In my readings of The Sorrow of War, I found myself engrossed in Bao Ninh’s images he created in his book about Kien. As Kien began his story, I caught myself getting lost amongst his constant shifts in storytelling. About a third of the way into the novel, I finally was picking up on his writing style. As I learned what it was like to be a Vietcong soldier and how the American soldiers treated them, it saddened me and opened my eyes widely. It was awakening to hear the horrific actions of American soldiers even executed in groups of American soldiers and not the actions of a single soldier. Ninh described our soldiers as animal-like, muscular, brutish, and always merciless.
Ninh’s portrayal of American soldiers was not the only piece of the
Ninh’s portrayal of American soldiers was not the only piece of the