Romancing Vietnam

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

For three months in 1989-1990, British journalist Wintle traveled across Vietnam, getting to know Vietnamese from all walks in Hanoi, Hue, Danang, My Lai, Ho Chi Minh City and many lesser-known spots. His goal was ``to furnish an alternative to the received picture,'' which, for Americans, is top-heavy with Vietnam war memories and/or analysis. The most pleasant surprise about this entertaining and informative travel book is its almost exclusive emphasis on Vietnam today. Wintle was banqueted and speechified everywhere he went, and his stern efforts to behave correctly while keeping up with the toasts are hilarious. The heart and soul of Vietnam seem most eloquently revealed in accounts of relations with his official ``minders'' (all of whom worked hard to ``learn the art of keeping Mister Justin happy''). Wintle's unsentimental admiration shines through this buoyant account, one of the first books about Vietnam that doesn't present an unrelievedly solemn face to the reader. Photos. (Nov.)

Library Journal

In 1989, Wintle visited much of Vietnam to find the ``Real Vietnam.'' Current images of Vietnam, he believes, are stereotypes heavily distorted by the West's long war there and Rambo films and books. The ``minders'' of his ``programme'' (guides/interpreters from the Information Ministry) had a different agenda. The tragedy of Vietnam, he found was this perpetuation of an old Vietnamese story of struggle and revolution that only caught the attention of the country's top elites. Wintle broke free of the propaganda tour and encountered prostitutes, too much booze, and local culinary delights. There is another Vietnam, he says, which the Information Ministry wants to hide, one where the pleasures of life are never totally sublimated to ideology. Both the tale of Wintle's trip and his insights on Vietnam will interest readers attracted to books on Vietnam and Southeast Asia.-- Mark K. Jones, Mercantile Lib., Cincinnati