In 'Dust Child,' the impacts of the Vietnam War are felt decades later

NPR's Book of the Day

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Books, Arts

4.2 • 672 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2023

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai's new novel, Dust Child, takes a closer look at the often-fraught relationships between Vietnamese women and American soldiers during the war. In today's episode, the author tells NPR's Scott Simon how she was always fascinated by the stories of the forgotten children from those relationships – often left behind, abandoned, and raised with a deep resentment for their mixed roots. The novel follows both the perspective of that generation – trying to find a better future – and that of the servicemembers being forced, decades later, to confront their past decisions.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Kia Miyaka-Natis. Winfun Kwe-Mai is an award-winning
0:09.8	Vietnamese writer and journalist whose real-life reporting on the Vietnam War inspired her latest novel,
0:16.7	Does Child. The book explores a different and often ignored reverberation of the war,
0:23.2	the children born of wartime relationships, and the subsequent struggles that emerge when
0:28.5	war ends, children get abandoned, and the generational trauma starts to set in.
0:35.3	Here she is with NPR Scott Simon talking about the personal stories that
0:39.9	inspired this novel. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.
0:46.7	Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, sources and methods.
0:53.2	NPR reporters on the ground bring you
0:55.1	stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.
1:00.6	Listen to sources and methods on the NPR app or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:07.2	Born Vietnam has been at the center of many outstanding and wrenching American books and films,
1:12.8	but the Vietnamese who suffered most in that war are often portrayed mostly as bystanders,
1:19.6	victims or aggressors. Winfond Quaymi, an award-winning Vietnamese writer and journalist,
1:26.5	has written a novel that tells
1:27.8	the stories of people of mixed race born out of wartime relationships
1:32.5	between U.S. servicemen and Vietnamese women
1:35.8	who were often left to languish in orphanages, shunned in their communities,
1:40.1	left behind and forgotten by their biological fathers.
1:44.4	Her novel, Dust Child, and Winfond Quaymi joins us now from Seattle, where she's on book tour.
1:51.2	Thank you so much for being with us.
1:53.0	Thank you so much, Scott.
	...

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