Novel Without a Name

"Reminiscent of All Quiet on Western Front and The Red Badge of Courage. . . . A breathtakingly original work.--San Francisco Chronicle

Twenty-eight-year-old Quan has been fighting for the Communist cause in North Vietnam for a decade. Filled with idealism and hope when he first left his village, he now spends his days and nights dodging stray bullets and bombs, foraging scraps of food to feed himself and his men. Quan seeks comfort in childhood memories as he tries to sort out his conflicting feelings of patriotism and disillusionment. Then, given the chance to return to his home, Quan undertakes a physical and mental journey that brings him face to face with figures from his past--his angry father, his childhood sweetheart, his boyhood friends now maimed or dead--and ultimately to the shattering reality that his innocence has been irretrievably lost in the wake of the war. In a voice both lyrical and stark, Duong Thu Huong, one of Vietnam's most beloved writers, powerfully conveys the conflict that spiritually destroyed her generation.

"If it is a crime to take an unflinching look at the reality of war and life under a totalitarian regime, and to do it with great art and mastery, then Duong Thu Huong, is gloriously guilty."--The New York Times Book Review

Author: Duong Thu Huong
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 06/01/1996
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.46lbs
Size: 7.74h x 5.07w x 0.60d
ISBN: 9780140255102
Audience: Young Adult

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 4.7
Point Value: 10
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 68887 / Novel Without a Name


Award: International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award - Nominee


Review Citation(s):
New York Times 06/02/1996 pg. 32
Publishers Weekly 04/29/1996

About the Author
Duong Thu Huong, author of Paradise of the Blind and Novel Without a Name (both from Penguin) is an advocate of human rights and democratic political reform, and was expelled from the Communist Party and imprisoned without trial in 1991. The Vietnamese government has effectively banned all of her novels. She lives in Hanoi.