CHARLIE AND THE CHILDREN

by Joanna C. Scott ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 28, 1997

A Vietnam novel that was inspired by Scott's nonfiction compilation, Indochina's Refugees: Oral Histories from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam (1989, not reviewed). While living in the Philippines, Scott interviewed an Amerasian boy, and was so moved by his story that she imagined the life of the father who had abandoned him in Vietnam. Charlie Lucas is a grant who is marking off his days near Cam Ranh Bay, trying to avoid booby-traps, fighting the Viet Cong when he must (Scott has the speech and attitudes, and the dynamics among Charlie's fellow soldiers, down precisely). Charlie dreams of the upper-class Georgetown woman, Pauline, he met shortly before being drafted, who married him out of pity but remains loyal, writing regularly of her accomplishments in school. Then he meets a Vietnamese woman, Minh, and fathers a son. Mentally walling out his marriage to Pauline, Charlie marries Minh, and then all hell breaks loose: Booby-traps decimate Charlie's platoon, and Charlie is captured by the VC. They're only children themselves, but they hold their prisoner captive deep underground, in a small dark cage. Fed only rice balls and boiled rats, Charliel begins to weaken physically. In isolation, he looks back over his life clearly at first, but then begins to sink into fantasies. In a poetic but brilliantly clear style, Scott moves seamlessly between Charlie's physical pain and his visions, until finally, as he nears death, Charlie seems to fly above the earth and visualize the fall of South Vietnam and the terrible plight of the boat people. At last one of his captors, a child to whom Charlie attempts to teach English and whom he confuses with his true son, takes pity on Charlie and delivers him to American soldiers. A beautiful story, indebted both to Larry Brown's Dirty Work and Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato, but with a gentleness and compassion all its own.

Pub Date: March 28, 1997

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 240

Publisher: Black Heron

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1997

Categories: FICTION