, Charlene, befriends Tricia and becomes her guide and resource for incorporating wifely activities and duties as a daily routine. Tricia find herself immersed in Charlene’s world of charitable deeds. But are these acts of giving true charity or an indication of ego building ? Much to think about as Tricia finds herself needing to make a decision of her her choosing.

The book then moves ahead 60 years when Rainey, Charlene’s daughter contacts Tricia and provides insight into her now deceased mother’s actions and intentions.

Written in flowing beautiful prose, this book is a gem which I highly recommend. It will be published on November 7. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy audio version of Absolution by NetGalley and Macmillan audio in exchange for an honest review. The audio book reader did an outstanding job. Five we’ll earned stars for this book

I guess I am in the minority here, but I had a very hard time following the progression of this book. I almost felt like there were two authors writing this novel?!

Charlene and 'Tricia' (although that was not her real name) end up forming a type of alliance when they are thrown together in the circumstances surrounding Vietnam in 1963, at the height of the war, while their husbands are there on the forefront.

The story is told thru alternating viewpoints, and periods of time.
Some thru Tricia in Vietnam.
Others thru Charlene, also in Vietnam.
Then again, 60 years later by Tricia and then Charlene's daughter Rainey.
And also, both timelines via Dom, a Vietnam Veteran.

Although the storyline sounded wonderful while reading the description prior to reading the book, I found it very hard to keep up with what timeline we were in and who was telling the story!

Aside from all of this, the book does have some great stories, and some horrifying details of what went on during this war and that era of time...and also gives a perspective from the wives' point of view...although I can't say whether or not it is a realistic one....as they spoke of much fundraising and donations and visiting lepers and veterans and children who were severely burned, as well as extravagant parties, while others were starving…

I'm not sure if this could have actually happened at that time, but maybe. (I am a RN who worked many years in ICU/CCU and in as open heart recovery nurse...and things were NOT like this in my lifetime of care/ working at the bedside, but this timeline was before that...so maybe?)

In any case, this story provoked MANY emotions during the course of reading, and broke my heart on multiple occasions as well. My heart goes out to Tricia for all her sadness, and also to Charlene for all that she had to do in order to 'get through' this time in her life.

Difficult read with a difficult message, but happy that I read it nonetheless.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #MacmillanAudio for an ARC of this audiobook which will be released on 10.31.23.

#Absolution by #AliceMcDermott. Narrated by #JesseVilinsky and #RachelKenney.

3 ⭐️⭐️⭐️ for me, but only because I had a hard time keeping up with who was speaking and where we were and what timeline we were in. 😮😬

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Thanks for reading with me!
And please, let me know your thoughts!!

I was drawn to this novel because it’s set in Saigon during the Vietnam War, and I haven’t read a lot of historical fiction novels from that particular time period. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres, but one can only read so many WWII stories, am I right? I also liked the fact that it was centered around two American women living there at the time. It sounded like a unique perspective that would be very much in my wheelhouse. The characters were great—very intriguing, authentic, and layered—but I just couldn’t get into the plot. I really can’t put my finger on why, but this story just didn’t land the way I was expecting it to. It has a 4.21 rating on goodreads, and a few of my trusted bookstagrammers raved about it. I hate to even type this, but put quite simply, I was bored. The narrator could not hold my attention, and my thoughts drifted multiple times while listening to the audiobook. The writing was very beautiful, but maybe just not my style? It reminded me a lot of Ann Patchett’s in Tom Lake, and I didn’t love that one either. It kinda sounds like a me problem, so don’t take my word for it. Could just be that these authors aren’t the right ones for me. With that said, I’m going to give Absolution 3/5 stars. It releases on October 31st!

Absolution gives us a view into the lives of well-off American women living in Saigon during the Vietnam War. These society women engage in what one character refers to as “inconsequential good” - token acts of charity that allow them to feel good about themselves, arguably much more than they actually help. All while surrounding themselves with all manner of Vietnamese servants, which they treat quite similarly to children or pets.

The character of Tricia provides the primary narration, with biting and incisive wit and observations, as she holds herself apart from the colonial culture and at the same time engages in it to varying degrees, eager as anyone else to fit in and find a place.

McDermott paints a rich tapestry of life in this time and place, and a layered and nuanced commentary on these women, which could easily be applied in a much broader scale to the charitable privileged classes en masse. There’s so much to think about, with what is clearly not a black-and-white issue, and she handles it with skill, while still providing an entertaining tale and lively characters.

A phenomenal read which I will definitely be revisiting in the future.

The audiobook was perfectly narrated by Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenney.

Thank you Alice McDermott, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ARC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and MacMillan Audio for letting me listen to an ARC of this audiobook.
Alice McDermott oftens finds things to write about that aren't often on our radar. This time, she has written about the wives that went to Vietnam with their husbands in the early years of the US entry.. Most of the book takes place before Kennedy is killed. I'm of the age where the Vietnam war defined everything in my life so I was very interested. That said, the everything was 'violence', 'the lottery, "ending the war', 'protests'. This was an entirely new view of 1950s/60s wives following their husbands, not having much of a say in anything as per the times, and trying to entertain themselves while their husbands made life and death decisions about people.
The story opens as Tricia (one of the narrative voices) is introdcued to Charlene (Charlene's daughter is the other narrative voice) over the buying of Barbie dolls. Charlene makes it clear immediately that she has access to ways of procuring things that aren't kosher, as in black market. Trisha is fascinated and a fragile and interesting friendship starts. The story follows the two women during a pivotal year of the war when most of us younger people had no idea we were even in Vietnam.
Though the 'action is in 1962/63, it is Charlene's daughter, who sixty years later, writes Trisha, wondering more about that time. Tricia tells her story referring to you/the daughter and how young she was. The daugher writes back with present day news and some of the fall-out of Charlene's decisions.
And it really is a reminder of how different the role of women was back then, how little they were let in to making big decisions, and therefore they also had to keep secret their own big decisions. Many of which Charlene engineers.

This is McDermott at her fineist. She puts together a sentence with such ease. The reader really thinks she is hearing a letter written by someone tryng to remember it all. McDermott doesn't miss anything. She has taken one of the most important events in American 60s history and shown us another side, another view that should never have been left unsaid. It just shows how ingrained the role of woman back then has been ingrained in you. It takes forty five years for someone to say it all outloud.

I highly recommend this book.

Thank you so much to Farrar, Straus & Giroux for reaching out to me, offering me a physical ARC of ‘Absolution’ by Alice McDermott, and to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for also granting me an ARC of the audiobook, narrated by Jesse Vilinksky + Rachel Kenney. What a gift it was to experience this novel in print while being acted to the highest level, in my ears. I recommend both reading experiences, highly.

This novel is, no doubt, generous— or perhaps just honest— about the “reality” of these American women, wives, living in Vietnam during the war. In hindsight we see there was so much they didn’t know and couldn’t have had access to. We can feel the version of love that went into their actions, decisions and even their silences… but it was all from a very western and very privileged ideal. It didn’t, couldn’t aptly, consider the cost. Because of this, I find it hard to review or analyze articulately. It’s complicated, even as truth is NOT. The understanding, though, complex and confusing, and I know this is the mark of great literature, zoomed in on a part of the whole, in service to only one, two or a few layers of one “side”. It’s left me with lots to answer for— and about— myself. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to be critical of and emotional for the women within, and of myself, here.

There are level to every character in the book, both overtly and covertly and even ignorant. The characterization is very well done. Everyone feels real and nuanced. Alice McDermott also does a terrific job of conveying the ways women had to exist at the edges of all of life; politics, war, etc. no matter their class or perceived influence/intelligence. They are on the outside, and the novel never excuses or allows the women to be blameless, but acknowledges how their status as outsiders led to awful consequences for the women themselves, and more tragically, the people of Vietnam. While we are experiencing, from this perspective, the ways these women are on the periphery, it’s clear that the women and people (including children) existing in the American women’s periphery, as well, supporting characters, serving the white women’s narratives, much as those women serve the narratives of their husband, and often with greater consequence. Despite this commonality, the women rarely (if ever) acknowledge it.

Tricia spends so much time judging how “good” or “bad” she is based on her own comparison to the people around her and the real (or perceived) intention/desire behind said actions. She isn’t objective and, consciously or not, has no intention to be, grading herself on this curve. She’s only human, though, and much of her conclusions about herself, Saigon, and the “efforts” of her friends and America are (understandably) ill informed, and worse— horrifically, totally realistic in the face of her naivety, fear and ignorance, even her age at the time. It’s ugly to see but we (I think) are meant to confront this in ourselves. I love seeing her as a whole person. She is going through so much, some of it very alone, and parts of it soul crushing. She is not simple a “good” or “bad” person. But she does do things that are hateful, racist, selfish and some of it, knowingly. It’s good that we can sympathize with her because she is not a monster, and the lesson is that everyone— even us— are capable of bad decisions, and hateful thinking. Acknowledging that dichotomy allows room to hold yourself accountable, unconditionally, and to change for the better.

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

Needless to say, I took so much from this novel and appreciate ever second of my time with it. I do want to add that there are some trigger warnings for miscarriage and war-related atrocities.

Going in, I was worried this book would be a white-gaze version of Vietnam based on the summary. But while the central protagonists & narrators are all white women, I appreciate McDermott's courage in calling out the atrocious war crimes committed by Americans during that time. The writing itself is also beautiful & atmospheric. I only regret not reading this in print form.

I didn't read much about this book before requesting it, but I knew Alice McDermott always draws me right in to her stories. Absolution didn't disappoint. In fact, the audio is so well-done I felt transported immediately. I could see the tea parties, I could smell the food and hear the women's voices.

I hadn't known anything, really, about 1960s Saigon, and now I want to learn more.
Many, many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free audio version for review.

This book has a really interesting concept, but something was a bit off in the execution. I appreciate McDermott’s critique of andoption and volunteerism, but this could’ve been so much more powerful. I felt like there is so much more that could’ve been explored. I felt bad for our MC and her struggles to have a child, but I also felt oddly detached from her. I don’t know if I can quite articulate what it was that was missing here, but something was. This was just an okay read for me.

This thought-provoking novel about corporate Americans living in Vietnam during the Vietnam war, made me reflect on my own arrogance when I visit a foreign country. The need to respect the people living there and their culture. Is our desire to help others really helping or do we need to open our eyes to what people less fortunate really need or want. I learned so much about Vietnam and how some Americans living in that country during the war used the innocent people for their comfort and profit.

This story is about an American woman, Tricia, living in Vietnam during the war. Her husband is a successful engineer hired as a contract employee in Saigon. While suffering several miscarriages, Tricia is thrust into a friendship with Charlene, an experienced corporate socialite, who forces those in her circle to join her wild schemes to help the suffering she sees all around her. Charlene’s adventures are always to help others, but the problem is that her schemes are sometimes dangerous and often take advantage of innocent people.

This story was written as an epistolary novel. Tricia and Charlene’s daughter are writing letters to each other, which is a very interesting way to tell the story. This was easy to listen to on audio with a fantastic narrator.

Thank you, NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this Advanced Readers Copy. #NetGalley #Absolution

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance audio copy of this book. This story is told through reminiscence and flashbacks by the main character to the daughter of a long ago acquaintance. Before the Vietnam War begin, ther was a vibrant social scene amongst American businessmen (think oil) and their wives in Vietnam. The reader encounters two of these women. On the surface, their lives seem frivolous, but as the story porgresses we learn of their clandestine activities to help Vietnamese orphans and the Vietnamese people. The plot is nicely woven between pre-war Vietnam and the present, and the use of letters to narrate is very well done.

This novel reminds us that good attentions can often fall flat.

Charlene has a generous heart in which she hopes to heal those around her but inadvertently causes difficulty for her new friend, Tricia. They bond during their time in Saigon during the Vietnam War but that bond is tested over time and through their experiences. So much so, we find that Charlene’s daughter is also greatly affected by her relationship with her mother, causing complications in her own adult life.

I found my thoughts often landing at the sad reality of life. As much as we want actions and words and behavior and intent to be black and white, it isn’t so simple, especially as we grow. The writing was matter of fact, yet carried so much weight. We’re wrapped up in the everyday of the character’s lives and are reminded of how terrible one day can be, how vibrant and colorful another can be.

Intersting story between 2 women at tge time that their voice was not heard. Very political vidw and shows Americans during Vietnam War. The story is told though letters from one of the woman and the others granddaughter. Granddaughter is fast to judge her family but does not realize past can bring better life and what used to be wrong might become right and what is right might in future seem wrong. Full picture is not seen until later in time.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus & Giroux and Macmillan Audio for gifting me an audio ARC of the latest masterpiece by Alice McDermott, beautifully narrated by Jesse Vilinsky and Rachel Kenney - 5 stars!

In Saigon in 1963, two American wives meet and form a friendship of sorts. Tricia is a newlywed, married to an engineer working for the US Navy Intelligence. Charlene is a corporate spouse and mother of three, the obvious leader of all the American women. She is on a mission to help relieve the horrible conditions she sees around here, collecting and distributing toys and food to hospitals, orphanages and even a leper colony. Decades later, Charlene's daughter reaches out to Tricia, widowed and living in Washington, and the two share their experiences.

Wow - what gorgeous writing. I loved the epistolary manner the story was told - in the form of a long letter from Tricia to Charlene's now adult child, Rainey. In this way, Tricia was able to emphasize the differences between now and then, which I thoroughly enjoyed, as well as talk about her past growing up in NY. You will be transported to Vietnam early in the war and to a different era, when women were definitely second class citizens, especially in the military. They didn't ask questions of their husbands, just packed up and moved to wherever they were sent, and even doctors chalked issues to women's emotions. It's a look at how things were so different for different classes and peoples - parties for officers, while children begged in the streets. Charlene wasn't always successful and was definitely controlling, but she did try to do what she could for others. I adored the character of Dom and his wonderful big heart. Highly recommended!

I enjoyed reading about a historical time and place I had never read about before. The characters and the plot in the past were compelling and well-crafted. Charlene is fascinating! Tricia’s growth is interesting, but I would have liked to know more.

The rest of it, though, I did not think served the story. The epistolary structure is unbalanced with the first letter taking 73% of the book. The rest of the book introduces a new first-person narrator (the adult version of a minor character from the past timeline) and new major issues that are not at all well explored. I just wasn’t sure what this last quarter of the book was trying to do (except maybe throw in all the ideas McDermott considered thematically, but could find a way to explore fully in the past timeline).

I could tell by the time I got midway through this book that reviewing it was going to be tricky.

The writing is amazing. It's not easy delivering a cohesive drop with war as a background and complex characters. Yet, Alice McDermott made it look like it wasn't hard. The premise of white Americans in Vietnam during the war gave serious "Real (White) Housewives of Vietnam." That angle alone intrigued me, eager to learn more about the protagonist, Tricia, and her completely opposite counterpart, Charlene.

Tricia's passiveness with her husband and friends was exhausting but also relatable. Being forced to balance infertility and social standing during an era when respectability politics was the law of the land was pretty heartbreaking. It was through these challenges that Tricia was most captivating.

The expected cringe of white American women bobbling through a third-world country was a pity. Midway through the book, it felt as though the premise had gotten the best of itself and got stuck telling a reduced story of white women fighting boredom and keeping up with the Joneses in wartime Vietnam.

McDermott is masterful in her storytelling, able to string scenes and cultures together, delivering textured experiences that readers can feel. I'm convinced that I would be captivated by Alice McDermott's hand-written grocery list because of her way of dancing with words throughout "Absolution." Love or hate Tricia, she becomes a living, breathing human in the novel, one that offers an emotional testimony of infertility and belonging.

As the story unfolds, The contrast between Tricia, who's passive, and Charlene, a type-A leader, becomes central to the story. Even in the extreme tension of 1960s Vietnam, the lives of both women reflect the patriarchal domestic expectations along with do-gooder housewife attitudes of that time. While well-written and interesting, it's also a testament to the detachment of white people and the Indigenous lives they profit from.

It's a well-told story that aches for a deeper purpose to be told. Though all plots are reconciled by the end of the book, there's a feeling of longing in regard to the impact that Vietnamese life and culture had on the people who centered themselves on it for their own profit. It was interesting.

Thank you to Netgalley for being able to access this ARC as an audiobook.
Absolution by Alice McDermott gave me a look into the lives of well-to-do American wives living in Vietnam in the early 60s. I was surprised to hear how the American wives chose to spend their time.
I think remembering my own mother and her do-gooding charity balls etc. here in the US were quite similar, even down to taking Librium to get through a rough patch!
There were very graphic "pictures" of the children that were so hard to take. Poverty is never fun to see, especially when it comes to children.
I felt like there was something missing concerning the relationship with the two women, but at the very end we found out what cause this rift.
The book was a little flat to me. But I enjoyed the historical references and the global perspectives.

This book gave me an interesting perspective on one slice of life during the Vietnam War. I had no idea that there were American families that went over there! I have read about the war from soldiers' points of view and some from the point of view of Vietnamese people, but this perspective was new. I liked watching Tricia struggle with her proto-liberal ideals especially in the face of the strong personalities of Stella and Charlene. Charlene especially shows the tensions between "saving" people and overstepping.
There was one section which sort of took me out of the groove of the novel when Rainey is telling about her adult life. I would have preferred the story stayed with Tricia and Charlene and maybe included Rainey's story at the end? But overall I enjoyed the book and I thought the audio narrator did a great job.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this audiobook for review.

This fantastic story is set in 1963 Saigon and was a truly superb audio listening experience. Each narrator completely embodied the characters making the story come alive in my mind. And the characters, wow! McDermott does an incredible job of writing realistically flawed personalities. Those flaws, along with the honesty and warmth of the characters made me feel such a deep connection, I really never wanted it to end. Alas, it did, but I will hold this beautiful book in my mind forever.

If you’ve been around for awhile you know how I love my historical fiction and finding one with a new angle and time period, and then loving it, means I’m going to be recommending you to read it quite often. Prepare yourselves! 😂

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the alc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I will be posting on instagram and TikTok next week.

A quiet story that tells so much about complicated people, living in an even more complex time. Two young American wives become friends while living in Saigon in 1963. On the surface they live charmed lives with servants and riches and other friends in similar situations.

In that same country there live many whose lives are less than pleasant - lepers, children suffering from napalm burns, those who are starving, those with birth defects.

One of the friends is obsessively altruistic which causes disturbing and complicated events. The latter portion of the book reflects these incidents as told as memories from the years gone by.

It’s a lovely story of unlovely circumstances told by a brilliant author. I am grateful to know more of our complex relationship with Vietnam during that era.