THE MAN IN THE BOX: A Story From Vietnam

by Mary Lois Dunn ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 1968

It begins with a man a bruised body--imprisoned in a crate and ends with a soul-shocked boy floating down a river, an ambitious, portentous book that had better be good but isn't. The story can be quickly told: a young Montagnard boy, Chau Li, rescues an American prisoner from the Viet Cong not because he is an American but because he is a man, hides him and nurses him and helps him return to the Americans who've occupied a neighboring village; when the American, Dah Vid, is flown off to the hospital, Chau Li, whom he was planning to adopt, is left behind, sees new and old friends killed, and takes to the river mindlessly and almost without memory. The trouble starts with the stilted attempt to approximate native speech patterns and mounts with the inconsistent attitude toward individuals, thus contravening what should be the core of the book: Dah Vid counts, as do the other Americans and a few villagers, but the Cong are cruel and treacherous and the lowland Vietnamese are contemptuous and cowardly. Further, Dah Vid and his buddies are Green Berets whose assignments are justified, even glorified. Despite sardonic reminders of the futility of war, this can't be seen as protest, and, despite the subtitle, it's not the voice of Vietnam.

Pub Date: March 15, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968

Categories: FICTION