Absolution
A Novel
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4.1 • 294 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Named a Best Book of the Year by Time, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Kirkus Reviews, Los Angeles Times, NPR, Oprah Daily, Real Simple, and Vogue
A riveting account of women’s lives on the margins of the Vietnam War, from the renowned winner of the National Book Award.
American women—American wives—have been mostly minor characters in the literature of the Vietnam War, but in Absolution they take center stage. Tricia is a shy newlywed, married to a rising attorney on loan to navy intelligence. Charlene is a practiced corporate spouse and mother of three, a beauty and a bully. In Saigon in 1963, the two women form a wary alliance as they balance the era’s mandate to be “helpmeets” to their ambitious husbands with their own inchoate impulse to “do good” for the people of Vietnam.
Sixty years later, Charlene’s daughter, spurred by an encounter with an aging Vietnam vet, reaches out to Tricia. Together, they look back at their time in Saigon, taking wry account of that pivotal year and of Charlene’s altruistic machinations, and discovering how their own lives as women on the periphery—of politics, of history, of war, of their husbands’ convictions—have been shaped and burdened by the same sort of unintended consequences that followed America’s tragic interference in Southeast Asia.
A virtuosic new novel from Alice McDermott, one of our most observant, most affecting writers, about folly and grace, obligation, sacrifice, and, finally, the quest for absolution in a broken world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The lives of army wives take center stage in this masterful novel from the great Alice McDermott. Tricia is a young teacher who enthusiastically supports her husband’s career as an army lawyer, accompanying him to Saigon during the height of the Vietnam War. There she meets Charlene, a resourceful fellow army wife who, along with her young daughter, Rainey, recruits her into a variety of charitable schemes that allow her to help children and other locals affected by the war. McDermott focuses us on the pivotal but often-forgotten people on the periphery of the Vietnam War. Her simple yet effective prose is immersive, enveloping you in both the lavish house parties of the army elite and the chaotic bustle of the Saigon marketplace. Absolution is an engrossing tale that touches on serious topics like nationalism and family obligation.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McDermott (The Ninth Hour) unfurls an evocative character study of American women in 1963 Saigon. Newlywed Tricia, a young woman of blue-collar stock whose lawyer husband works for Naval Intelligence, is out of her element among the socialites of her new milieu. She's mentored by the sophisticated Charlene, an oil magnate's wife who hosts martini lunches and devises altruistic if misguided aid schemes (one fundraiser involves selling Barbie dolls dressed in traditional Vietnamese garb). Tricia grows fond of Rainey, Charlene's little girl, and much of the book unfolds in present day letters and conversations between Tricia and Rainey, the younger woman having contacted Tricia after meeting an American Vietnam War veteran who knew her and Charlene. McDermott finds her groove when she has Tricia reexamining her time in Saigon, where the women around her slipped into prescribed roles without questioning their submissiveness. A poignant conclusion shows how Charlene supported Tricia back in the '60s after Tricia's miscarriage ("I did not want to be the sort of woman who had a miscarriage. Didn't want to be a part of that simpering sorority, a keeper of that shameful secret," she narrates). In McDermott's powerful story, the quest for absolution falls just beyond her characters' grasp.
Customer Reviews
My74redvet
Fascinating look at a different view of life in Vietnam- the US civilians that worked and lived in Saigon. I enjoyed this book more as it went along.
Characters were fascinating. Don’t give up if you start. The women were one generation before me- such a different life.
Absolution
Just ok. Story of an American wife of a soldier in Saigon in the 1960s. Odd narration, I had trouble following who was talking
About Charlene
I was totally absorbed in this book. The characters felt genuine and it reflects the typical relationship style of the time. I suppose I am more like Tricia, but I would prefer to be like Charlene. She was fearless in her pursuit of “doing good”, sometimes appreciated, sometimes not. A strong woman, uncompromising in the face of criticism. Clear-sighted and manipulative, people feared her, but were in love with her as well. She is the stand out character who drives the story.