The Sorrow of War Book Review - 998 Words

The experience of war brings out the moralities of war and the tragedies of loss and death. Bao Ninh portrays these realizations and tragedies throughout his novel The Sorrow of War. The stories told follow the central character Kien whose story shows the moralities of war and tragedies of loss and death. Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War is a novel depicts the horrors that are a result of war. Kien is the main character whose life is used to depict these horrors; a soldier who’s lost all his comrades, lost his love, and lost his path. Kien’s life is made to be extremely harsh and extremely undesirable by the readers. The novel starts off with Kien gathering the remains of his fellow fallen soldiers, this gathering seems to be the trigger for†¦show more content†¦O’Brien and Ninh both had the unchronological events similar to the style of Quentin Tarantino, however, Ninh seems to tie the events back together further into the story rather than many even ts that stand alone. Ninh tells the events of Kien and Phuong’s love but waits to show the largest events of their relationship until the end. I feel that Bao Ninh’s use of very vivid and extremely graphic imagery to be used very well. With the title The Sorrow of War you’d expect a strong story put forward by the author, the title almost requires that the novel be written in a very graphic style. Ninh did justice to the title in describing the horrors of the war in ways such as â€Å"the blood spreading out, spraying from their backs, flowing like red mud.† (5) Many complain that Ninh was overly graphic and should have toned down his imagery more than he has. I believe this is one of the novels greatest feats to display the pain and the sadness that comes with war. I understand that this novel was originally written in Vietnamese and translated to English, having family that speak English I understand that Vietnamese is a language that is very blunt and isn’t a very poetic language. Being translated to via my parents gives me experience knowing that the true passion and meaning of a speech or a text can be lost in translation. Although I did enjoy The Sorrow of War I believe that this novel could have been far moreShow MoreRelatedThe Sorrow of War Essay1244 Words   |  5 PagesThe Sorrow of War Bao Ninh’s The Sorrow of War is a novel that is a personal view of the Vietnam War from the perspective of a Vietnamese soldier. Like the American novel â€Å"The things they carried†, this novel brings about the effects of war on people, and especially how it defeats the human capacity for things such as love and hope. 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