LOTUS

Durham’s debut novel follows three estranged family members as they connect before, during, and after the Vietnam War.

In 1960, Isabela Marquez, an engaged woman who comes from an aristocratic Salvadoran family, is inspired by a dream to pursue her art as a painter in Thailand shortly before her wedding. Lance Jameson, inspired by his college professor Nigel Hawkes, becomes part of a British Intelligence mission to befriend the Hmong but soon becomes embroiled in a drug cartel, falls in love with Isabela, and confronts his past. Mera Rodriguez grows up in El Salvador with a loving family that’s torn apart when soldiers take her brothers away for the war effort and murder a family member for standing up to authority; she resides with a healer and is subsequently kidnapped by drug smugglers, forcing her to escape and reinvent herself in a murderous world. Written in three parts, this intricate narrative effectively weaves together the separate stories of the three main characters. Although the plotlines—especially Mera’s—are initially vague and dreamlike; Isabela’s story even starts with a description of a dream: “Awareness expanded to merge with undefined dimension and immensely open possibility. Solid forms arose from the void to populate the emptiness like endless stars fading in and out.” However, the stories as a whole result in a unique blend that explores the harsh realities of the Vietnam era as well as themes of generativity, rebirth, and familial connection. Characters’ backstories, while sad, are psychologically engaging. However, it takes time for one to feel grounded in the story for a few reasons—including choppy, sometimes unstructured chapters and extraneous details that make the novel feel overlong. Despite these flaws, this historical novel offers a vivid account of how the war-torn, drug-centric milieu affected American soldiers, intelligence agents, and, most critically, citizens inhabiting poor countries.

An ambitious but disjointed multigenerational tale of a tragic chapter in world history.