The Lotus Eaters

By: Tatjana Soli

Narrated by: Kirsten Potter

It's 1975 and the North Vietnamese army is poised to roll into Saigon. As the city falls into chaos, two lovers make their way across the city to escape to a new life. Helen Adams, an American photojournalist, must take leave of a devastated country she has come to love. Nguyen Pran Linh, the man who loves her, must deal with his own conflicted loyalties. As they race through the streets, they play out a drama of love and betrayal that began 12 years before. Their mentor, the larger-than-life war correspondent Sam Darrow, was once Helen’s infuriating lover and fiercest competitor, as well as Linh’s secret keeper, protector, and truest friend. As the sun sets on their life in Saigon, Helen and Linh struggle against both their inner demons and the ghosts of the past, illuminating the horrors of war, the dangers of obsession, and the redemptive power of love.

©2010 Tatjana Soli (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The novel is steeped in history, yet gorgeous sensory details enliven the prose….35 years after the fall of Saigon, Soli’s entrancing debut brings you close enough to feel a part of it." ( People magazine)

A female journalists' view of the Vietnam War

Soli writes with passion, not merely of what we expect--red dirt and thick canopied jungle and the Casablanca-seediness of a French province in decay--but of the quiet moments that bonded a love triangle.

The war weary photographer, running his foot along the edge of the precipice is a familiar one, but he is joined by a colleague and lover. There is a third member of the triangle. It is not the estranged wife bottled up in a ranch-style house in the US--although she does appear--but the Vietnamese 'native guide' who respects him, loves her, and is torn by the Vietnamese civil war.

Soli, like her characters, is best when away from the war, protecting what is left. There is a scene in Cambodia's Angor Wat where the great trees are breaking the stone temples apart as if they were fresh bread, and again in the spidery capillaries of the Mekong, on a small sacred island, where the Buddhist dead replenish the soil and nurture orchids.

The performance is good, with a touch of Kathleen Turner's weary sultry voice, which, unfortunately, reflects the prose as both the writing and voice crackle with static in the more passionate moments.

disappointing

Some books are great IRL but don't transfer to audio very well; this is one of them. Something about the structure of the paragraphs makes it difficult to follow in this format. To make matters worse, the narrator is unnecessarily breathy and straining. I wish I could return it.

Well written and well performed.

There is an irony in the war photographers' quest for personal achievement and acclaim being so petty in comparison to the scope of combat atrocities photographed and personal risk endured to get the pictures.

Travels in the Vietnam war, by a photographer.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to anyone, it is read, not given characterization, but the readers voice is quite calm and soothing. Voices would have been way too hard, due to the ethnicity of many participants.i

Who was your favorite character and why?

I would have to say Helen, although the story tends to focus on her in the book. In actually, there were a few people with whom were standouts.

Did Kirsten Potter do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

I don't feel she did any characterization, just read, not giving emotion to anyone, but in your minds eye, you could see and feel the differences.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I wasn't pleased with the way the book ended. When the prisoners are being released, you had hope that the Vietnamese man, whom was already in the states, safe, he chose to go to Cambodia to get Helen out safely, if possible. I guess I wanted a good ending, not just ended.

Any additional comments?

I will re-use to this more than once. The title was a tad misleading, but the book was meaty and gave a full measure.

Lost Generation

This is a good book but the narrators voice was so soothing it allowed me to day dream too much about other things. I think it would have been a much better book with a better narrator.