Free Download | The Lotus Eaters | Tatjana Soli Novel

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This novel by first time author Tatjana Soli was a haunting depiction of the war in Vietnam from several different fronts. We saw the view of the US military, the view of the Vietnamese civilians and the views of the war photographers who were frequently caught in the middle. The main character, Helen Adams, grows in her understanding of the war through out the novel. She starts out as not being sure why she is there or what she is doing and ends up a stronger woman. It was a fantastic book and one that I couldn't put down once I started reading it. Like the conflicts of war, Tatjana Soli's portraits disturb. Helen's relationship with Darrow feels destructive and yet her feelings for him draw her to him much like the compulsion of the lotus eaters. At times, I felt repelled by Helen's overwhelming attachment to Darrow, wanting to see more of Helen as an individual in her own right rather than Helen as attached and focused on Darrow. Certainly, Helen and Darrow's relationship is not the idealized war romance! Perhaps the power in the writing is in the author's ability to provoke such strong emotions, positive and negative, in her portrayal of relationship dynamics. Several key moments in Helen's relationships with Darrow and Linh crystallize the scene and the emotion with a poetical precision. Despite some missed potential in some of the details, THE LOTUS EATERS clearly shows a powerful author in the making.