Other Moons
SynopsisPlot
In this anthology, Vietnamese writers describe their experience of what they call the American War and its lasting legacy through the lens of their own vital artistic visions. A North Vietnamese soldier forms a bond with an abandoned puppy. Cousins find their lives upended by the revelation that their fathers fought on opposite sides of the war. Two lonely veterans in Hanoi meet years after the war has ended through a newspaper dating service. A psychic assists in the search for the body of a long-vanished soldier. The father of a girl suffering from dioxin poisoning struggles with corrupt local officials. The twenty short stories collected in Other Moons range from intensely personal to narratives that deal with larger questions of remembrance, trauma, and healing. A diverse set of authors, including many veterans, they span styles from social realism to tales of the fantastic. Yet whether describing the effects of Agent Orange exposure or telling ghost stories, all speak to the unresolved legacy of a conflict that still haunts Vietnam.
Story
About this book
Other Moons is an anthology of twenty short stories by Vietnamese writers, each addressing the conflict that lasted from 1954 to 1975 and its aftereffects. In Vietnam the war is commonly called the American War, and this collection presents perspectives that remain underrepresented in English-language publishing. The authors include veterans alongside civilian writers, and their approaches range from social realism to stories that incorporate the supernatural.
The situations in these stories are specific and varied. A North Vietnamese soldier forms a quiet bond with an abandoned puppy. Two cousins discover that their fathers fought on opposing sides. Veterans in Hanoi reconnect through a newspaper dating service years after the fighting ended. A psychic helps search for the remains of a missing soldier. A father whose daughter suffers from dioxin poisoning confronts uncooperative local officials. Some stories center on Agent Orange exposure; others use ghost narratives to address what remains unresolved.
The collection moves between the intimate and the collective, touching on remembrance, trauma, and how people continue to live alongside a conflict that shaped families, communities, and landscapes across Vietnam. The styles shift from story to story, reflecting the range of literary traditions the authors draw on.
