PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Bao Ninh was one of only ten survivors from the 500-strong Glorious 27th Youth Brigade during the Vietnam War. His harrowing book is remarkable: firstly because his North Vietnamese viewpoint is a rare antidote to the gung-ho American version, and secondly it is so much more than just a war book, being both a tragic love story and a meditation on lost youth and innocence. It is extremely gruesome in place, there is some very black humour, and it has a complex but skilfully executed structure which, we can only assume, has helped him gain the distance he needed to write about such experiences. (Kirkus UK)
