Tatjana SoliCríticas

Here's what I wrote in 2012 about this read: "Impressive novel. Heavily researched, the author's first, and excellent character development. Helen is a Vietnam photographer, and the experiences of war photojournalists comes to lfie via her and her companions. Vietnam, the country AND the war, become more real and the love story is tender and human. So memorably worth the (engrossing) read."

3.5 stars.½

Historical fiction that separately tells the stories of two women: George Armstrong Custer’s wife, Libbie, a real person, and Anne Cummins, a fictional character taken captive by the Cheyenne at age 15. Libbie’s story is based around her husband’s military career, as he rises through ranks, finds the limelight, and tackles various assignments. Anne’s story follows her assimilation into a new culture, as she migrates with and is traded to different tribes. As the story unfolds, we come to understand that Anne and Libbie have more in common than outward appearances would indicate.

The power in this novel is bringing to life a past time and place through the characters. I felt the characters were well-drawn, giving the reader insight into their motivations and feelings. The historical people are brought to life and felt nuanced and authentic. I enjoyed the author’s writing style. She vividly depicts the scenery, deprivations, and challenges of life in the 1860’s – 1870’s on the frontier, at military outposts, and in the tribal camps. By employing two related storylines, the author provides insight into almost all facets of life during the period. It was a brutal time in history and is depicted as such. Content warnings include graphic violence to people and animals, rape, starvation, mutilation, racism, and sexism. Recommended to readers that enjoy historical fiction of the period, or stories of life on the American frontier.

I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for a candid review. Publication date: June 12, 2018

The Last Good Paradise by Tatjana Soli is a strangely prophetic yet darkly comedic novel about a group of people who escape to a remote resort on a small unnamed atoll in the South Pacific. They are all running way from something and all feel cheated out of the happiness that they feel entitled to. Ann and Richard are one step ahead of their creditors as a bad business partner and poor management has sunk Richard’s dream of opening a restaurant in Los Angeles, they are also one step away from an imploding marriage. Dex Cooper, rock n’roll superstar is facing his own slide down the fame meter. He’s getting older and is fighting with his other band members. He is daily getting less interested in his young, sexy muse, 20 year old Wende. Loren, the manager of the resort has his own demons to face, and even the workers at the resort, Titi and Cooked have difficulties to work through.

The story explores the relationships and backgrounds of these people, and is in turns both funny and tragic. Beside the wonderfully exotic setting, the author provides some interesting insights into our world and how we cope when we are confronted with no electricity, no internet and no cell phones. As these people unite in various ways, they each discover what they really need in life is to express their passion, be it for cooking, music, art or family life.

I enjoyed this story and tried not to compare it to the other book of hers that I have read, The Lotus Eaters which I loved. The Last Good Paradise uses seductive, funny and quirky scenarios to show us how strong our need to connect with others is and, also, that a one-way ticket to paradise isn’t necessarily the answer.

Uneven in its execution, The Lotus Eaters ultimately is a literary failure. It attempts to be something more than it is, which essentially is a romance novel. In some ways, that's a pity, for the author has the knack of establishing mood and setting, a real feel for Vietnam and Southeast Asia. It's her story and characters that let down the reader. Built around war photographer Helen Adams, the plot follows a sort of connect-the-dots Vietnam War storyline. We have Helen, the ingenue; Helen the outraged, determined to bring justice; Helen the brave; Helen the reckless; Helen the defender of orphans; Helen wounded in action; Helen in love; more Helen in love; Helen returning home in the same way as disrespected war veterans; Helen at the fall of Saigon; Helen uncovering the Cambodian genocide. And all the while, Helen never really changes. Over a ten year period, she is no different on the inside than she was at the beginning. She doesn't seem to learn; instead, she feels. But worst of all is what we have here as the only point of tension in the novel: will the Vietnam War ever stop distracting from and threatening Helen's love life? In the end, it's trite. More than that, it's a moral obscenity.

There is also the issue of authenticity. Somehow, despite the good job of creating a feeling of presence in Southeast Asia (far superior to Viet Thanh Nguyen's recently acclaimed work), the book seems artificial, once or twice removed from the original experience you would expect to find in people like Caputo, Herr, or Hasford. It seems fake.

This was a great book about a female reporter in Vietnam from 1965-1975. It was fictionalized but I recognized a lot of the places and events that I have previously studied. This was Soli's debut novel and the writing was languid, flowing, and soulful. My only complaint was the last page--the ending was abrupt and tied up with a neat little bow--as I don't think any wars are. 386 pages

Read this book. It is a beautifully told and haunting story; you have never seen Vietnam like this.

This book follows the lives of three people; George Armstrong Custer, Libbie Custer and a young girl named Annie. I am sure all of you know the basics of Custer’s story including the debacle at Little Big Horn. As often happens with infamous men, the women behind them are often not as well known. I knew absolutely nothing about Custer’s wife prior to reading this novel. Annie is a fictional compilation of many of the white women taken hostage by Native Americans during this difficult time in history.

The book alternates stories between George, Libbie and Annie starting with George’s joining the Union side during the Civil War and becoming a War Hero at a young age due to his actions on the battlefield. It shows the progression of Libbie’s life from a sheltered young girl who really didn’t want to get married because she felt it was more of a prison sentence and would curtail her ability to read and do what she wanted – UNTIL she was reintroduced to childhood acquaintance George Custer now returned to town as a conquering hero.

Annie’s story is far less happy. She is living with her family on the prairie when their settlement is attached by Cheyenne and she is one of a few survivors taken prisoner. She survives by the skin of her teeth and is taken from place to place and traded from Chief to Chief – the Removes of the title – in a life of simply trying to survive in a place where she is not wanted.

As the two stories work towards their inevitable crossover the reader learns about the lives of George and Libbie from his internal struggles to her adjustments to living on the frontier. Annie’s tale is nothing but struggle and sorrow except for the birth of her two children; their conceptions were not pleasant experiences for her but she does come to love them, fiercely. So much so that when she finally finds her way home she wants nothing more than to get them back.

There is nothing easy about reading this book as it is not a happy tale. This period in the history of our country is a sad one. The treatment of the Native peoples was horrifying. The wars between Native tribes were horrifying. It was a violent time all around. Ms. Soli does not spare her reader that violence – either the war or the more personal types so be prepared for some difficult scenes to read.

That being written, this is an excellent book and one that is hard to put down despite the dark nature of the story. It is not all death and destruction but there are no happy endings here. I am not spoiling any plot points as the history has been written and we know the end of Mr. Custer. There is also much written record as to how the women rescued from being held prisoner by Native Tribes were treated after they tried to reintegrate into society. But don’t let that history deter you from reading this book. It is a story that will stay with you and make you think. It does not give you a clean, clear, happy ending for there wasn’t one. In that it tells the truth even though it is a book of fiction.

For much of American history, we have romanticized the West. It was wild and untamed and it was up to us to bring it under our control (damn the people who already lived there). But even discounting the lies and betrayals offered so glibly by our government, rarely were honest, unbiased accounts of the endurance and brutal violence of life in the territories presented. Instead, there were embellishments, aggrandizing, and outright fabrications that only served to enlarge the legend of the civilizing of the West. In Tatjana Soli's newest novel, The Removes, she strips bare the romance of the time and place through the fictionalized stories of General George Armstrong "Autie" Custer, his wife Libbie, and an invented character, a girl named Anne Cummins who was abducted by the Cheyenne.

The novel opens with a terrifying and graphic raid where 15 year old Anne Cummins' family is killed and she is captured by the Cheyenne and subsequently marched, weak and starving, to the tribe's temporary village. This attack is just one in a long line of back and forth killings and retributions between the Native tribes and the US Army and lays the groundwork for the subsequent depredations into territories promised to the Indians. Then the reader moves to a snapshot in time showing Custer's bravado during the Civil War when his star was rising swift and sure and then to a drawing room party in Monroe, Michigan where a popular and beloved only daughter, Libbie Bacon, meets the Civil War hero for the second time. Moving seamlessly between these three characters, the narrative carries on through Anne's horrific captivity, Libbie and her Autie's courtship and marriage, and Custer's Army exploits ending only in the wake of the Battle of Little Bighorn. Scattered in amongst the chapters centered on these three are snippets from newspapers, army reports, and narration from secondary characters, that serve to round out the picture of these very human people Soli has drawn.

From 1863 to 1876, Custer went from a Civil War hero to an Indian fighter, alternately praised and vilified by those in government and those under his command. He was ambitious and proud, smart and focused. He was also a larger than life dandy who, despite his great and enduring love for his wife, was a terrible womanizer. Despite the hardships of an Army life, it was really the only one that Custer was cut out for even as he had to balance his need for constant action and war with his growing realization of the emotional cost of his actions and the wrongness of the government's view of and intentions toward the Native peoples. During this same period, Libbie went from pampered society miss to loyal and stalwart army wife who endured hardships alongside her beloved husband. Her experiences living so remotely and without any of the accouterments she might have expected had she stayed home in Michigan as well as her disappointments with Custer's behaviour forged a steel backbone in her. Anne, during her captivity, endured abuse and privation with an outsized grit, intelligence, and determination, never giving up on the dream of being rescued but always surviving in the present no matter how harshly she was treated.

Soli doesn't shy away from the horror of the removes, writing scenes of appalling violence that hit the reader viscerally. She also doesn't avoid the truth of the mismanagement and duplicity of the US government in its dealings with the tribes and the way that these things led directly to Custer and his fellow soldier's campaigns and actions. The sections centered on Custer, the long and slow expeditions into inhospitable lands, the interminable monotony of days and days without any Indian sightings or of the chasing after of mirages, felt as long and slow as the operations themselves. The chapters focused on Libbie or Anne were completely different in tone to the Custer chapters, more engaging but still realistic in the portrayals of possible fates of women in the West, at the mercy of others, be it captors or the US government or a husband. Soli's writing is incredibly evocative and her descriptions of the vast and expansive landscape were gorgeously done. This is an impressive and unusual Western about a time and place not often honestly portrayed and only given a brief mention, if at all, in general American history classes.½

Could have been so much better.

I think most of us, at least those close to my own age, learned of Custer's last stand, in history class. That is though, all I ever knew about him. There was so much I didn't know, for example I never knew he fought in our Civil War where he was made the youngest Brigadeer General at the age of twenty five. Nor did I know anything about his wife Libby, who seems to be a special person in her own right. This book starts with Custer fighting in the Civil War, and is told from three different viewpoints. Custer himself, his wife Libby and a young fifteen year old Annie, whose family is homesteading when they are attacked by Indians, her family slaughtered, she heself taken by the Indians.

So Custer's role as Indian fighter begins, as he is called on once again to help rid the west of marauding Indians. This is a graphic and violent book, the west was certainly a savage place to be. Promises and peace brokered were continually abused. The Indian way of life threatened, the settlers life one of fear, so much death of people, livestock, constant back and forth savagery.

Custer's death at little big Horn was probably the way he would have wanted to die, in many ways it seemed his destiny He came to respect the Indians and their way of life, he had no clue what to do with himself if he wasn't in the cavalry. Had he not died he probably would have ended up like Sitting Bull, a specimen to show off at freak shows. I came to appreciate what an emblematic character he was for the times. I loved Libby, her strength, her fortitude, she was quite a woman and I would like to read more about her. What happened to her after Custer's death. Annie, my heart broke for her, her treatment during and after captivity is certainly realistic. Such conflicted, harsh and judgemental times.

Soli's research is terrific, her writing vivid and certainly realistic. She does an amazingly thorough job at showing the many sides of this time period. A few photographs are included as is an author note. A harsh read, but an important one for those who have an interest in this time period.

This was mine, Angela's and Exile monthly read and while we all cringed at the violence, we all thought it was well done. So thanks again my reading buddies.
ARC from Netgalley.

I so wanted to love this book, and I think the writing is really good. But the characters are made of cardboard, and the plot is so predictable. So I felt kind of meh by the end.

Loved this book! A beautifully emotional and thought provoking story of a female American photographer in Vietnam during the war. She starts as a fairly naive and inexperienced chronicler of the tragedies of war, but along the way becomes a "brick in the wall", an impressive photographer, and one who seeks out the small instances of humanity in the horrific experience of the war. The personal relationships, the evolution of her reason for staying in Vietnam, and the gentle character development along with writing that integrates all of our senses into the experience make this a wonderful read. Everyone in my bookgroup loved it... some even thought it the best book in a long while.

I so wanted to love this book, and I think the writing is really good. But the characters are made of cardboard, and the plot is so predictable. So I felt kind of meh by the end.

Beautiful writing, wonderful characters. The story spans ten years and there are a lot of characters to keep track of but Soli does a terrific job of combining love stories with a story about the effects of war on a land and people.

Beautiful writing, wonderful characters. The story spans ten years and there are a lot of characters to keep track of but Soli does a terrific job of combining love stories with a story about the effects of war on a land and people.

A fine combination of literary fiction and the perils, insanity and horrors of war.

I had such high hopes for this book. Basically it’s the story of a young woman combat photographer in Vietnam towards the end of the war, Helen Adams, and the two men she loves – Sam Darrow (a seasoned photographer who has a reputation), and Linh (the Vietnamese man who is Darrow’s and then Helen’s assistant).

I didn’t find anything about the relationships believable. I didn’t feel the passion or tenderness or compassion or love between any of them. The mark of good writing is that the author will show, not tell; Soli tells the reader over and over that these people love one another, but she doesn’t show us this. In fact, she shows us the opposite. Each of them seems closed off emotionally from anyone else; each follows his/her own agenda without regard to the feelings of anyone else; each of them behaves poorly (to say the least) in relation to the others. I thought they took foolish chances and I really didn’t care what happened to any of them; I just wanted it to be over with so I could get on with another book.

So why did I give it 2 stars? Soli includes a long bibliography of works she used to research Vietnam and Southeast Asia during the time period portrayed in the book. I don’t know if she ever actually visited the country, but if she has not, then kudos to her for managing to convey such a sense of the atmosphere of the place. I could smell the tropical jungle, feel the torpidity brought on by heat and fatigue, and hear the din of traffic and busy city streets. I give her 2 stars for creating this atmosphere, but I really don’t recommend the book.

I think this is the first time I have read a novel that takes place in Vietnam during the war. It is the story of a female news photographer who initially goes to Southeast Asia in an attempt to find out more about and understand her brother's death in the early days of US involvement in Vietnam. She ends up staying for many years, even past the famous helicopter evacuation from the roof of the American embassy. Her character is well developed over the course of the book and the reader witnesses her growing understanding of what is happening in Vietnam. I am not sure I would call this an anti-war novel, but it comes close. You see the conflicts experienced by South Vietnamese who, while supporting the US troops, also see what is happening to their country. You see the misery of the rural villagers whose homes and fields are destroyed because of suspected Viet Cong activity. You also see the deaths of many innocent Vetnamese and how it was covered up with words like "necessay" and "unavoidable." You see the horrors experienced by all involved and see PTSD before the term was even invented. Not an uplifing book, but worthy of a 3.5 at least.

I listened to the Audible version of this book, and was carried in my mind's eye to Vietnam during the Vietnam war. The entire story pulled me in, entrancing, believable, very emotional, fully historical and accurate. I highly recommend it!

Now their life in tatters, Richard went off diving. Where had that protective, nurturing Richard gone? Amusing himself despite her torment. Ten years, every year since law school, lopped off. Ann worried because she knew from long professional experience that relationships only continued on some basis of parity, to be determined by the two parties. Where was that parity now? – from The Last Good Paradise –

Ann is a lawyer who is disillusioned by her corporate position and eager to support Richard, her husband, in opening their own restaurant. But when their life comes apart at the seams, they decide to empty their accounts. leave responsibility behind, and seek escape in a tropical paradise. Once on a remote island, they connect with a burnt out rock star and his young girlfriend, the flawed owner of the resort who has deep regrets about the path his life has taken, and a seemingly discordant couple who are native to the island and help run the resort.

Tatjana Soli’s newest novel explores the idea of failed dreams, the search for an ever more illusive paradise, and the pull of the technical, fast paced corporate world of computers, high finance, and success.

Richard and Ann seem like the typical all-American couple who are set on a path to success only to have their dreams shattered. When they escape their “real” lives to find freedom in “paradise,” they discover that paradise is not defined by ocean breezes, blue waters and endless sunny days. Rather, the idea of happiness and finding paradise is an inner journey and is linked to the connections we have with others.

Soli introduces some quirky characters and intersperses humor with tragedy to engage her readers in this modern tale of a group of people searching for meaning in a complex and isolating world.

I was prepared to love this novel because I adored The Lotus Eaters> by this same author (read my review). But despite good writing, I felt a bit disconnected from the characters who at times felt oversimplified. I wondered if Soli intended to create caricatures to emphasis the outrageous and amplify her characters’ personalities. Instead the novel feel a bit flat for me.½

Story about the last days of America in Vietnam, told from the perspective of a female war correspondent. Details the life of both her male mentor, and her Vietnam guide. Hard to read at times, but gave a good understanding of the risks a war correspondent is exposed to.

The tragedy of the Vietnam War never ceases to stagger--this novel spans ten years, flashing back from the American surrender of Saigon in April 1975 to explore the intertwined fates of two Americans and their Vietnamese interpreter. Comprising a romantic triangle are Sam Darrow, a glamorous, jaded, 40ish photographer; Helen Adams, an aspiring neophyte photographer in her early twenties when she arrives to cover the war; and Linh, the son of intelligentsia from the North, whose initial goal is to cease being a soldier. I almost didn't read this book. After browsing through the first few chapters, I was initially doubtful that it would be worth the effort, but I am glad that I kept going. This is such a visceral work: there are constant references to the heat, the smells, the rain, the mud, the colors. The characters' role as members of the press is to try to bear witness to the violent, unpredictable consequences of the war as observers, not participants. Naturally, this is an impossible proposition--they are all both victims of and active protagonists within the conflict. There are no answers here, but a beautifully written evocation of the simultaneously horrific and spellbinding realities of the war.

The book is lyrical, mystical, yet was to me very difficult to read. In fact, I put the book aside and read about three more before I made myself return and finish. The story centers around Claire, a wife, mother and hard-working farmer in a citrus and avocado farm in California. When her children are grown and gone, and her husband settled with a second wife, she develops cancer. While not really a story focused on her cancer, The Forgetting Tree watches her life develop or degrade during her cancer journey.

Because neither of her daughters are willing or easily can provide the daily care and support Claire needs due to her cancer, the younger, flighty daughter produces a young Caribbean woman to provide live-in care. Despite the fact that she has found this person recently fired from a coffee shop, and despite the lack of references, the family lets Claire take Minna into her home and with supervision only from the sick woman, leaves the two of them largely alone. For this reader, this crucial event stretched the imagination.

Minna begins as an ideal caregiver, loving, supportive, doing everything Claire might need - and Claire falls a bit in love with the mysteries of Minna. However, with time Minna becomes less grateful and more resentful of the bounty available through Claire and become flightly, unreliable, and perhaps even dangerous.

The deft hand of Soli makes us feel we know Claire intimately, but through three-quarters of the book we only see Minna through Claire's eyes, Claire's eyes of chemo fog and perhaps more. The end of the book tells the story of Minna and we come to understand the roundedness of the story and her Minna's motivations.

I loved the setting of the orchard and it's rootstock tree, and the insights into the citrus and avocado cultivation were new to me and interesting. Soli helped me to enjoy all the sensory experiences of the orchard, and that was wonderful.

I found the climax of the book to be frustrating and unnecessary. Why was there no intervention? Why did things get to the point they did? But it was well-crafted and dramatic, no doubt.

So to me, the book was a mixed bag. I found the key relationship of the story unrealistic and the ongoing actions frustrating. On the other hand, I found Claire and Minna to be fascinating women, and their interactions full of wonder and meaning.

Meh.½

I listened to this book on Audible.com. My fascination with Vietnam was increased after reading Soli's account of a female freelance photographer in Vietnam. Her story of how the protagonist learned about war, photographing combat and the Vietnamese made this read more like non-fiction than a novel. How I feel about Vietnam may have a lot to do with my age at the time, but it is still worth reading if the subject interests you.