Bronze Drum

June 27, 2022
Nguyen (Roundabout) shines with this portrayal of two sisters’ heroism in ancient Vietnam. Set over seven years during the Bronze Age, when the Han Dynasty ruled what is now Northern Vietnam, the story follows Viet Lord Trư
ng and Lady Man Thiệ
n of Cung Diệ
n Mê Linh, who raise their daughters Trư
ng Trac and Trưng Nhi to rule as men’s equals. Instilled with the religious beliefs and values of the Viet traditions, the girls struggle to conform to the forced assimilation of patriarchal Confucian culture. This struggle comes to a head when Lord Trưng is executed by order of the Han government. Together, Trưng Trac and Trưng Nhị
raise an army of Viet women to retake their hometown from the Han and free the Viet people. Throughout, Nguyen returns to the traditional bronze drums as symbols of Viet pride and culture, scorned by the Han: “She wanted to demand that he respect the instrument.... An object forged with such care, one that took on a thousand meanings... should not be a gift to dismiss lightly.” Bronze drums echo throughout the story, leading the Viet sisters in peace and in war. Readers will not want to put down this epic feminist page-turner. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber.

July 1, 2022

Nguyen's third novel (after Roundabout) is based on real-life events in 40 CE Vietnam, when the Viet people rose up against the Han Chinese oppressors who were conscripting Viet men, forcing marriages, and levying exorbitant taxes on the populace. When their nobleman father is executed, the Trung sisters, Nhi and Trac, discard their feminine garb and became generals in the fight for independence of the Viet people. By the end of the first month of battle, they are joined by women from all walks of life, from aristocrats to farmers, and the Trung sisters ride into battle astride elephants, brandishing weapons and leading an army of 70,000 women in an effort to free their nation. Eventually the Viet people did regain their freedom and independence from the Han, but not without suffering terrible losses. VERDICT Nguyen's beautifully written novel will be an eye-opener to people who don't know the turbulent history of the Lac Viet and the Han. Readers who remember the Vietnam War, and the part the United States played in it, might come away with a better understanding of the region and its people.--Jane Henriksen Baird

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2022
When Beyonc� asked, "Who run the world?" was she thinking about the legendary Trưng sisters? During the early years of the Common Era, Trưng Trắc and Trưng Nhi, two daughters of a Việt lord, grew up within palace walls. Their northern homeland was under the increasingly tyrannical rule of the H�n from neighboring China. Trưng Trắc, the older sister, was studious and steadfast; Trưng Nhi was rebellious and resistant to the constraints of royal life. When the uneasy peace their father had maintained with the H�n was disrupted and terrible injury was inflicted upon their family and loved ones, the young women (eventually referred to as the She-Kings of the Việts) call upon their inner strengths, upon their classical education in the art and philosophy of war, and, most importantly, upon other Việt women to defend their homeland. Marshalling an army of 80,000 women, the sisters waged a spectacular war--complete with drums, arrows, and elephants--on the H�n, and, for a short time, the postwar kingdom was ruled by Trưng Trắc. When her rule was disrupted in a H�n rout, an effort was made by the conquerors to confiscate all the bronze drums that had become the means of battle communication for the women warriors in an effort to build a towering symbol of H�n superiority. Some drums, hidden and buried by the vanquished women, are still unearthed today, providing continued support for the legacy of the fierce duo. The sisters have long been revered as national icons in Vietnam, and this fictionalized account of their rise to military greatness includes extensive, cinematic descriptions of battlefield tactics and imagined scenes of heartache and horror while not avoiding references to mistakes in judgment (diplomatic and otherwise) they may have made. Nguyen reminds us that the power of women is nothing new.

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August 1, 2022
Nearly 2,000 years ago, two Vietnamese sisters led an army of women against their H�n Chinese overlords, briefly creating an independent nation that set the stage for the creation of Vietnam. Nguyen brings the near-mythical figures of the Trưng sisters to full-blooded life in this sweeping historical narrative. The imperious and dutiful Trưng Trắc and her younger, impetuous sister, Trưng Nhị, are the daughters of a lord, raised to rule and encouraged to choose their own partners outside the economic constraints of marriage. But the shadow of H�n rule forces one sister into a year of imprisonment while the other contemplates running away to be with the man she loves. When their defiance of a H�n suitor leads to the murder of their loved ones, the sisters stand up against their oppressors. They slay a tiger that has terrorized a village for more than a decade, writing their proclamation of war on its skin. Though the path to victory is riddled with obstacles, the Trưng sisters' determination and skill earn their place in history. Gripping historical adventure.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 1, 2023

Narrator Quyen Ngo adds the perfect spark of life to Nguyen's (The Adventures of Joe Harper) fictionalized account of the highly revered Hai B� Tru'ng, the legendary sisters who led an ill-fated rebellion against the Han Chinese when they first dominated the Au Lac region of Vietnam in 40 C.E. Ngo adds an air of playfulness between the sisters, who are opposites in personality, and a sense of grandeur to their father and mother, the Vietnamese lord and his wife. The love the two women feel for the men they have chosen is palpable. Ngo's portrayal of the Han as ruthless conquerors resonates. It is grimace-worthy when the girls' father and older sister Tru'ng Thac's husband are beheaded in front of them, then they are banished from the court. Ngo is careful and precise with pronunciations, often caressing selected words and delivering characterizations that are both sensitive and grounded. Her authentic pronunciation of ancient Vietnamese words, names, and places seals the deal. VERDICT A fascinating peek into life in ancient Vietnam and its matriarchal past, eloquently performed.--Stephanie Bange

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.